Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-29

| public interest in England, the London
Times of recent date giving space to a de-
| Tense Of the attitude Of Jamaicas governor
| toward the American officer.
A letter written by Frank Swettenham,
| brother of the ex-governor, has been pub
! lished by the Times, and this belated COM
| munication seeks to place all the blame on
/ the American. and presents as facts certain
| statements that are new to readers in this
| country
The Governors Side.
| Part of the letter follows:
| Relying upon the well-known fairness
| OF the Times, 1 crave your hospitality for
this letter as dealing with matter of pub
| lie interest wherein l believe the British
| people feel that they have been misled and
| have done serious injustice. l only
ask you to find space for a bald statement
! Of the facts, so that your readers NAV draw
| their own conclusions and form their own
! opinion without any suggestion from me-
| and knowing how valuable your space is, l
! ernor Of Jamaica has been so scrupulously
/ careful to keep his own council that these
details have been ascertaned with great
| difficulty and only very recently; but. of
| course, they have been at the disposal of
the imperial government all along
On January 16. the day after the worst
maica, riding about in Kingston between 10
and II pm, called at the chief police sta
ton and found there two American officers
DR.. Ames and Lieut.. Commander Anderson
of the American torpedo boat Whipple,
which had just arrived from Guantanamo
in Cuba with surgical stores. The governor
expressed his thanks, took the officers over
the hospital, and, finally about I'M con-
Quoted them back to the wharf. The Off
GERS informed the governor that Admiral
Davis would arrive the next morning with
two battleships. and they promised to send
word of his coming and proposed landing
Dy a messenger who left with fher,
for that purpose. The governor then In
FORMED the general and asked for guard
Of honor and salute for the American ad-
mraL The American officers neglected to
send and message. and Admiral Davis.
who had omitted to fire the customary
salute on arrival in British port landed
unannounced, early on January II and at
once sent an armed guard to the American
consulate. Admiral Davis then, without
any communicat ton with the governor
went to the secretariat, where he found the
colonial secretary, a police officer and a
number Of people in the yard, as the Office
was not considered safe.
Was the Action Irregular
The admiral asked if he could be of any
assistance, and the police officer volunteered
the information that there was mutiny In
the penitentiarY. Admiral Davis at once
offered men to suppress this reported mu-
tiny and the colonial secretary apparently
acquleSced, both he and the admiral SEEM
ing to forget that under colonial office reg
ulation No. 209. and by universal custom
the commander of n foreign warship can
only communicate with the governor. Reg
ulation 209 says. lin no case will he COM
municate through the colonial secretary
About an sixty marines were landed
and marched to the penitentiary, and only
then did the admiral call on the governor
and inform him of what he had done. The
governor pointed out that the action taken
was very irregular, and that the landing Of
armed foreign sailors was contrary to all
international practice. The admiral ex-
planned that If the men had to be Withdrawn
1t would place him in a difficult position
with his official suoeriors, and the gov
ernor, recognizing the circumstances were
peculiar, said he would accept the situa-
ton on condition that the were with
drawn as soon as re asked for their re-
nloval. Naturally this offer was gratefully
accepted, and the governor then drove the
admiral to see the general and the camp,
took him to the secratariat the chief police
station, and finally, to the penitentiary.
where Admiral Davis left the governor
Shortly afterward the governor went on
board the Missouri. returned the admiraIs
call, requested him to withdraw his men
from the shore. and understood that Ad-
miral Davis acquiesced. The American
armed parties were withdrawn and the in
cident appeared to be concluded.
About $50 in the morning on the 18th
Admiral Davis sent to the governor let
ter, dated the 18th, which has been pub
lished, and in which the admiral stated
that, in his view, the governor had not the
means to deal with the situation. To back
his opinion Admiral Davis had again land
ed armed working parties. and had estab
lished b field hospital under the American
flag. Under any circumstances these pro-
ceedings and criticisms would have been
remarkable, but here they seemed to invite
a repetition of the request to withdraw the
American sailors, and, as that, result was
urgently necessary, the governor had to
employ any means in his power TO establish
his authority, to insure the performance of
a promise already given, and TO relieve a
situation which ought never to have arisen
He then wrote his letter of January 49, and
the American sailors We're again with
drawn
= Admiral Davis Letter.
When it became known in the town that
a,yic had cd TO