123 T 71/122c: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Sharp)
7281. Roger C. Tredwell, American Consul, Tashkent, Turkestan, has been under arrest there from October 20, 1918. The Department, with the aid of the British Government, has labored unremittingly for his release but without success. The Consul General at Irkutsk telegraphs that from an intercepted radio message from Tashkent to Moscow, dated January 25th, it appears that Tredwell and certain French and British subjects were arrested and delivered to the Commissary for Foreign Affairs of Tashkent. In addition to Tredwell a naturalized American citizen named Kalamatiano, formerly in the employ of the American Consul General at Moscow, is imprisoned in Moscow under sentence of death for alleged activities as a spy. There is strong reason to believe that this charge is untrue. This Government has already notified the Bolshivik authorities that if Kalamatiano should be executed and that investigation should show that the execution was unlawful the United States will insist upon the adequate punishment of the persons responsible therefor. In view of the reported arrest of French nationals you will informally convey the foregoing information to the French Government and endeavor to learn to what extent it is believed that cooperative action on the part of Great Britain, France and United States might be effective in obtaining the release of subjects or nationals of the three Governments. A similar telegram has been sent to the Embassy in London.