The Omaha guide., 1933-01-07
Hurley Asks Canal Governor For
Report

Washington,-The Secretary Of
War has received a complaint and de-
mand for redress transmitted by the
National Association for the Advance
ment Of Colored People in behalf of
John Samuel Clark, naturalized Am
erican citizen, born in the British
West Indies, who by reason of his
color was placed in Jail and subjected
to indignities at Cristobal, Canal
Zone, while enroute from Kingston,
Jamaica, British West Indies, to his
home in San Francisco.
The complaint, drawn up for Mr..
Clark by his attorney, Edward D.
MADISON. of San Franisco, states that
Mr.. Clark was carrying a passport
issued by the U. s. Government, that
he had in his possession sufficient
funds to cover the expenses of his
passage from San Francisco to King
ston and return, and that on his way
home while waiting for his ship at
Cristobal on June "a, 1881, he was
insulted and jailed by the local offic-
ers.
1t is charged that the local health
officer, DR.. c. A. Hearne. Chief Quar-
antine Officer for the Canal Zone at
Cristobal, sent him TO the Captain Of
the Port at Colon who asked him only
his name and where he was going,
thereupon returning him to the Gus
tody of DR. Hearne to be put in jail.
Upon Mr.. Clark's inquiring the reas-
on for his t~ention, as he was a first
class passenger having his passport
and first class passage, waiting for
his boat to San Francisco. DR.. Hearne
is alleged to have said that Mr.. Clark
was not wanted on Colon, that he the
doctor chad nothing to do with it, |
am just going by orders and it makes
nc difference to me if you have an
American passport and first-class
passage, you are still nothing but a
damned old Jamaican niger"
Mr.. Clarke, the complaint states,
was thereupon sent to the Chief of
Police at Cristobal to be placed in
jail. Mr.. Clark thereupon informed
the Panama Agencies Company, con-
trolling the Nelson Steamship Line,
which company after communicating
with the Panama Police Department,
DR.. Hearne and the Captain Of the
Port Of the Panamanian Government,
prevailed upon the United States
Consul at Colon, DR.. William w.
Early, to procure Mr.. Clark's release.
Mr.. Clark's complaint to the War
Department states that he was con-
fined in the Cristobal jail for one
hour. and his liberty was restricted
for an additional hour in the custody
of Cristobal police.
Had To Pay for Jail Food
DR.. Hearne, furthermore, it is
charged, surrendered Mr.. Clark's
passport to the United Fruit Company
only after he had paid $3.50 for meals
served him in jail and this passport
was not returned to Nh. Clark from
the United Fruit Company without
the intercession Of the u. S. Consul.
Mr.. Clark states that he was not
seeking entrance into Panama and
was therefore not subject to local i'm
migration laws. but was merely wait
ing for his ship. Copies of orders
issued in his ease state that he was
detained because he was "likely to
become a public charge, whereas in
fact he had $3.50 in his possession
and was merely awaiting the arrival
Of his ship.
The governor of the Canal Zone, H.
Burgess, is quoted as having report
ed to the State Department that "Un-
der a strict Interpretation Of the reg
ulations. Clark should have been de-
tanned for the entire time he was on
the Isthmus."
Redress Asked
The complaint states that not only
was Mr.. Clark a United States citis-
en-, on American territory at the
time of his arrest, and entitled to the