The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-29
MACRUM TALKS OF HIS MAIL.
ASSERTS 1T WAS OPENED by THE
BHITISH CENSOR.

Satisfied the British Officers Knew
the American Cipher ACode - BE-
lievcs President Mckinley Refused
His Good OGiccs to settle tho
Trouble Before The War.
Washington. March 2S.-Charles e. Mac
rum of East Liverpool, o., the American
ex-consul at Pretoria, appeared before
the House Foreign Affairs Committee to-
day, and told of the alleged indlgnities
he suffered at the hands of the British
during his incumbency
When he gave out his statement here
some weeks ago, declaring his official
mail had been opened by British offl-
cals Representative Wheeler of Ken
lucky, introduced a resolution for an in
vestgation II was subsequently ar
ranged that the Foreign Affairs Commits
tee should take the matter up of its own
motion without any direction from the
House and Mr.. Macrum was summoned
| TO Washington to testify.
Mr.. Macrum is a slight man about 80
years of age. He was asked by Chairman
Hit to make such a statement as he saw
fit regarding the opening of his mail by
! the British censor. He explained that
when he asked for leave of absence, he
desired to come home for private business
reasons, and also, because he desired to
place before the United States government
certain facts which he deemed IL esseu-
| tial should be known here He under-
stood, he said, that the British had pos
session of our cable cipher. He was not
certain of this, but he had since had in
| formation which convinced him that his
| suspicious were correct
| He also desired information as to his
course when the settlement came at the
end of the war Further, he had a petition
from some American residents in the
Transvaal asking that the United States
maintain absolute neutrality which he
wanted to present to the state department.
The petition he read to the committee.
II was signed by Gordon, the consular
agent at johannesburg.
Begun with the War.
When asked as 10 when he was firsp
satisfied that his maiswas being tampered
with, he said that war was declared Oct.
IL. He did not receive any mail between
that date and the second week In Novem-
Der. Ordinarily he had box Of mail
every week.
"Did other people receive mail during
that perlod?" asked Mr. williams OF
Mississippi.
Not that know Of" replied Mr. Ma
Eerum.
Pressed for specific information as to
how he got the intimatlon that the Britt
ish were opening and delaying his mail,
he replied that when his mail did not arr
rive he telegraphed our consul at Loren .
20 Marquee requesting him to inquire OF
Cape Town why 1t was being delayed
The consul at Lorenzo Marquee replied
that he also had had no mail Mr. Ma
crum said the delay of his mail create
conviction in his mind that the British
authorizes were responsible The first act
ual evidence he had was the receipt OF
two opened letters. He produced the en-
Velopes which he said contained those
letters. One was from private citizen
addressed to the United States consul at
Pretoria and The other was to him by
name from Consul Stowe at Cape. Town.
knowledge of the Cipher.
Mr.. William Alden Smith of Michigan
interrogated the WITNESS sharply on the
reasons for stating his belief thar the
British authorities had possession of the
state departments cipher Mr. Macrum
said he could not affirm that fact from
actual knowledge, but there were certain
facts which convinced him that such was
the case. lie explained that on Nov.
he had cabled the state department I'M
cipher asking for n leave of absence. That
message had gone through Durham. The
next day, Nov. 7, he said, he had been in
formed a newspaper at Durham printed
the fact that he had asked for leave oE
absence.
Mr.. Smith was proceeding to interro-
gate Mr.. Macrum as to the character of
the code used by him in this dispatch, es-
pecially to whether he had used what
was known as the Slater code, common
code purchaseable anywhere. Mr.. Hlts
thought IL improper to touch the mat-
ter of the codes employed by the govern-
ment, but IL was finally agreed that no
harm could come from a direct reply as
to whether the Slater code was used.
THE message" said Mr. Macrum, was
sent in the state department code, the
cipher of the Slater code"
"And you claim tho substance of that
dispatch was made public?" asked Mr.
Smith.
II do"
'Where?"
"In Natal"
"was It in accurate publications."
~ do not know"
Howard Thought 1T Useless.
Mr. Macrum said ne had never seen the
publication. lie had only been Informed
that the fact that he had asked leave
of absence had been printed. He af-
firmed that no one knew of this fact save
himself At this point Mr.. Howard OF
Georgia interpOsed to question the utility
of the examination of Mr. Macrum.
1T looks to me-" said he like an effort
to concoct a sensation out of nothing"
But the committee decided to proceed,
and in reply TO some questions from Mr..
Burleson Mr. Macrum stated that he had
been granted leave Of absence by Secre-
tary Hay on Nov IL. He read to the COM
mittee a message from the cable company.
saying a cipher cable sent by him 20 the
Secretary Of State Nov. Il had been held
up by the military censor until Dec. 2.
Asked II other consuls had suffered any in
convenience in the matter of communicate
ing with their home governments, Mr..
Macrum said they had. The Belgian and
German consuls both told him that no ci-
pher kilograms were allowed TO go
through.
did you report to the state departmenr
that your meil had been opened?' asked
Mr.. Berry Of Kentucky.
81 did not"
"pid you mention It upon your arrival
i'm Washing N?'
NJ