The Foreign Service Journal, November 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2020 69 shot by an unknown assailant on May 20, 1906. Like many con- suls in the 19th century, Stuart represented multiple countries’ interests simultaneously, in this case Great Britain in an acting capacity. Local authorities arrested two men for the murder, but the reason for the killing was never conclusively determined. Accidents also killed several overlooked consuls. Allen Fran- cis, consul to St. Thomas and Port Stanley in Ontario, Canada, was present in the former city on Aug. 4, 1887, the date of the largest train disaster in the history of the southwest region of that province. Two trains collided, killing 13 people. Francis, who was apparently investigating the crash, died after being struck by fire department equipment. In the post–World War II era, AFSA criteria for inclusion on the plaques did not include airplane or automobile crashes, but the criteria were changed periodically (see John Naland, “The Foreign Service Honor Roll,” May 2020 FSJ ), and in recent year s several diplomats who died in such disasters have been added. Of those previously overlooked, George Atcheson Jr. is the most prominent. At the time of his death in 1947, Atcheson served as an adviser to General Douglas MacArthur in occupied Japan and was on his way to Washington, D.C., when his plane crashed 110 miles west of Oahu. Apparently, the pilots had mistakenly set the throttle in the wrong position, and the aircraft ran out of fuel. According to Time magazine, his last words before the crash were, “Well, it can’t be helped.” Atcheson had previously served as chargé in China during the war and its immediate after- math, where he was viewed as an ally of John Service and other Foreign Service officers who questioned the staying power of Chiang Kai-shek. After his death, Atcheson’s son, also named George, participated in one of the first underwater demolition attacks in the Korean War as part of a team of swimmers that attacked a train bridge near Yeosu. Others who died in airplane crashes included Carlin Treat, who died in Morocco on Oct. 10, 1946, on his way to his first post, Casablanca, and George Henderson, consul in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, who died in Shannon, Ireland, on April 15, 1948, while en route back to Washington, D.C., for consultations. The most prominent overlooked victim of an automobile crash is probably Henry H. Ford, consul general in Frankfurt, who died in an accident on the autobahn in 1965 while traveling back to his post from Bonn. Disease Took the Biggest Toll Of course, like most of those commemorated on the plaques in the 19th century, the vast majority of the overlooked consuls and diplomats died of disease. Most famously, yellow fever claimed the life of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the War of 1812, who had status as a Special Diplomatic Agent. Perry met with Simon Bolivar, then president of the Third Republic of Venezuela who became the first president of Gran Colombia, during the Congress of Angostura. That eventually led to the proclamation of an independent Gran Colombia, which went on to become the independent states of Colombia, Ecua- dor, Panama and Venezuela. Perry convinced Bolivar to reduce the number of privateer commissions being issued by the repub- lic of Venezuela; some unscrupulous individuals used these commissions to engage in piracy against U.S. shipping. Five of Perry’s crew died in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela), but Perry himself only came down with the disease while travel- ing to Port of Spain. The disease moved quickly, killing him six days after he first showed symptoms. Yellow fever also claimed the lives of John Howden, consul A portrait of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the “Hero of Lake Erie” during the War of 1812, who died of yellow fever in 1819. Appointed Special Diplomatic Agent, he had been in Venezuela to negotiate anti-piracy agreements with President Simon Bolivar. On the return trip, he contracted the disease and died shortly before reaching Port of Spain. U.S.NAVALACADEMYMUSEUMCOLLECTION