The Washington times., 1913-01-30
CHARGEPRHEUSED| !
IaATE:DEPARTNENT
i IODEfRHBB RUSSIA
House Committee Finds Pecu-
: liar Intrigue in Payment of
- Damages Says Report. j

That British pirate used the state
Department 70 obtain from Russia
monetary Satisfaction beeause that
country had the effrontery. to attack
ssnd seize the pirate, is the allegation of
the House Committee on Expenditures
ie the Department of Commerce and
labor in the report made on the pres
ent condition of the fur seal industry.
sNo more remarkable intrigue has come
TO light in recent years. The commit
tee demands. as result that the
State Department take up with Russia
the matter of the case of the James
hamilton Lewis for the purpose of
rectifying the. wrong done by Isaac
Eiebes, C. H. Townsend and H. H. d.
Peirce against the government of Rus.
aa.-a a friendly power
Isaac Liebes, president of the North
fmerican Commercial Company. which,
under contract, had a monopoly of the
seal, business. did, on March L, 1890
declare under oath in the form of a
written affidavit" declares Sae House
cpmmittee in its report Ito the effect
that neither he nor any of his associate
lessees were engaged in the business of
ieiagic sealing, or any violation OF law.
Had Full knowledge.
when in truth and in fact he, the
said Isaac Liebes. was. at the very
Gpne of the fling of said sffidavit, in
ttl knowledge of the fact that his as
sociate lessee, Herman Liebes, was the
owner of the schooner James Hamil-
ton Lewis and that she had been out
ffteq by him. Illegally cleared January
70 1899. for hunting for, seals at. sea
and for the very purpose OF commit
s1g depredatfchs on the high seas
and in American waters and on the
seal islands Of Alaska during the sum-
H1er of 1880
THAT on September Il, 1880. he. the
said Isaac I-iebes, president, as afore,
said, became part owner of said vessel
James Hamilton Lewis That the said
Herman and Isaac Liebes, officers and
stockholders of the said North Ameri-
can Commercial Company and as own
efs of the said James Hamilton Lewis.
eorfesponded. combined. confederated
With one Alexander Mclean, known as
q notorious British pirate, for the pur-
pose of committing, and. in fact, did
commit, depredations on the high seas
n Charge Fraud.
tf'Your coulmittee further finds that
tsaac Liebess dn, eSfiiespeRa. issazfnbiae,,
aauF dSreeo NitHsoHe H. IL u Pelrce,
Chen third assistant Secretary of State
of the United States, and Charles IL
Townsend, seal expert of the United
States Bureau of Fisheries. in prepar-
ing, promoting, and collecting a fraud
pient claim in the case of the James
Hamilton Lewis and Capt Alexander
Mclean. the aforesaid British pirate.
ts'In 1881. the said schooner 80 .
was caught by a Russian vessel, under
the claim that the crew. headed by
the said Mclean. had raided the seal
islsnd belonging to Russia Disputes
arose as to the question of whether the
Russian government had a right to
seize the schooner Damages were
Claimed by the owTeTs = of the vessel
as well as the. crew I'm 1896 ,proceed-
ntgs were commenced in~tfe Stafee De-
eartment claiming damages on the part
Of owners, master. and crew"
AS a result of this claim $4,000
was allowed the claimants by The
Hague tribunal last year.
THE said H H. d. Peirce and Charles
H Townsend represented to the tri-
bhnal in the. trial of said case" said
the House commit &C.. "that sAlexan=
DER Mclean. the captain of said ves-
sci, was an american citizen, when
N truth and fact he was a British
Subject and notoriously known as a
pirate"