Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-25
SWETTENHAM'S 5
CAREER ENDED
Continued from Page Oneo

archbishop of the West Indies and
chairman of the Kingston relief COM
mittee, rendering his thanks for the
prompt visit of the American warships
under Rear Admiral Davis. The mes
sage follows:
1--WE all appreciate deeply American
sympathy in our distress and the
prompt visit of your men-of-war for
our succor.
Happily, the supply of food avail
able for the relief committee is suffi-
cient. After meeting the cost of this
our newt great want will be the means
for making small houses habitable. All
our people are behaving splendidly."
The receipt today of the official full
text Of the correspondence between
Rear Admiral Davis and Governor
Swettenham of Jamaica, which did
not differ from the communications
transmitted by the Associated Press
last Saturday night, caused the naval
officials again to study the situation to
see If Admiral Davis had in any way
transgressed the bounds of propriety on
his visit to Kingston.
They not only found a precedent for
his landing men from his ships to pre-
serve order strangely enough in the
case of another British island in the
West Indies, but also saw nothing in
the whole affair to warrant the letter
addressed to him by Governor Swetten-
ham. Secretary Metcalf late this aft
ernoon gave out the following state
ment bearing on the subject:
Text of Correspondence
1.-The department has received the
full text of the correspondence between
Rear Admiral Davis, commanding the
squadron of naval vessels which visited
Kingston, Jamaica, after the earth
quake and Sir Alexander Swettenham,
governor of Jamaica.
From this correspondence it appears
| that Admiral Davis landed a party of
six to guard and secure the archives
of the American consulate and another
party of ten men for the purpose of
clearing away the wreckage. Later,
on the earnest entreaty of the colonial
secretary and the inspector of police,
who spoke for the governor, who was
absent from the city and at Kings
house, three miles distant, men were
landed under arms to overawe an al
| legged mutiny at the penitentiary con-
| tanning 500 or 900 prisoners.
admiral Davis proceeded in his car
riage to visit the governor at Kings
house and found him living with his
| family in tents and was accompanied
to the city by the governor That
same afternoon on the request of the
governor the men were withdrawn
| from shore and returned to their ships.
Precedent for Action
"The action of Admiral Davis in land
| ing, under the circumstances is not
without precedent, there being numer-
Gus cases to justify it, one of which
was the action of Rear Admiral r. w.
Meade, y. S. N, in landing men at
Port of Spain, Trinidad, to suppress a
| fire.
"The presence of the vessels of the At
| lantic fleet at the naval station, Guam
tanamo, only 130 miles from Kingston,
at the time of the earthquake places us
in a position for giving quickly first
aid and our own experience i'm the San
Francisco earthquake and fire of last
April showed the need of sufficient po-
lice protection and the great benefits
which would result from the use of
naval forces i'm such an emergency.
1.-THE commander In chief acted
promptly and sent Immediately vessels
having the largest number OF men and
supplies and offered much help, In the
way of medical attention and food, as
lay i'm his power, which action was fur
ther helped by the department dis
patching two store ships, laden with
large quantities of food supplies in
tended for the fleet and which were
| diverted from this duty and sent to
Kingston.
"After the men were Withdrawn from
shore and returned to their ships a
telegram was received from the brig
adler general commanding the army of
pacihcation i'm Cuba"
Secretary Metcalf today quoted
Governor Magoon's statements that
tents had been sent from Cuba to
Kingston on the request from their
minister, and continued:
"At the time of the above mentioned
request by the acting minister at Ha-
Vana for tents for the sufferers at
Kingston, Admiral Davis had on board
the vessels under his command then in
Kingston harbor and for several days