St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-20
The Commander of the Pacific
Squadron on the Gillian
Revolution.
Scenes Of Carnage and Ra-
pine Followed the Defeat
OF Balmaeeda.
Admiral Brown Flatly Con-
tradiets Some Yarns as to
His Conduct.
Minister Egan Given Credit by
the SailoP--Recital Of the
Events.

SAN FRANCISCO. Nov I9.-The
United States steamer san Francisco.
flagship of the Pacific squadron. which
left here April 8 for Chill. returned
here this morning. The vessel was
present at the closing scenes of the
Gillian revolution. Admiral George
Brown. in an interview. stated that the
fall of Valparaiso. after the defeat of
Balmaceda'S forces by the COMPRESSION
alist forces under Gen. CantO, was at
tended with scenes of carnage and "a
pine. The reports Of the BON bardment
OF Iquique, the admiral stated. had been
much exaggerated. comparatively little
damage being done in the city owing to
the fact that the insurgent vessels re-
NAMED Of shore fully five miles.
After the decisive battle OF Vina del
Mar the family of Admiral Vel. inten-
denIe or ' Valparaiso. and other refugees
were taken on board the cruiser BaIti-
more The refugees were landed at
Mollends, Peru. a number of the minor
offenders who went aboard the Ameri-
can vessels afterWaTd went ashore again
at Valparaiso. Admiral Brown stated
that. despite the charges against Minis
ter Egan. the latter's conduct had been
dignifed and impartial. Concerning
the reports that the San Francisco had
given Balmaeeda information in regard
10 the landing Of the insurgents at
QuinteTO. the admiral
Refused TO Talk
at any length. awhile at Acapulco"
said he. i sent 3 full report concerning
al the actions of the San Francisco TO
the secretary OF the navy. 1 think it
will reach there today. and l cannot an
ticlpate the departments action in the
matter. The fact OF the landing of the
revOlutlOnistS at QuinterO was known In
Valparaiso long before we left the city,
in tact long before either Minister
Egan or any Of nv officers knew OF il.
Il took with ME on the San francisco
only one person not belonging to nv
crew, and that was flag officer OF the
German warship LeipSic. On returning
10 Valparaiso l sent Lieut.. George
i. Dyer. Tag lieutenant of my
ship, ashore with q cipher cable
dispatch. BE. as was neces-
airy. went TO the office of the intendente.
That official was very busy. ana. merely
glancing al The dispatch. which was en-
tireiy in cipher. wrote on it the words.
''Buena Vista" and affixed his sigma
ture. The dispatch was then cabled to
Washington, not soul in Valparaiso
knowing its contents. TWAS then after
p. n. The insurgents began landing
at sunrise, only eighteen miles distant
1t Is not credible that they had 10 wait
for information of the landing for all
those hours. The statement that the
80 ~ ? 10
officers OF the san Francisco gave par
ticularS or the landing at Quintero is
false. The papers did not publish any
thing Of the kind. We left Valparaiso,
sept Il. two days before the
Attack on the sailors
in Valparaiso. We had on board Col.
Nedaume, president of the cOurt-mar-
tia that convicted aud sentenced TO be
shot fOIty-twO young men for a plot 10
blow up government railroad and
stOrehOUse, and Ovalle Nicuna. cousin
Of the president-elect. These officials
were landed al CailaO. Peru. On arriT-
ing there we were detained three davs
and expected to be ordered back 10 Val
DaraisO. but were finally ordered north.
We came uD easily. running at the most
economical speed, according 10 general
department orders. During the trip we
never used more than fourteen hundred
horsepower.
How about the Balumore's cutting
the cable at IQuique?' was asked.
The Baltimore did not cut the cable
at all, ;" replied the admiral. The cable
company, which is an American cor
pOratiOn. had contract with Chill to
have the cable working between Lima
and Valparaiso by given time. The
mazda It nfrf1QrrtE an ' d
but they finally succeeded. The cable
run from Lima TO lquiQue, and from
there 10 Valparaiso. TO 90 through to
Lima.
The Balmaceda government. which
was the only government OF Chill TecOg-
niZed by this country, warned the CON-
pany that unless they opened COM
municatiOn 70 Lima according to con-
tract they would forfeit their charter
and all their privileges. The company
explained the facts TO the insurgents.
and made every possible effort to in
duce them to let
BalHlaceda's Messages
pass through. but all in vain: then the
company decided to cut the cable. They
had a regular cable boat to do the work.
but had no accurate means of meaSur-
ing the distance from shore. If cut
within q marine league of the shore
the insurgents would have the right TO
splice II again; so they asked the Balti-
more to accompany them and find the
distance This she did By means of
her improved range-hndeFs. and AT a
distance of five anu quarter miles out.
the cable boat cut the cable in two
places, and inserted a loop connecting
the END from Valparaiso and the end
from 1 7rnn time faarrinrr
entirely.
This work being done on the high
seas over a marine league from the
shore. for the Congressional parv TO
tamper with II would have been piracy.
But they were not cut OFF from the
world by any means. An English com
pany owns the cable there that reaches
from Lima to Valparaiso. touching at
six or eight intermediate points. one of
which is IQuiQue. The first thing the
insurgents did on Selling IQuiGue was
to cut this cable south OF that place, but
it remained intact 10 the north. giving
them uninterrupted connection with
Lima throughout the war"
"Non have TO doubt heard of the
charges made against You by the Con-
gressionaiists? W hat have you TO say
about them?'' was asked.
BaImaeeda Was Cornered.
There is nothing 10 be said. as moth
ingof the kind ever took place They
declared among other things that Bal
maceda was on board my ship. but |
suppose they are satisfied now that he
was not. since he killed himself in the
rooms OF the Argentine legation AT San
tiago.
The general impression was that the
president WAS concealed in a conx-ar+
10y the archbishop. Had be come on
board the San Francisco l would GER
n o.