The record-union., 1892-01-08
speciaI 10 the REcoRp-uNroN.

VALLEJO, Jan. THE investigation
into the assault upon the American sail
ors attached to the Baltimore in VaIpa-
raiso commenced this morning at Mare
Island, Judge Advocate General Remy
presiding, assisted by United States Dis
trict Attorney Garter. Clement Bennett
acted as official stenographer. assisted by
3. f. Lamar. United States Commits
sioner Manley was also present.
The first witness called was Apprentice
Talbot. He was sworn by Commissioner
Manley, and testified as follows: Il am
attached to the Baltimore; was on that
vessel at Valparaiso on October 10th;
went on shore q 1t o'clock Of that day:
sixty others accompanied me. and some
came ashore later. ] know of the diff
Guilty that occurred on shore; on reaching
land we got our money changed and went
to the eastern end of the town. Connors,
Donney and Riggin were with me; we
went into saloon and met others: we
remained there awhile, and on leaving
visited another saloon. We also left there
and wandered about the street for an
hour; made our way to the southern part
oftOwn, and entered dance hall called
the Shakespeare with Riggin. The pro-
prletor told us that he was going TO close
up, and invited US out, as he said there
was going to be trouble. My under
standing of his remarks were that the
sailors from the Baltimore We're to be as
saulted. We laughed at the remark made
by the proprietor, but as he insisted on
our going, we left. It was then about 3
O'Clock III the afternoon. On coming out
we turned the corner and made our wav
to a saloon called the Home OF the Free
We found it closed, and visited another
saloon named the True Blue"
A tracing was shown Talbot at this
point by Colonel Remy, and the sailor
pointed out the location Of the places
visited by himself and Riggin after sep
arating from their companions.
Continuing. Talbot said: "Riggin. who
was with me, was the boatswain's mate.
II was about 1870 o'clock when we entered
the True Blue Saloon. We had been
ashore then about two hours and Il half.
Anderson, Wallace, Willis and Williams
Of the Baltimore were in the saloon when
we arrived. Riggin and l remained
about twenty-five minutes. Riggin went
out first and reached the middle of the
street when | came out and noticed a
Chilean man-Of-War's man placing him
self in q fighting attitude and attempting
to pick row with Riggin, / rushed up,
and showing the Chilean sailor aside.
made efforts to get Riggin away The
Chilean sailor followed me and spat in
my face. | knocked him down, and we
started 10 leave the neighborhood. While
the street seemed deserted when Rigpin,
myself and the Chilean sailor were IN the
center of 1t, as soon as | knocked the
sailor down the thorOughfare filled with
people. They seemed to come from every
doorway. We ran rapidly down the
street, and when we met q horse
car coming l pushed Riggin into it.
At once it was surrounded by a
bowling mob. Bricks, stones and chunks
of wood came through the windows.
[ followed Riggin into the car. We
refused to come out and remained there
five minutes. While protecting ourselves
in the car three or four ChileanS came on
the platform and told us to come out, and
we would be protected. Accepting the
invitation we stepped off the platform,
but our feet had hardly touched the
ground when Riggan was surrounded by
one crowd and i became separated from
him. l attempted to reach his side, and
while doing SO felt a knife blade pene-
trate my back. found I could not reach
Riggin, and attempted to save myself [
succeeded in breaking through the crowd.
but they only gave me passage for
minute, when, with wild yellS, they pur-
sued me. Where | was going I could not
tell. l was running to save my life, and
bad just reached saloon and made dart
to get in the doorway when l was stabbed
in the left shoulder blade. l knocked
the man down and got the knife, but it
dropped from my hand. L entered the
saloon, but was put out by the proprietor,
and the bartender. The mob had reached
the door and l made a second attempt to
enter and got inside, but was again forced
out, and as L knew that they would kill
me | determined to get in a third time.
AID succeeded. L entered a small room
and closed the door, but the mob broke
il down, seized a chair and held it over
my head determined to kill any of the
mob that approached. | made a charge
on them with the chair, and they all
rushed pell nell out of the building, but
returned q moment later. The barkeeper
assisted in the attempt to get me out. and
l knocked him down with the chair NV
arm then commenced to pain me, but L
still held my ground with uplifted chair
Finding they could not get at me from in
front, and that l could hold them at bay,
police officer came in and / gave myself
up. On reaching the street l took my
cap off and placed it in my bosom. The
policeman gave me an old white hat
which | wore. The reason for this was
that attention would not be attracted by
the cap as the officer believed that the
mob would take me away. But one po-
lice officer entered the saloon. While I
was walking along with him to the mole
Chilean approached with two large
stones in his hands. I watch him closely,
and as he threw them | lodged and they
went over my head. While the mob was
outside the saloon in which l had sought
protection, the cry Kill the Yankee was
repeated over and over again. | had no
weapons upon me, not even q knife. To
my knowledge none of the BOYS ashore
from the ship had their jack-kives. [
witnessed no other trouble during the
day. was perfectly sober at the time
the assault was made"
The next witness was James NJ. John
son, armorer of the Baltimore, who has
been N the navy nine years. He was one
of the liberty party on the day of the as
sault. lie told the following story of his
experience: AT $50 ! went into res
taurant and boarding-hou owned by
Peter Nelson. While sitting there was
told that they were killing our men out
side, and warned not TO go out. | went
upstairs and looked out of window and
saw street-car stopped at the corner. A
man was lying face down in the middle
OF the street. Two or three policemen
and a mob of citizens were around him.
They were stabbing him in the back as
he lay there. The police made no effort
10 stop them, though present. l left the
hotel and went TO the place. The man
was boatSwain's mate Riggin. l turned
him over and ne seemed to be dead, but
l found his pulse still family beating. I
gave him a glass of liquor, and a moment
after he revived and said: For Gods
sake, Johnson, take me out of this
before they kill me- I lifted him