St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-20

Mataafa's Men Are Now Thor
oughly Equipped With Mu-
nitions OF War.
Now Is the Accepted Time for Uncle Sam to Rise in His
Hight and Make Bismarck Come
Off the Perch.


APIA, Samoa (via San Francisco), Jan.
19.-The most serious state OF affairs ex-
lists in Samoa. On the night OF Dee. lS
the sailors from the German men-of-
war Adler, Olga and Eber attacked
Mataafa's soldiers, under the direction
of the German consul and Capt. Fritz,
the senior naval officer of the port. AS
the result of the encounter twenty-five
German sailors were killed and thirty
two wounded. Since then the German
war ships have burned American
houses and flags, torn down the United
States flag, seized American citizens
in neutral waters of Apia harbOr, ard
taken them prisoners on board of the
German men Of-war, and fired upon the
Amer ican flag. King Mataafa's party,
who had been fighting almost constant
ly since the battle at LautOanua. killing
and wounding many of Iamasese'
men, began to fail or ammunition. pHt
We're able 10 obtain 10000 Snider cart
ridges, mortgaging their lands to pay
for ammunition. TamaS SEES men were
reported growing more dissatisfied daily
and desertions from his ranks became
very frequent, several villagers leaving
his party in body and going to their
homes. A detachment of Mataafa's IS
men succeeded in carrying the upper
end OF Tamasese'S big fort, Lantuando,
Dec. IL. On the same day the German
man-of-war Olga arrived from Marshall
island. The boat hid on board the de-
posed King Malieb1a, whom the Ger
mans had decided to bring back from
Africa, where he had been taken. Oh
the night of Dec. l6 large party of
Germans. numbering 1870 men, came
ashore at Apia, and entered the stores,
saloons and native houses in search or
Americans, EngliS men and ilalf,
castles. They entered the residence OF
George Seaman, United States marshal
in Apia. lie was not in, but the sailors
found him and his brother Morris, also
all American citizen, further up the
street. and starting a quarrel,
STABBED BOTH OF THE AMERICANS
in the back. The Scanlans escaped 10
a native church. where their WOUNDS
were dressed and found not to be fatal.
The German sailors rail- through the
streets attacking all persons they met.
except the Germans, and injured the
adherents of TamaseSe. and among the
number we're native women and chill
dren. Some OF Mataafa's soldiers
came in from the bush and were anX-
ious to begin shooting. but were urged
by United States Consul Blackjack not
to fire. On Dec. II the United States
consul sent protest to the German
consul, asserting that the conduct of
had placed Americans lives and
property in great jeopardy. At Z
O'Clock. on Dec. II, the Olga left Apia
and steamed up the coast and returned
that evening with Tamasese's secretary
on board. That night the secre-
tary wrote letter to his wife
i'm Apia, statating that the
Germans would attack the town named
Matafaatele during the night, and
would attack Mataafa's men while they
were sleeping. This town is situated
about two mile above Apia. The woman
told the news to one of her relatives in
Apia, who, in turn. sent word to Ma
taafa's soldi ers. Before midnight 300
armed men had assembled on shore a
short distance above the English con-
sulate, and, concealing themselves in
the bush. waited for the appearance of
the German boats. which. it is said,
contain numbero of TamaseSe's men. as
we'll as German sailors, who had been
brought from Saluafata by the Olga.
An American newspaper man named
John G. Klien accompanied the Mataafa
men
TO WITNESS THE PROCEEDINGS
interest of his paper. About 2 O'Clock
in the morning the three German men
of-war approached about half a mile
above the British consulate, and were
distinctly seen by the British consul.
1t was evident that their intention was
to land and proceed to Matafagaele on
foot. The soldiers of Mataafa gathered
on the shore and asked Klein to ask the
Germans not to land. as it would be re-
garded as hostile act, and that they
would be fred upon. This was shouted
to them when the boats were fifty yards
from the shore, The boats came on
toward the shore, when they received a
second warning. Two boats then pulled
out towards the sea and went to vii
lage called Vailele, four miles from
Apia. A third boat kept along the
coast. being still followed by Mataafa's
soldiers. When opposite MatafagateIe.
the boat pulled straight across the bay
to point of the other extremity. A
Mataafa chief, followed by eight or nine
men. ran around the edge of the bay
to intercept the boat, when opposite
the village of Fageli. The boat pulled
rapidly for the shore. At the same mo-
ment three men on horseback, carrying.
lanterns, rode out of the bush aud sig
nailed the men in the boats. SimuItan-
eously number of German soldiers
rose from the bottom of the boat, where
they had been concealed, and began to
wade ashore. Some of Mataafa's men
had come up in the meantime. and the
Germans began shooting at them. The
natives
DID NOT RETURN THE FIRE.
The Germans were soon landed and
took shelter behind some rising ground.
As soon as they gained this position
they at once opened fire on Mataafa's
men. Within minute fully 200 shots
had been fired by the Germans and
black laborers. natives and other island
ers, who work on the German plaiita-
tiOns. In the meantime Mataafa's re-
enforcement began to arrive from Mata-
fagatele and as they came up heavy vol
leys fired could be heard from the diree-
tion of Vanalle, and in few minutes
chief arrived and said the Germans
were firing on Mataafa's men there,
who were afraid to return the fire, al.
though the Germans had already. killed
Savay. chief, and his son. The chief,
who came as messenger. asked Klein
if they would be justified in returning
fire of the Germans, but he declined to