River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-02-21
WILLING TO SETTLE.

Germans, who Have, 1t Is said. Been
Carrying Matters with a High Hand.
BERLIN. Feb 1S-It is said that the Gov
ernment Is willing to effect a settlement Of
l the Samoan question upon the basis of the
/ United States Governments proposal at the
Washington conference-namely The estab-
I Tishment of Joint American, German and
/ English control over the Samoan Govern
ment through the Consuls of the three coun-
/ tries at Apia
| LONDON. Feb. 1s.-The Standards Berlin
correspondent says he understands that the
( German Government is disposed 10 suspend
/ hostilities in Samoa during the Samoan con
I ference but only on condition that estates
/ belonging 20 German subjects be evacuated
I by SamOans and that boundary lines of the
belligerenLS possessions be marked and re-
/ spected This can not be done officially,
I however, because Germany regards Ma
taafa as a rebel leader. not as a King
| The Frankfort Gazette suggests that all
the three governments interested shouldre-
call their present Samoan agents ON the
/ ground that they have interfered oyermuch
in the quarrels of the natives
VICTORIA FAyoRs A CONFERENCE
| LONDON, Feb. IS 1t is now admitted by
| persons in Ministerial confidence that the
! Queens speech which will be read in Par
lament next Thursday, Will make especial
reference to the situation in Samoa and
| recommend a conference between accred-
/ tied Representatives OF the interested gov
ernments for the purpose of settling the
/ disputed questions.
KLEIN ESCAPES.
| SAN Francisco. Feb. Is The steamer
/ Mariposa arrived Saturday from Australia.
/ She brought news from Samoa up to Feb
ruary. No more lighting had taken place,
/ but the story of events show the arbi-
trary and illegal acts of the Ger
mans Among the passengers on the
| steamer was Klein, the American CORE
\ spondent, who left the islands for fear the
/ Germans would kdnap him as they
\ charged he led the attack OF Mataafa
/ forces that ended in the loss of twenty Ger
man marines and officers Klein was
/ living in a hired house near the
American consulate when on Janu-
ary % he learned from a reliable
source that the Germans intended to
arrest and try him by court-martial. He had
several narrow escapes from capture by the
German police, and on the night of January
| q sought safety on the American man-of-
war Nipsic. On January - the captain of the
German gun-boat Adler sent a letterto Cap
tain Mullan, of the Nipsic, demanding Klein
delivery to the German military tribunal
on the gun-boa Adler Mullen promptly
refused declaring that no American citizen
could be tried by a military tribunal in
Samoa Klein never left the Nipsic after
this until he was transferred to the steamer
Mariposa. He viii start for Washington in
few days to present his facts TO the State
Department
Klein says that he left the islands be
cause he was aware that he would have to
remain ON an American man-Of-
xr-ar feonffnnaflv in order a
being seized by Germans. who We're
evidently under instructions from Ber-
lin to arrest him. although it was
well understood on the islands that
he took no part whatever in the attack ON
the Germans He says that he left a sick
bed to go out to watch the attempt of the
Germans to make landing for an attack on
Mataafa's forces. but that instead of firing
q shot or leading the natives he was a pas
sive spectator beyond warning the Germans
not to land as requested to do by the ma
tives The hatred of the Germans toward
any one stating the facts respecting the
aggressions of the Germans was illus
uated in the case of Cusack of
the Samoan Times. Mr. Klein has
atfidvits of Vice Consul Blackjack and
other residents as to the proper character
of his conduct on the night of the battle
with the Germans on December is Klein
declares that his published correspondence
has been verified by official corresr ondence
respecting affairs on the islands He contends
that the situation of all American residents,
and especially merchants is intolerable ow-
ing to the insolence of German officials and
soldiery. A feeling was entertained there
that American rights would not be respected
unless sufficient naval force was ordered to
those waters with adequate authority.
When the Mariposa left the islands every
thing was quiet but the preceding month";
had been marked by lively incidents. of
which only meager details have come by
cal6e from Auckland The fire at the
German consulate on January was ac-
cidentaL 1t was extinguished mainly
by the efforts of the American
and British marines, yet the next day
the German Consul swore that the Ameri-
cans and English were responsible for it,
attributing to those nationalities the double
motive of damaging German properly and
destroying German archives 9he day
after the fire il was found that Tamasese's
party had really intended to attack
Apia, but were prevented by that
occurrence. Inc German Consul DR..
Knappe, on January l2 sent word to Mataafa
that he wanted TO have talk with him, but
the King declined the invitation unless the
Consul put his desires in writing as other
WISE ne IGdIEu lie WOuIu compromise HIS
own position Another rebel came in sew
sral days afterward and said Tamasese's
party had been notified by the German
Consul that unless they came down
and attacked Mataafa the Germans would
go and fire upon the forces of Tamasese. On
the 18th the British steam packet Richmond
arrived Mr. Moors, an American mer-
chant, started to take his goods off the Rich
mond, and his boat was seized by an armed
German boat 1t was s o'clock in the
evening when the Richmond arrived
and a German guard was put aboard
of her the next morning. 1t was an
nounced that war had been declared and
that no goods would be allowed to land ex-
cept at a certain German store, where they
would be passed upon by a German store
keeper. The following day formal proc
lamation was made by the German Consul
declaring the island in state of war, and
that any assistance to the rebels would be
punished by martial law irrespective Of ma
tionality. All vessels were declared liable
to be searched Captain Mullan protested
against the seizure of Moors boat and the
boat was released
Consul Blackjack wrote to Consul Knappe
asking him what he meant by state of
war" The German Consul replied saying
martial law had been declared Meanwhile
suit was instituted against Stephen J.
Cusack publisher of the Samoan Times and
a British subject. in the British High Com
missioner's Court charging the defendant
with criminal libel against the German
Government and navy for reprinting an
article from a San Francisco paper on Ger
many's aggressions in Samoa Cusack was
found guilty and fined 500. The paper
was also suppressed. Captain Hand, of the
British war ship Royalist, had been
In the meantime friendly with the Ger
mans but on the 2Oth the British ship
Longfellow arrived and was boarded by
an armed boat from the Adler, which left
guard aboard Scarcely had the German
boat left the ships side when boat from
the Royalist arrived to demand the reason
for the presence of the Germans in charge
Of a british ship The German officer re-
fused To surrender the charge given by his
orders and the English officer returned
to his ship for further instructions Captain
Hand. after assuring himself that the Long
fellows papers were all right sent heavy
detachment ON board of the vessel and the
Germans left On the afternoon of the
2Oth British Consul CoetlOgon issued
proclamation ordering British subjects
TO pay no attention to the proclama-
ton of war The British Consul's
posters had scarcely been up when Captain
Fritze put up another proclamation declar-
ing that British citizens and those OF all