The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-05-14
The Panama Massacre.--OMcial
Account by the Panama Au-
thorities.
Granada, STATE OF PANANAd
NAM ApriI II IS56- (

T6 the Secterary Of State-Although
you and the citizen Vice Governor have
been eye-witnesscs to the facts which took
place on the night of the 18th inst, at
the railroad station in the neighborhood
of this city, 1 deem it my duty to make
a circumstantial report of them.
It was six o'clock in the evening, 4
little more or less, when, being then at
home, [ heard several shots in the direc-
tion of said depot, and perceived an ex-
traordinary commotion in the population.
| Immediately went out, directing my
steps toward the barracks of gendarnae-
ry where 1 arrived nearly at the same
time with the citizen Vice Governor, in
accordance with whom 1 ordered the
fourteenth gendayneS then present to
march Immediately to the theater of dis
order, and those who were upon duty to
the prison and preside to hasten in join
ing the former, leaving at those estab-
lishments but the indispensable guards.
Then 1 entered the station through the
door from the land side, while the citi-
zen Vice Governor in your company en-
tered through the back door. On my
passage 1 learned that a dispute between
d HiIlNG anu IL ~ Ill AilSElCdu il OhOSS
who had arrived from Colon on the same
day, had produced a fearful collision
among a considerable number of fellow
countrymen Of each of the disputantsi
that the North Americans, shut up in
the Office of the company and in some of
the neighboring houses, fred upon the
natives, and that the latter, in their turn,
threatened and attacked the former with
stones, machetes and daggers. In fact,
when 1 arrived at the theater of disorder,
I found it in such a confusion that 1t
was nearly impossible to understand one
another amid the tremendous noise pro-
duced by the discharging of firearms
and a hail of stone and bottles which
flew in all directions. You know the
efforts which have been made in order to
keep back from the place of the riotthe
multitude which poured in to take part
in it-efforts which were but partly sue
cessful, since it was impossible to give
ones self heard by all of them. You
| also know that after the arrival of the
gendarmery there, Senior Theodore Saba,
| Chancellor of the North American Con-
s~ulate, presented himself before the cit
izen Vice Governor, delivering to him,
in the name of his Consul, a message
| which invited him to pass to the Office of
the company, to the effect whether he
could succeed to put an end to this dis
astrous conflict that the citizen Vice
Governor, accompanied by the same Sc
nor Saba, and Seniors Pedro Ocarrioly
Perez and Jose Maria Rodriguez went,
in fact, to the said Office; that, while ap-
preaching it, and after Senior Saba
having declared that the Governor was
there, the latter and his attendants were
fred at, Seniors Saba and Ocarrio being
hurt; that, under such circumstances,
the Vice Governor ordered the chief of
the gendarmes to advance and to dis
lodge those who were occupying that po-
s%itioD; and that, attacked by this corps,
they were obliged to surrender. During
this time, and a little a~fterward, the fu-
rious mob threw themselves upon the
North Americans in order to massacre
them, and some of them were, in this
manner, killed; but, through the efforts
of the authorities, of the chief of gendar-
merle and of some good citizens, the
greater part of those North Americans
were saved-ene part of them taking re-
fuge on board the steamer Taboga, which
lay close to the pier of the company, and
another part seeking shelter in the houses
of some Granadrans and in the State
building, called Washington whittier 1
personally conducted about forty passen-
gers, some of whom were wounded; like
wise, the efforts of the authorities and
of the same respectable citizens succeed
ed in preventing the s~tore-houses of the
company from being fred and the steam
er Taboga from being boarded, which
was more han once attempted by that
licentious and wrctched rabble. You
also know the efforts made by the citizen
Vice Governor, aided by Senior Nelson,
the Criminal Judge, and by yourself, to
prevent a portion Of the ~populace, who
had possessed themselves of a small
piece of artillery, from discharging it up
on the. passengers who had taken refuge
on board the Taboga you further know
that a gang of bandits, emerging from
amidst that criminal and furious mob,
plundered the Offices and s~torehouses
which had been abandoned, it being I'M
possible to prevent it, because the small
force of gendarmerie were entirely occu-
pied in guarding the Office of the compa-
ny, threatened, as 1 alredy stated, with
fire and repeated assaults of plundering,
and the steamer Taboga, which being.
on account of low tide, unable to get off,
was in constant danger ofbeing attacked.
The authorities and some citizens who,
without any other arms han their gen.
erous indignation, penetrated to the mid
die of that turbulent populace, and tried
to tear out of their hands the stolen cf-
feets, courageously reproducing them
with their Infamous conduct, succeeded
in taking away only a small number of
effects, which were Immediately trans
ported to the city.
AS soon as 1 had brought to the Wash
ington House the passengers alluded to,
1 called for the service of a foreign ply
s%ician, to whom Senos L. Hermann and
Hearique Shuber had addressed me, in
order that he might take care of those
who had been wounded, and, in fact,
they Immediately received the attend
ance necessary under such circumstances.
At my return to the railrord station l
solicited from the physicians Emilio LIE
Breten and Jose Krachtovil, to give
their assistance to the wounded who lay
in the Office of the company, which they
complied with promptly and successfully,
aided by Senior riauGvi 1SSaor avoi-
IDENTIFY being there. The said wounded
were transported, with the cooperation
of Seniors Nelson, McLane and Corwine,
to one of the houses of the company, sit
uated at the same station. At two
O'Clock in the morning 1 went back with
you to the city, accompanied by Seniors
|