Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress

Mr. King to Mr. Seward.

No. 67.]

Legation of the United States, Rome, November 19, 1866.

Sir: I had hoped ere this to have been able to announce to the department the fact of the recapture of John H. Surratt, whose arrest and subsequent escape were mentioned in my last despatch; but I regret to say that thus far all our efforts to apprehend the fugitive have proved fruitless. Mr. Marsh, our minister at Florence, will no doubt report to the government the steps which he may have seen fit to take in the premises. I shall, therefore, content myself with a brief recital of what was done here.

On Friday last, November 16th, General Kanzler, the Papal minister of war, called to inform me of a rumor which had reached him, that Surratt had been received, wounded, into the military hospital at Sora, a few miles beyond the Papal frontier. I instantly telegraphed this information to Mr. Marsh, and in a few hours received a reply from him to the effect that he had made the necessary application to the Italian government. Regarding, however, the identification and apprehension of Surratt as of the first importance, I despatched Mr. Hooker, acting secretary of legation, by the earliest train to Sora, furnished with all the necessary documents and a photograph of Surratt, and also with instructions, if he found Surratt there, to ask, in the name of the American government, that he should be held in close custody until a proper demand could be made upon the Italian authorities for his surrender as a fugitive from justice. Mr. Hooker executed his mission with intelligence and despatch. Arriving at Isoletta, the frontier station, and communicating by telegraph with the commanding officer at Sora, he ascertained that one of the Pontifical zouaves, calling himself Watson, of Richmond, United States, twenty-two years old, tall, fair complexion, blue eyes, high forehead, reddish (sandy) hair, moustaches and goatee, had passed Sora for Naples, on the 8th instant, the same day that he escaped from Veroli, only a few miles distant. Mr. Hooker at once telegraphed this intelligence to our consul at Naples. The officer in charge at Isoletta did the same to the Neapolitan chief of police. Both asked that Surratt should, if possible, be arrested. I received a prompt reply from Mr. Swan at Naples, acknowledging receipt of Mr. Hooker’s telegram, and stating that they were on the lookout for Surratt. Our hopes were strong, therefore, that we should succeed in catching him somewhere in the vicinity of Naples. But yesterday a second despatch from Mr. Swan apprised us that Surratt had left the preceding day, November 17th, for Alexandria, by a steamer which stopped at Malta to coal, and that he had telegraphed the facts to our consul at that point. I also immediately telegraphed to Mr. Winthrop at Malta, urging the arrest of Surratt, but up to the moment of closing this despatch I have received no reply from Mr. Winthrop. The probabilities, I fear, now are, that Surratt will make good his escape.

Some surprise perhaps may be expressed that Surratt was arrested by the Papal authorities, before any request to that effect had been made by the American government. This was alluded to in a conversation I had on the subject with Cardinal Antonelli and the minister of war, on Friday last. Both gave me to understand that the arrest was made with the approval of his Holiness, and in anticipation of any application from the State Department, as well for the purpose of placing Surratt in safe custody, as with the view to show the disposition of the Papal government to comply with the expected request of the American authorities. I have no reason to doubt the entire good faith of the Papal government in the matter.

I enclose, for the information of the department, copies of one or two additional reports upon the facts connected with Surratt’s arrest and escape.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

RUFUS KING.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

[Translation.]

Juavi Pontifeci, Command of Battalion, Velletri, November 9, 1866.

My General: Following out your excellency’s orders, I sent this morning, to Feroli, Lieutenant de Farnel, to make examination into the escape of Zouave Watson. I have learned some other details of this unfortunate business. Watson at the moment when he was arrested must have been on his guard, having obtained knowledge of a letter addressed to Zouave St. Marie, which concerned him, probably. This letter, sent by mistake to a trumpeter named St. Marie, was opened by him and shown to Watson, because it was written in English. I have sent it to your Eminence, with the report of Captain Lambilly.

I am assured that the escape of Watson savors of a prodigy. He leaped from a height of twenty-three feet on a very narrow rock, beyond which is a precipice. The filth from the barracks accumulated on the rock, and in this manner the fall of Watson was broken. Had he leaped a little further he would have fallen into an abyss.

I am, with respect, my general, your Eminence’s very humble subordinate,

ALLET, Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Battalion.

The Minister of War Roux.

[Translation.]

Feroli, November 8.

My Colonel: I regret to announce to you that, notwithstanding all my precautions, I learn Watson has succeeded in escaping. To carry out the orders received, I had sent Sergeant Halyerid and six men to Tresulte, where this zouave was on detachment. They did not find him there, for on that day Watson had asked leave to go to Feroli. I charged the corporal of the third company, Vanderstroeten, to take him and turn him over to the post corporal, Warrin, to whom I had already given all my instructions on this subject.

All the measures ordered were carried out from point to point; two sentinels with loaded arms were placed, one at the very door of his prison, with orders to prevent any communication of the prisoner with persons outside, and the other at the door of the barrack. The prison, the doors and windows, &c., had been inspected in the minutest details by the locksmith of the commune. There was, therefore, nothing to fear in that quarter. All passed off well until this morning at four o’clock.

Then the prisoner was awakened, who rose, put on his gaiters, and took his coffee with a calmness and phlegm quite English. The gate of the prison opens on a platform which overlooks the country; a balustrade prevents promenaders from tumbling on the rocks, situate at least thirty-five feet below the windows of the prison.

Beside the gate of this prison are situated the privies of the barrack. Watson asked permission to halt there. Corporal Warrin, who had six men with him as guards, allowed him to stop, very naturally, nothing doubting, either he or the zouaves present, that their prisoner was going to try to escape at a place which it seemed quite impossible to us to clear. This perilous leap was, however, to be taken, to be crowned with success. In fact, Watson, who seemed quiet, seized the balustrade, made a leap, and cast himself into the void, falling on the uneven rocks, where he might have broken his bones a thousand times, and gains the depths of the valley. Patrols were immediately organized, but in vain. We saw a peasant, who told us that he had seen an unarmed zouave who was going towards Casa Mari, which is the way to Piedmont.

I address to you herewith the report of the corporal of the post, besides two letters which are not without importance. They may be of some use to the police.

Lieutenant Mously and I have been to examine the localities, and we asked ourselves how one could make such leaps without breaking arms and legs.

Please, my colonel, to receive the assurance of my respect.

DE LAMBILLY, Commander of Detachment.

I have sent the description of this zouave to the gens d’armerie.