The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1892-01-16
THE OUTRAGE I
The Han who Mnt $tahbod in the Back
ihr First Wiin"ss-SniI"r in the tut
iurm of GhiI Prominent in the
IirnInIiiirs Higgins Murder.

NuIlJn. cat, Ian. : Investigation
into the assault on the BaltImOrr'S sailors
IN Valparaiso began yesterday AT Mare
island ia the presence Of Judge AdN"cate
General Rumry, United States District
Attorney t;arln and tinted States Com
missioner i. : ilaniry Honey conducted
the investigation.
John " Talbot, apprentice on board
the Baltimore, was one at the party on
September H. tr stated that & W.
RIggin. the hodtswaIn's mate, killed,
was with hln during the after
noon. About three o'clnrk they went
together 10 a saloon called the
Shakespeare ia The southern part of the
town The proprietor ordered them out,
drClariuG that a mob Of diSbandcd sailors
and soldier were preparing to attack the
Bait moro men aud he did not want any
troubI" in his place. l;i"Ein and Talbot
laughed at the waning, but lett the place
and went to the True Blue aaluon.
"Aboui / %O'cio,a, continued the wit
ness, II saw i.igg.n being threatened by
Chilian sailors, ia man OF war uniforms.
| ran across aud tried Ia separate them.
One Of the ChIiiuns spal in my face and |
knocked him down Instantly the crowd
of over 100 people appeared in the street
and we started ON a run but soon
Jumped on a passing ear The mob
followed aud stoned the car and
we were instantly surrounded by the mob.
| saw Riggin fall. aud tired to reach him,
but was stabbed in the back and turned to
run. After going Il few blocks turned
into Il doorway and was again stabbed in
the back; | got III, however, and got into a
corner aud defended myself with a chair.
The Iu,b followed mo and "A i'Hiliau
sailor in man Of war uniform
stabbed me again. The bartender
nnalIy put them out and barricaded the
door. The mob clauored outside for ad-
m~ittance and after an hour u policeman
arrested me and took me to Jail. He
disguised me by substituting a hat for
my sailors cap with the word Baltimore
on ii, so the mob would not notice that
| was an American sailor, The officer
turned me over TO the other police
men. who struck me several times,
although / was making no resistance. |
had no arms of an. kind aud was perfectly
sober. After a short time in Jail | was
sen TO u hospital with Hamilton. Painter
and Davidson, all badly hurt. We were
kept there for -four or live days and were
then SEM TO the ship, where | was in the
hospital torty-iive days. None except
American sailors were attacked by the
mob"
James Nj. Johnson, armOrcr Of the Balti-
more, swore while sitting in a restau-
rant I was told that they were killing our
mon outside aud warned not to go out |
went up stairs and looked out Of a window
and saw that d man was living face down
in the middle Of the street, two
or three policemen and Il mob Of citizens
around him They were stabbing
him in the back as he lay there. The po-
lice made no effort To stop them. / left the
hotel and went TO the place. The man
was Boatswain's Mate Riggin. | turned
him over and found the pulse still family
beating. | gave him a glass of liquor and
a moment after he recovered and said
For Gods sake, Johnson, take me out
of this before they xiii me
II lifted him and drew him to one side.
when ! saw i squad of soldiers approach
ing followed by i bowling mob. When
within six feet the soldiers fired
two shots. One graGed my left check,
another struck Riggin i'll the neck and his
head fell from my shoulder as II his neck
had been broken / had backed against
the wall, but seeing kiggiu was dead /
slipped on to the site past the soldiers
and got back into the boarding house. !
saw the smoke come out of the coiuiers'
riles-aniid ttnt8nre that it was "a soldier
ga hsszf no otho' shot fired"