The San Francisco call., 1896-04-29

an American citizen anywhere on the
globe" [AppIause.l
| Representative Hill OF Connecticut in
terrupted and said:
| MY constituents some time ago re-
| quested me to intercede with the State
Department in behalf OF these prisoners
ana 1 addressed mmunication to the
/ Secretary OF State concerning the matter,
and received the usual American reply
that the interests of American citizensin
the Transvaal were being guarded by the
English Government
II think it Is high time" he continued
emphatically "that the American Govern
ment protected the interest of their own
| citizens'
Loud and prolonged applause greeted this
utterance, whereupon McCreary of Ken
lucky, formerly chairman of the Foreign
Affairs committee and now a membe of
! that body. said he thought the State De-
| partment would afford ample protection
for all American interests in the Trans
| vaal. He thought the committee could be
relied upon to promptly act Cf Congress
slonal action was necessary at all). He
therefore entered an objection. Mahany
said he had no desire to reflect upon the
State Department
AT this juncture Hit. Chairman of the
| Foreign Affairs Committee. came into the
hall, and Mahany requested him to ex-
| press his views, but before Hit could re-
ply the Speaker ruled that McCreary's OBJ
lection prevailed, and further discussion
was brought to close.
The resolution was then referred to the
Foreign Affairs Committee at the request
of Ma hany.
The news of Hammond's sentence was
received on the Senate side at about the
same time and Senators Stewart and
Jones of Nevada Immediately circulated
the following petition among their COL
| leagues in the chamber:
TO President Kruger, Trdnsuaal Government,
South Africd-SIR: The undersigned members
OF the Senate of the House of Representatives
OF the United States of America respectively
represent that John Hays Hammond is a
citizen OF the United States and man of high
character connected with one of the best
1amlles OF the country and an engineer of
ability. We regret exceedingly his unfort-
unate connection with the troubles in your
country for which all our people entertain
feelings of kindness and respect.
In view OF the unimpeachable character of
Mr.. Hammond in his own country and the
earnes tly ask for him your most kindly eonsid-
GRAFTON. If your Excellency would extend to
him pardon for his offenses against your
government we would esteem it an especial
compliment to US as well as to the people of
the United States. Hoping Mr.. Hammond
Will be relieved from the penalty of his asso-
clatlons we are your most obedient servants.
The petition was signed by every Sem
ator who was then in the chamber. It
will be forwarded through the State De-
partment.
Immediately after this petition had been
circulated Senator Perkins received tele-
phone message from the State Department
conveying the information that a cable
gram had been received from Consul
knight at Cape Town to the effect that it
was the Consufs understanding that the
sentence of death would be commuted and
only nominal fine imposed. This was
welcome news to Senators Perkins, White,
Jones and Stewart.
Senator Perkins tonight received the
following telegram from San Francisco,
Please have the California delegat ton call in
a body on President Cleveland and ask his
immediate Intervention in behalf of John
Hays Hammond, under sentence in South
Africa. William H. Crocker, William Alvord,
Thomas Brown and many others.
Senator Perkins said to the CALL cor
respondent tonight:
"The California delegation will call on
President Cleveland and Secretary Olney
tomorrow in response to the request. l
feel sure that Mr. Hammond would never
have pleaded guilty had he not received
an assurance beforehand that his punish
ment would be light. When I read the
telegram to-day announcing that Ham
| mond had been sentenced to death was
greatly shocked, but as ] reflected about
The matter I was firmly impressed with
the belief that before Mr.. Hammond
entered his plea he had received assurance
that his punishment would be light.
"a few minutes later we received q teIe-
phone message from Secretary Olnev
stating that news had been received from
Cape Town to the effect that Hammond's
sentence would probable be commuted to
a nominal fine. l cannot understand how.
or why Hammond should have pleaded
guilty to 'high treason as the dispatches
state. He was an American, and as such
could not have been guilty Of treason
He might have been guilty of icon
spiracy,' but my understanding of trea-
his own country. This is the understand
ing of Secretary Olney also, who stated to
me some months ago that he thought
Hammond must have been accused of
conspiracy and not treason How
ever, whether the accusation is one or the
other, we must leave 70 stone unturned to
protect our fellow-citizen. / feel sure his
sentence will be commuted, but we must
make assurance doubly sure.''
Senator White tonight expressed the
same views as Perkins. The belief is
general that Hammond and his fellow
prisoners will only receive light sentences
THE CALL correspondent late to- night
received from the State Department off,
cial information that news had been re-
ceived from Pretoria to the effect that
Hamm ond was safe, and the cablegram
NEW