New-York tribune., 1895-10-18
OF MRS. WALLER.
THE STORY OF HER HUSBANDS ARREST
AND IMPRISONMENT.
HE HAD NO CHANCE TO DEFEND HIMsELF-THE
WIFE OF THE Ex-coNsUL WILL GO AT ONCE
TO WASHINGTON TO TRY TO EFFECT
HIS RELEAsE-TREATED KIND
LY BY MR.. EUsTls.

IY BY MR. EUsTIs.
Mrs John L. Waller, the wife OF the eA-. n''eu
States Consul at Madagascar. who arrived mere
yesterday morning on the steamship Ams'erua''
with her four children was met at the pier oy her
husbands friend F.. G. Woodford. She was taken
IN a tug from Hoboken to this city. and went at
once to a hotel at No 1l5 West Twenty-seventh-st.
Mrs Waller said that she could say little that
would add to the information already puohshed re-
garding her husbands arrest and imprisonment
Mr. Waller was arrested at Tamatave. NADIA
eascar on March s. 1885, by the French authorities,
on a charge of having conducted candesuhe cor
respondence with the Hovas. 1t appears. according
to Mrs. Walters story that on september D. 1884,
while at the house OF Hova acquaintance MI
Waller promised to procure four or five revolVers
for the son OF his guest. who. as Mr. Waller was
preparing to take trip to this country had re-
quested him to purchase the weapons for him.
The French authorities insisted that they were
samples OF intended shipment OF arms TO the
Hovas After his arrest Mr.. Waller confined
at Tamatave and on March IS he was tried by
court-martia There two counts in his In
misunderstanding "Order No g. In sending let
ters from Tamatave. which was In state OF siege.
without their having been scrutinized by the au-
thorities and attempting TO convey information to
the enemy.
Previous 10 the trial Waller examined
through French interpreter. and then made to
sign paper written in French. a language he did
understand The court-martal appointed a
clerk counsel for Waller. but he was practically
not allowed to make defence. Waller was con-
demned to twenty years Imprisonment, and an ap-
peal TO higher court was denied to him. He was
taken to the prison at Clairvaux. In the south OF
France. on March "a.
Mrs. Waller. who had not her husband since
September 20. 1884, she being in the interior OF the
island did not learn of his trial and sentence until
after they had occurred, and she says that II he
had not been detained at Tamatave by Consul Wet
ter, who unwarrantably questioned some OF her
husbands official acts. Waller would not have been
arrested. In fact she said. public opinion at Tama =
tave was TO the effect that Consul Wetter in
collusion with the French authorities.
Paul II. Bray, a stepson OF Waller was expelled
from the country. and Mrs. Waller and her children
aided In reaching Maurius by Mr. Woodsord.
Mrs. Waller said that Ir. Campbell. the consul at
Maurius Indifferent to II ieir situation and by
his negligence they were detained there for two
months unnecessarily. The family finally reached
France, and upon their arrival In Paris trea ted
Eusts
Mrs Waller Is OF a pronounced negro type. She.
her daughters and son appear highly intelligent.
She will at once to Washington to try to effect
her husbands release. He Is unjustly charged she
said. with having. in return for aiding the Hovas
the southwestern part of Madagascar Mrs. Waller
said that her husband received this grant fully three
months before the date Of the alleged arms transa
ton, and she prove il by documentary evidence,
which she will submit to the authorities at Wash
ngton. She declared that her husband could not
live year in confinement, as he in extreme y
bad heath.
one cause of delay in his case. she said was that
IL necessary for the State Department to OBJ
tain access to the original letters upon which the
charges against Waller were based. and which the
French authorities are reluctant TO give up.