More Vickers Progress.

Things are moving along nicely. Janet Burkitt reports:

"I talked to a State Dept. archivist and reviewed the RG 59 finding aids. It appears that there is quite a bit of potentially relevant material and most (if not all) of it is on microfilm, which is great.

"The only indication I found of any potential scandal on his part while he was consul at Matanzas involved a dispute with Spanish officials over a fine that the Spaniards imposed on an American ship that Vickers argued should be waived; the ship was evidently missing some cargo it was supposed to have and it sounded like the Spaniards were making some accusations of fraud.

"I don't know yet if this incident, which happened in January and February 1885, led to his suspension in May. But whatever precipitated the punishment, it does appear that Vickers' reputation was ultimately restored, as he was appointed major and inspector-general of the U.S. Volunteers during the Spanish-American War. He also appeared to be considered a prominent authority on Cuba, judging from newspaper references, but I never saw any more mention of 'bad moral conduct.'"

I am looking forward to seeing the primary source documents soon.