The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-16
THE COMPETITOR RESOLUTION
Reported tn the Senate by the Foreign Re-
la;ions Committ<e-Statement Of the
Committee Accompanying the Resolu-
ton.


ton.
Washington. July Ex-senator Davis.
chairman Of the committee on foreign
relations today reported from the COM
mittee the following joint resolution:
THAT the president be empowered to
take such measures as in his judgment
may be necessary to obtain the release
from the Spanish government of Ona
Melton, Alfred o. Laborde and William
Glider, and the restoration of the
schooner Competitor to her owner, and
to secure this. he is authorized and re-
quested to employ such or eyer-
else such power as may be necessary"
TIE report recites all the facts that
have been brought out in the Compel
itor case, her ownership, capture and
citizenship of the three men named in
the resolution, together with the pro-
ceedings thus far had by the Spanish
authorities, the trial, sentence, etc. The
report characterizes it a "mockery of
a trial" The afidavits of the parties
are cited to show hat they were CO.
creed into Spanish waters. in which
case they were not amenable to Span
ish Jurisdiction. They were not sub
ject to piracy and intended no act of
depreciation on the high seas, nor were
they subject to the Spanish authorize;
on account of alleged rebellion.
The report then says: Irrespective
of any of the foregoing considerations,
the conduct of Spain, as hereinbefore
detailed, constitutes such delay and
denial of justice and such an actual in
fluction of injustice upon these men
as to make it the duty of this govern
ment to demand reparatiOn therefor ir-
respective Of any act which these pris-
Oners may have committed up to the
date of their capture. Among the acts
of reparation which ought to De de-
manded should be the release of these
captives."
Secretary Evarts is quoted to sustain
this position. The report declares that
the rights of the men have been violat-
ed and continues: "They have been
tried and sentenced to death by a sum-
mary naval court-martial in a pro-
ceeding which has been annulled by
the appellate court of Madrid, upon
the ground that such a cOurt-martial
a no jurisdiction whatever over
them. Ten months have elapsed since
this death sentence was annulled and
they have not again been brought to
trial. In the meantime they have been
subjected to p~rotracted preliminary ex-
aminations preparatory to their trial
by another court-martial which differs
from the first only in the fact that it
is less summary and more formal in
it's character than the first"
The report says that the men at the
first trial did not know until after the
testimony for the prosecution was in
that an interpreter was present n the
only translation made to them was at
the close of the s~anguinary proceedings
when they were asked if they had any
thing to say, and necessarily they could
have little to say. yet one of them pro-
tested that he had not understood one
word of the proceedings against him by
which his life was adjudged forfeited.
With these protests" continues the
report, "the trial ended n the de-
PENDANTS were Immediately sentenced
to death. 1t is now fourteen months
since they were arrested, during all of
which time they have been held in the
Cabanas fortress as prisoners. Melton
and Laborde are unquestiOnably citi-
zens of the United States. Glider is a
British subject, but he was a sailor on
an American vessel when taken, was
acting as it's mate, and it is the opin-
ion of your committee that he is enti-
tied to be protected by this government
He was serving under the flag and he
is entitled to be protected by it.
I'm our opinion these acts of delay
and denial of justice and of the inflic-
ton Of injustice, vitiate and make void
any right which Spain had in the be-
ginning of this transaction to proceed
criminally against any of these men.
This government should demand that
they be set at liberty and hat the
Competitor be restored to her owners,
as there is no evidence that the owner
knew anything about the divergence of
the vessel from it's regular voyage to
Lemon City, Fla"