Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-03-29
THE PRESIDENT REFUSED
TO USE HIS INFLUENCE TO PRE-
VENT THE OUTBREAK OF
WAR
Between Great Britain and the
TransvaaI Republic-He Was APP
peaIed to by Consul Stowe, at the
Instance of President Steyn, of
the Free State-ConsuI Macrum
Gives the House Committee Some
Important Information.


-
WASHINGTON, March 2S.-Chas.
E. Macrum, of East Liverpool, Ohio,
the American ex-Consul at Pretoria,
appeared before the House Foreign At
fairs Committee to-day and told of the
alleged indignation he suffered at the
hands of the British during his in
cumbency. When he gave out his
statement mere some weeks ago de-
claring that his official mail had been
opened by British officials, Representa-
tive Wheeler, of Kentucky, introduce
ed a resolution for an investigation.
1t was subsequently arranged that the
Foreign Affairs Committee should take
the matter up of its own motion with
put any direction from the House and
Mr.. Macrum was summoned to Wash
ington to testify. There were many
visitors in the committee room when
Chairman Hit called the committee
to order.
VA 1tl1 III 90 CsohS0 " SlAdAA AA1AA
Hit to make a statement as he saw
fit regarding the opening of his mail
by the British censor. In opening Mr..
Maerum recalled the statement he had
made some time ago to The Associated
Press. That statement, he said, prac-
tically embodied all he had to say.
HI 0ynIoir1J fIo+ xrhon ho hoI ocxAd
for a leave of absence he desired to
come home for private business rea-
Sol and also because he desired to
place before the United States govern
ment certain facts which he deemed
it essential should be known here.
He understood, he said, that the Brit
ish had
Possession of Our Cable Cipher.
He was not certain of this, but he had
since had information which convinc-
ed him that his suspicious were cor
rect. He also desired information as
to his course when the settlement
came at the end of the war. Further,
LIZ 1ia q B0lItIOh 1l01l oOLIC III
can residents in the Transvaal asking
that theh United States maintain alb
solute neutrality which he wanted to
present to the State Department. The
petition he read to the committee. 1t
was signed by Gordon, the Consular
Agent at johannesburg.
Ac1roI oe 10 urIo,o hn xr,oc Grc+ cafic
fled that his mail was being tempered
with, he said that war was declared
October II. He did not receive any
mail between that date and the sec
ond week in November. Ordinarily,
he had a box of mail every week.
did other people receive mail dur
Ing that period?' asked Mr.. Williams,
of Mississippi.
Not that l know Of" replied Mr..
Marcum.
Pressed for specific information as
to how he got the intimation that Brit
ish were opening and delaying his
mail he replied that when his mail
did not arrive he telegraphed our con-
sui at Lorenzo Marques requesting
him to inquire of Cape Town why it
was delayed.
The consul at Lorenzo Marques re-
piled that he also had had no mail.
Mr.. Marcum said the delay of his mail
created a conviction in his mind that
The British Authorities
were responsible. The first actual evil
dence he had was the receipt of two
opened letters. He produced the enve-
lopes which he said contained those
letters. One was from a private citi-
zen addressed to the United States
consul at Pretoria and the other was
to him by name from Consul Stowe
at Cape Town.
MI. VIM. Alden Smith, of Michigan,
Intercepted the witness sharply on
the reasons for stating his belief that
the British authorities had possession
of the State Departments cipher. Mr..
Marcum said he could not affirm that
fact from actual knowledge, but there
were certain facts which convinced
him that such was the case. He ex-
planned that on November 9th he had
cabled the State Department in cipher
asking for a leave of absence. That
message had gone through Durham.
The next day, November Tth. he said,
he had been informed a newspaper at
Durham printed the fact that he had
asked for leave of absence.
Mr.. Smith was proceeding to inter
rogate Mr.. Marcum as to the character
of the code used by him in this dis
patch, especially as to whether he had
used what was known as the Slater
code, a common code ~purchasable any,
where. Mr.. Hit thought it improper
to touch the matter of the codes en-
ployed by the government, but it was
finally agreed that no harm could come
from a direct reply as to whether the
Slater code was used.
THE message" said Mr.. Maerum.
''was sent in the State Department
cipher of the Slater code"
And you claim the substance of that
dispatch was made public?" asked Mr..
Smith.
Il do"
"Nhere?"
I'm Natal"
'sWas it an accurate publications."
Il do not know"
Mr.. Macrum said he had never seer
the publication. He had only been in
formed that the fact that he had asked
leave of absence had been printed. He
affirmed that