Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-07
APPEAL TO ARBITRATION
Claim of Dr.. Cheeks Estate Against the STA
mese Government.
Rema rkab1e Case Which Has Conc
Through Diplomatic ChanneIs-To
He Heard Mt Shanghai.

A case of considerable magnitude and i'll
terest is the claim of the estate of the late
DIR. Marion A. Cheek an American citizen,
against the Siamese government, which is
now being presented TO the arbitrator Sc
lected by the two governments, Sir Mich
olas j. Hammer, H. b. NJ. chief justice and
consul general at Shanghai.
The facts in this remarkable case, which
bids fair to become a cause celebre, are as
follows: DR.. Cheek was an American medi-
cal missionary, sent to Siam in 1874 by the
Presbyterian board of foreign missions. He
located in Cheangmai the capital of north
ern SIAM and the center of the extensive
teak forests Of Siam. In the course of his
work he acquired an intimate knowledge of
the Siamese language and customs, ard
also became acquainted with the minute
details of the teak trade.
With the true commercial instinct of the
Yarkee, DR.. Cheek saw that here was an
excellent opportunity to make fortune
His skill as a physician and surgeon had
brought him into intimate relations with
persons of rank and influence. By this
means he obtained leases OF large teak for
ests, ard entered upon the business of
working teak wood and rafting 1T several
hundred miles down to Bangkok where it
was marketed 1t is impossible to success
without elephants. These intelligent ami
mails are trained to pick up and carry large
teak logs from the forests WHARF, they are
cut to the streams on which they are
f1oated to market. The elephants also as
sist in ''ownging" or working the RATS for
ward down the streams, which are filled
with distractions.
DR.. Cheek devoted the profits OF his work
to the purchase Of elephants, and acquired
large herd, numbering seventy-six. He
also purchased large outfit of tools neces-
sary to carry on the work. He came to be
regarded as the most successful teak trad
er in Siam, and was known as the timber
king
His Formidable Rivals.
He had. however, two formidable rivals
it is said in the Borneo Company and the
Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation. In
1889 or 1880, realizing the need of greater
capital to successfully carry on the bust
ness in competition with these powerful
British companies DR.. Cheek induced
Prince Warawan Nakorn, Siamese minister
of finance, representing the Siamese gov
eminent, to loan him half million dollars
and entered into kind of partnership ar
rangcment with the government in the
teak business. AS security for the loan
DR.. Cheak executed a bill of sale mort
gage in favor of Prince Warawan ON his
seventy-six elephants and tools and on all
teak wood which he then had cut in the
forests. DR.. Cheek was to pay interest at
the rate of ~ per cent per annum.
By the terms of the agreement which
was to operate for ten years, DIR. Check
was to manage the working of the forests
and the transportation of the wood to
Bangkok. where it was TO be sold and the
profits divided-one-third to the govern
ment and two-td,irds to Dr. Cheek The
latter proceeded In the business under this
agreement. The first year was a favorable
one, considerable quantity of wood was
worked down to Bangkok, and at the end
of the year accounts were balanced and
the profits divided. the doctor paying the
interest on the loan. The second and third
years being dry and no water in the
streams. 1t was impossible to work the
teak down. and the doctor was unable to
make his interest payments.
According to his contention, the stipua-
ton to pay interest at the rate of * per
cent per annum did not necessarily con-
template the payment of interest each
year. He maintained that according to
the well-known custom of the teak trade,
interest was payable when there had been
good year, enabling the dealer to get his
| timber to market and make sales. At this
| tine he had in the forests and in the
streams at various points between Cheang-
| mai and Bangkok about a million dollars
worth of teak wood. enough to pay the
| loan made him. principal and interest and
leave handsome surplus.
The Siamese government insisted that the
interest was payable each year and after
endeavoring to secure payment in the sum-
| mer of 1892. forcibly took possession of all
| the wood which the doctor had gotten out
| sold the same at auction and appropriated
| the proceeds to its own use.
Treaty Not Invoked.
Although there was a treaty in force be-
| tween the United States and Siam, provid-
| ing for the determination of disputes be-
| tween Americans and Siamese by the
| United States consul general in conjunc-
| ton w.,n the proper Siamese officers this
| treaty provision was not invoked Nor did
/ the Siamese government institute any pro-
| ceedings in its own judicial tribunals to de-
| termine whether DIR. Cheek had violated
| the agreement. That government was not
| content with it's forcible seizure Of the
| wood. 1t is said, but it went further and
! issued a royal proclamation directing all
persons who owed DIR. Cheek to appear be-
| that he would accept payment thereof on
most favorable terms to the debtor. The
proceeding of the government DESTROYED
| Dr. Cheeks credit, rendered 1t impossible
| for him to continue his operations, and, in
| fact, comprised his financial ruin. He was
| left, not with IAN elephant on his hands. -
| but with seventy-six, none of which he
! could sell or lease, as no one cared to in
| cur the enmity of the Siamese government
The government would have taken Dos
| session of these elephants but for the
| prompt Intervention of the United States
| minister at Bangkok. DIR. Cheek brought
| the matter to the attention Of the State
| Department at Washington and preferred a
| claim against the Siamese government for
| damages suffered through the acts Of that
| government But the mental strain and
| anxiety which he had undergone caused his
| death in July, 1895, before the claim had
| been presented to the Siamese government,
The claim was pressed by his estate, and
| in August, 1895. Secretary Olney directed
the United States minister at Bangkok to