Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-12
WALLER IS TO Be RELEASED
French Government Grants the Request Of
the United States.
REVIEW OF THE TESTIMONY AGAINST HIM
Conceded to Have Dccn Sufficient to
Warrant His Convictior-tlso
Guilty of piundcring nu
Estutc,

| offer of the French government to release
ex-United States Consul Waller from further
Imprisonment and pardon his ofIense on con-
dition that the affair be thereby terminated
between France and the United States and
that the latter make no claim in behalf OF
the prisoner, based upon his arrest, con-
viction or imprisonment,
Waller may. however sue in the French
courts for damages for i'll treatment.
These facts showing the amicable termna-
tion of the celebrated Waller incident ap-
pear in the correspondence sent to both
houses of congress today by the president
in answer TO resolutions of inquiry upon the
subject.
In his message transmitting the Waller
correspondence President Cleveland says:
1T will be seen upon examination, as would
of course, be expected that there is a slight
conflict of evidence upon some of the fea-
lures of Mr.. Walters case. Nevertheless,
upon fair and just cons deration Of all the
facts, and especially in view of Mr. Waller's
own letter the conclusions set forth in the
report of the secretary of state do not appear
to leave any reasonable doubt nor TO leave
open to the executive any other course of
action than that adopted and acted upon
as therein stated 1t is expected that Mr..
Walters release from Imprisonment will be
Immediately forthcoming"
PLUNDERED AN ESTATE.
Accompanying the correspondence which
is voluminous, is report OF Secretary Olney
summarizing its feature and explaining the
reasons which animated the executive in ter
mnating the incident as above described.
In the beginning the secretary gives the
history of the Crockett case, showing that
Waller, while United States consul at Te-
matavc, acting as administrator of the estate
of Crockett, deceased United States citi-
zen, was guilty of maladministration; that
when Mr. Wetter took charge of the con-
sulate in January, 1894, Waller had dis
appeared and the consular records were in
great confusion. Wetter caused civil suit
to be brought against Waller on account
CT the Crockett estate and before court
composed of Consul Wetter, Mr.. Geldart
Walier's intimate frend) and Messrs. Rider
and Howe. Waller was convicted Of gross
mismanagement of the estate, of abuse and
neglect of trust and removed from the po-
sitiOn of administrator besides being ordered
to make good the sum OF S1,961 and interest
to the Crockett heirs. Wetter asked leave
of the State department to prosecute Waller
crminally and the department replied that
it could give no specific instructions.
Touching the Waller concession he says,
referring to a letter from Wetter, dated
April last: This same letter contains an
allusion to the Waller rubber concession land
grant near Fort Dauphin. after indicating
various ways in which money may have been
spent to secure the concession, but no evil
dence to that effect is reported and neither
is there any proof of the nature, extent,
validity or value of the concession. The
value may have been supposed to be depend
ent upon the issue of the contest then going
on between the French and natives, while
it is certain that the French authorities
have always held the concession to be with
out any validity"
turning to Tamatave in October, 1894, on
his way to America, was prevented from
proceeding by the insistence of Consul Wet
ter upon his paying the Crockett judgment,
which he was unable to do, and how, after
the capture of Tamatave by the French in
December 1894, Waller was arrested by
them and tried by court known as Marine
first permanent council of war; The charges
were dispatching letter to his wife from
Tamatave without the same having been
vlzed by the French authorities; second, at
tempting to correspond with the enemies OF
France and to furnish them information pref
udical to the military and political sit
uation of France. The trial took place in
open court, and Waller was sentenced to
twenty years imprisonment; an appeal being
objected Secretary Gresham in April, 1896
called upon the French government for the
record and evidence and these were furnished
JUSTIFIED THE VERDICT.
As to the evidence, Secretary Olney says:
without any admission of the duty of the
French government to permit an inspection
of the evidence-a duty which that gov
ernment claimed from the outset did not
eXist-the same was sent to Mr.. Eusis for
such explanation as he chose to make of
Waller's guilt upon the first charge of send
ing a letter from Tamatave without per-
mitting the French authorities 20 inspect
it, an offense said to be punishable by
nominal fine, stands confirmed. AS respects
the second, a charge of course, of great
gravity Mr.. Eust9 reports as follows: "In
order to understand the significance of the
information communicated by Waller, 1t
L., tad hat thn oh hn1
garrison at Tamatave and the Hovas had
one at Faratafe. These two points were
distant from each other few miles. In a
letter to Tesser, he describes the condition
at Tamatave; that small pox is raging; that
many are dying; that there are more than
100 French soldiers in the hospital; that they
have dysentery and fever and unless there
should be a change in the order very soon
the fatality of both soldiers and citizens
will be great. Then he speaks carefully of
the arrest of several Hoyas who were re-
ported to have been shot
ITO have communicated the enfeebed and
Strengthened condition of the garrison at
Tamatave might have certainly provoked
a. attack by the Hovas from Faratafe the
information being given to an agent OF the
Hovas He described the outrages COM
mitted by French soldiers upon Mnlagassy
wcmen and said that 1t seems strange that
upon the Malogassy women, and speaks of
much Malagassy property having been de-
stroyed by the French Whether these
statements were true or false, they were
calculated to increase the horrors
of war by provoking retaliation on the
part of the HOvas.
"IIe writes that all mail leaving Tamataye
for Antananariyo Is read by the colonel Of
the French army before 1t can pass that
he has a chance to send this letter by the
English steamer via Natal, Brussel and it
will escape the eyes of the officers.
WAS SEEKING REVENGE.
"In his letter to his wife, he denounces
d. & P who are identified Draper and
PLIdy. as French spies, and asks her to in
form Tessier and friends of the fact. IT
Is true that he advises that they may be
sent away from the capital. But he doubt
less knew that spies in time of war are
not banished, but are usually shot and
when asked by the presiding officer why he
exposed these two men to be executed, he
replied that he did 1t from motives OF re-
venge
81 am creditably informed that those two
men were American citizens.
"Wallers wife, in acknowledging the re-
celpt of this letter, was not to mention
anything in it, but simply to say: Your
IL received, and after she and Tessler had
read it to destroy it and not to mention
its contents. except to Tesser and secreta-
ries, the latter are interpreted as meaning
secretaries of the Hovas government.
"These letters are In the handwriting of |