Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1892-01-28


charity at the hospital to which our wounded
men were taken, when inquired OF, stated that
! they were sober when received. II the
| situation had been otherwise, we must
oeleVe that the Gillian police au-
| thorities would have made arrests About
p M the assault began, and it is remarkable
that the investigation by the Judge of crimes,
tnough so protracted, does not enable him to give
any more satisfactory account OF its origin than
| Is found in the statement that it began between
| drunken sailors. Repeatedly in the correspond.
| ence 1t is asserted that it was impossible to
| learn the precise cause OF the riot, The
minister of foreign affairs, Matta in his
| telegram to Mr.. Mont, under date Deem
Der 81, states that the quarrel began between
two sailors in o tavern and was continued in
the street persons who were passing joining in it.
| The testimony Of Talbot, an apprentice who
was with Riggin, is that the outbreak in which
they were involved began by q CHILEAN sailer
splitting in the face Of r. Talbot which was re-
Sented by q knock down. It appears
that Riggin and Talbot were at the time unac.
companied by any others Of their shipmates
Ihese two men were Immediately beset by q
crowd OF Gillian citizens and sailors, through
which they broke their way to street car and
entered 1t for safety. They were pursued
driven from the car, and Riggin was so serious
ly beaten that he fell in the street apparently
dead. There is nothing in the report of the
CHILEAN investigation made to us that seriously
Chlllan sources that almost instantly, with q
suddenness that strongly implies meditation and
preparation, mob, stated by the police author
tiles at one time to number 2,00O and at another
time ,OOO, was engaged in the assault upon our
sailors, who are represented as resisting with
stones, clubs and bright arms The report of
the 1ntendente OF October 30 states that the
fight began at s p. m. in three streets which
are named, that information was re-
ce1ved at the intendencia at 6:l5, and
that the police arrived on the scene at
$780, full half hour after the assault began At
that time he says that o mob Of 1900 men had
collected, and that for several squares there
was the appearance of a "real battlefield"
The scene at this point is very graphically set
before us by the Gillian testimony. The
American sailors, who, after so long
On examination, have not been found
guilty of any breach of the peace
so far as the Gillian authorities are able to dis
Tor their lives, pursued by overwhelm-
ing numbers, and fighting only to aid
their own escape from death or to sue
cor some mate whose life is in greater
peril. Eighteen Of them are brutality stabbed
and beaten, while one CHILEAN seems from the
report, to have suffered some injury; but how
serious, or with what character OF weapon or
whether by missile thrown by our men or by
some OF his fellow rioters, is unascertained.
The pretense that our men were fighting
with stones, clubs, and bright arms is, in
view Of these facts, incredible. It is further re-
1uteo by the fact that our prisoners, when
searched were absolutely without arms only
seven penknives being found in the possession
of the men arrested, while there were received
by our men more th0n thirty stab wounds
every one Of which was inflicted in the back,
and almost every confused wound was in the
back or back OF the head. The evidence of the
ships officer Of the day is that even the Jack
knives OF the men were taken from them before
leaving the ship.
AS to the brutal nature of the treatment re-
celved by our men, the following extract
from the account given of the affair by
the La Patria newspaper, of Valparaiso, of
October H. cannot be regarded as
too friendly; 1.-THE Yankees, as soon as their
pursuers gave chase, went by way of the Gale
del Arsenal toward the city car station. In the
presence OF an ordinary number of citizens,
among whom were some sailors, the North
Americans took seats in the street car to es-
cape from the stones which the Chilians threw
ut them. 1t was believed for an instant that
the North Americans had saved themselves
from popular fury, but such was not the case
Scarcely had the car begun to move, when a
crowd gathered around and stopped it's progress
Under these circumstances and without any
cessation of the bowling and throwing of stones
at the North Americans, the conductor entered
the car and seeing the risk Of the situation to the
vehicle, ordered them to get out. At the in
slant the sailors left the car, in the midst of q
hail of stones, the said conductor received a
stone blow on the head. One of the Yankee
sailors managed to escape in the direction of the
Plaza Wheelright, but the other was felled to
the ground by stone. Managing to raise him
self from the ground where he lay he staggered
in an opposition direction from the station. In
front of the house of Sig. Mazzini he was again
wounded falling then senseless and breath
less
NO amount OF evasion subterfuge is able to
cloud our clear vision Of this brutal work It
should be noticed, in this connection, that the
American sailors arrested, for an extradition
were, during the four days following the ar
rest, everyone discharged, no charge of any
breach OF the peace or other criminal
conduct having been sustained against a single
one Of them The judge of crimes Foster in a
note to the 1ntendente, under date of October
22-before the dispatch from this government
of the following day, which aroused the author
tiles OF Chilli to better sense Of the gravity of
the affair-says: 'Having presided temporarily
over this court in regard to the seamen of the
United States cruiser Baltimore, who have been
tried on account of the deplorable conduct
which took place." etc. The noticeable point
here is that our sailors had been tried before
the Ind OF October, and that the trial resulted
in their acquittal and return to their vessel It
IS quite remarkable and quite characteristic of
the management of this affair by the CHILEAN
vlsed that Seaman Davidson, of the Baltimore
has been included in the Indictment his offense
belng, so far as have been able to ascertain,
that he attempted to defend a ship-mate against
an assailant who was striking at him with
knife. The perfect vindication of our men is
furnished by this report; one only is found to
have been guilty of criminal fault and that for
an act clearly justifable.
AS to the part taken by the police in the affair
the case made by Chill is also far from salts
factory The point where Riggn was killed is
only three minutes walk from the police sta.
ton and not more than twice that distance from
the lEtendencia; and yet, according to their Of
fetal report full nall hour ,elapseo a11er
the assault began before the police
were upon the ground. It has been stated that
all but two of our men have said that the police
did their duty. The evidence taken at Mare
island shows that If such statement was pro-
cured from our men it was accomplished
by requiring them to sign a writing in
language they did not understand and
by the representation that it was mere decla-
ration that they had taken no part in the dis
turDance. Lieut.. McCrea, who acted as inter-
prefer, says in his evidence that when our sailors
were examined before the court the subject of the
conduct Of the police was so carefully avoided
that he reported the fact to Capt Schley on his
return to the vessel. The evidence of the ex-
istence of animosity towards our sail
ors in the minds of sailors of the Chill
ian navy and OF the populace OF Valparaiso
are so abundant and various as to leave no
doubt in the mind Of anyone who will examine
the paper submitted. It manifested itself in
threatening and insulting gestures toward our
men as they passed the CHILEAN man of war in
their boats and in the derisive and abusive cpl
thets with which they greeted every appearance
OF an American sailor on the evening of the riot.
Capt. Schley reports that boats from the Gillian
Warships several times went out of their course
to cross the bows of his boats, compelling them
10 Dack water. He complained of the
dlscourtesy, and it was corrected. That |
this feeling was shared by men of
higher rank is shown by an incident related by
Surgeon Stitt Of the Baltimore. After the bat
tie OF Placila he, with other medical officers of
the war vessels in the harbor, was giving volun-
Iary assistance to the wounded in the hospitals.