Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-05-03
The Riot and Massacre at Panama.

the 18th of April, gives the subjoined particu
lars of the terrible afray at Panama, of which
we had telegraphic account yesterday;
Another of those terrible fights between the
natives and foreigners which have occurred on
the isthmus several times since the emigration
to California commenced transpired at Panama
on the night of Tuesday, the 18th. The result
was most horrible massacre of innocent pas
sengers, great destruction OF passengers bag
gage, and devastation of property both OF
the Railroad Company and individual residents
near the Panama railroad station.
The difficulty originated IN dispute about
one dime between an intoxicated passenger
and native respecting payment Tor piece OF
watermelon The story is, that the native,
being much exasperated by the conduct Of the
passenger drew knife, on seeing which the
passenger fred at the native and severely
wounded him. This brought forward another
native, who stabbed the passenger, and then
the combatants increased considerably on both
sides for some time; number were shot and
more badly cut with machetes.
Through the exertions of Mr.. w. Johnson,
the Panama Railroad Superintendent at the
Panama station, the fight was then stayed for
short time. But anon it broke out with re-
newed violence, and an apparent organization
and evident method, which told fearfully for
the natives. About this time it began to be
evident that spite against the Railroad Com
pany and plumber were the chief motives OF the
atrocities and depredations which had been and
were to be committed. The first ARRAY occur
red between and 7 p. NJ, and but brief in
tervals of tolerable quiet occurred between that
hour and midnight. The most terrible assault
was made between and 10 o'clock.
All the officials on the station, with the ex-
cephon Of the superintendent, lost every thing
they had in clothing and valuables of every
description. The Panama Railroad counting
room Including the desks of the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company was entirely ransacked,
and every thing OF value carried off; the books
and papers were cut and torn to pieces, and
one Of the safes (which contained but little
money! was broken open and pillaged, while
the other was pierced to the inner Innings, but
nothing taken therefrom. Every drawer and
desk and closet was ransacked, and nothing
was left in its place or uninjured The freight
house was riddled with balls, and all the bag
gage that had not been put in the lighters to
go off to the steamer was rifed. The officers
all left the station except Mr.. Center and Mr.
Johnson; they were on the premises until the
ransacking was nearly completed. Mr.. Center
had several very narrow escapes; two men
were shot by his side, and he avoided the same
fate by concealing himself among the rafters
of the buildings.
Some twenty foreigners were killed, and be-
tween thirty and forty badly wounded. Among
the latter were several women and children;
among the former were, r. w. Marks, of Penn
sylvania, four years resident; NJ. Dubois, Of
Louisiana, also an old resident. Both Of these
aI citi wh
we have known long and well. Mr.. Stokes,
an officer Of the Walker company that came
to Panama on the Cortes, was also among the
killed. Mitchell Bettern, of Orleans county,
Vermont, from Gold Hill, Placer county, Cali
fornia, was found murdered in the woods near
the railroad station. He had two thousand
dollars on him when murdered So we are
informed by one of his feow-passengers.
An attempt having been made to get the
passengers who were in the vicinity of the sta
ton on board the little steamers, the natives
formed guard at the beach, and stripped men,
women, and children as they approached, tax
ing the women's rings from their fingers and
ears and their pins from their cuffs and bosoms.
OF the wounded who were residents Of the
Isthmus we have the names of W. ID. Hunter,
shot in the wrist; bone fractured; Theo. de
Saba, Secretary of the United States Consul
ut Panama - Palmer, an employee of the
railroad company at Panama.
Of passengers per steamer Illinois: George.
0. Field, of New ork, shot in the hip with a
musket ball-bad fracture; Jos. M. Parker,
Bangor, Maine, cut with a machete on the
head-sknl fractured and stab in the loins;
A. w. Selover, Providence, Rhode Island, shot
through the lungs with musket ball; A. Lante
Swane Strong, Maine, shot in the shoulder with
a musket ball, which passed down into the
kidneys.
OF passengers per steamer Cortes: Patrick J.
O'Neil, San Francisco, gun-shot through the
body and cash on the head with a machete-
relatives at New York; Nathan Preble, Han
cock county, Ohio, cut in the face very badly
with machete; Rev. Jno. Selwood, late Rector
OF Trinity church, Grahamville, South Carolina,
shot 10 the region Of the stomach, and also in
the head, with musket balls; likewise had cut
in the head with some sharp instrument.
At the police station there were some dozen
Of the "Illinois" passengers, all of whom we're
wounded, but none Of them seriously, except
one, whose name we could not ascertain.
All the above we're attended sedulously and
as promptly as possible by Drs. Otis, OF the
"Illinois,n Warrenton, of the philadelphia"
and Riley, of the "John l.. Stevens" Drs.
Kratowchil and lie Breton, of Panama, were
engaged with the wounded that were taken 10
them during the evening, and they we're at the
railroad station dressing wounds when we left
Panama yesterday morning.
They made here the most successful and
lucrative pillage Of the night. A large number
of the passengers passed this ordeal, and
among them were few who had not several
hundred dollars, and some as much as FIVE,
six, and seven thousand dollars. Most yielded
to the demands Of the robbers without much
resistanc, and those who made attempts to
escape or resist we're Immediately cut down.
Although the number Of dead and wounded
known is not greater than we have stated, we
feel confident that more we're killed than have
been found or of whom we have any tidings.
or fourteen dead who lay in the railroad freight
house on the following morning Of the 10th,
we could obtain the names of only one, Lieut..
Stokes.
The management Of the ostensible attempts
to subdue the savages after they commenced
the second attack was very bad, and indeed
the notice did very much harm rather than any