 Casement was suffering from a recurrence of malaria that had plagued him since his days in the Congo Free State, and too weak to travel, he was discovered at McKenna's Fort in Rahoneen, Ardfert, and arrested on charges of treason.A group of Irish American congressmen with the help of Joseph Tumulty (the President's personal and Irish-catholic secretary) presented a petition to Woodrow Wilson (of Scots-Irish descent) with the request to lean in on the Casement trial.Wilson was in the middle of his re-election campaign and was counting on the Irish American vote.