Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-01-28

factS upon which this conclusion rests / think
il right 70 saya word or two upon the legal
aspect OF the case. The Baltimore was in The
harbor of Valparaiso by virtue of that general
invitation which nations are held 10 ex-
tend 10 the war vessels OF other pow
ers with which they have friendly
relations. This invitation, 1 think, must be
held ordinarily 10 embrace the privilege Of
such communication with the shore as Is rea-
sonable, necessary and proper for the comfort
and convenience of the officers and men of such
vessels Capt. Sehley testifes that when his
vessel returned 20 Valparaiso on September IA,
the city officers, as is customary, extended the
Inequalities Of the CRY to his officers and crew.
Ii is not claimed tnat every personal collision
or injury in which a sailor or officer Of such
naval vessel visiting the shore may be involved
raises an international question, but am clearly
Of the opinion that where such sailors and ON.
GERS are assaulted by resident populace ami
mated by hostility 10 the government whose
uniforms these sailors and officers wear and
in resentment Of acts done by their government,
not by them, this nation must take notice of the
event as one involving an infraction OF its
rights and dignity not in secondary way. as
where a citizen is injured and presents his claim
through his OVID government, and in primary
way precisely as if its minister or consul or the
flag itself had been the object of the same char
acter of assault. The officers and sailors of the
Baltimore were in the harbor OF Valparaiso I'M
der the orders Of their government, not by their
own choice They were upon the shore by the
implied invitation OF the government OF Chilli
and with the approval of their commanding OIL
Ger; and it does not distinguish their case from
that of consul that his stay is more
permanent or that he holds the express invita-
ton of the local government 10 justify his long
resistance. Nor does it affect the question that
the injury was the act Of a mob II there had
been no participation by the police or military
TO extend protection, the case would still be one
in my opinion, when its extent and character
are considered involving international rignts.
Tn Incidents Of the affair are, briefly as fol-
Iows:
On the 10th OF October last Capt Schley, con-
manding the United States steamship Balti-
more, gave shore leave to III petty officers and
sailors of his ship. These men left the ship
about 1880 p. m. No incident OF violence oc
Cured; none of our men were arrested; no com
plant was lodged against them, nor did any col
lision or outbreak occur until about O'Clock p
m. Capt Schley states that he was himself on
shore and about the streets of the city until $50
p. m: that he met very many of his men who
were upon leave; that they were sober and
were conducting themselves with propriety,
saluting CHILEAN and other officers as they met
them. Other officers of the ship and Capt
jenkins, of the merchant ship Keweenaw, cor
roborate Capt Schley as 10 the general sobriety
and good behavior of our men. The Sisters of
Charity at the hospital TO which our wounded
men we're taken, when inquired of, stated that
they were sober when received. If the
situation had been otherwise, we must
believe that the Gillian police au-
thorities would have made arrests About
6p m, the assault began, and it is remarkable
that the investigation by the judge of crimes,
though 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
enee it is asserted that il was impossible 10
learn the precise cause of the riot The
minister of foreign affairs, Malta, in his
telegram to Mr.. Montt, under date Decem-
Der 81, states that the quarrel began between
two sailors in 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 Gillian sailor
splitting in the face of r. Talbot which was re
sented by a knock down. II appears
that Riggin and Talbot we've at the time unac-
companed by any others of their shipmates.
These two men were Immediately beset by q
crowd of Gillian citizens and sailors, through
which they broke their way to a street car and
entered ii for safety. They were pursued,
driven from the car, and Riggin was so serious
" beaten that he fell in the street apparently
dead. There is nothing in the report OF the
Gillian investigation made TO us that seriously
impeaches this testimony. 1t appears from
CHILEAN sources that almost instantly with a
suddenness that strongly implies meditation and
preparation, a mob, stated by the police author.
tiles at one time to number 900, and at another
time | 600 was engaged in the assault upon our
sailors who are represented as resisting with
stones, clubs and bright arms The report of
the intendente of October 30 states that the
fight began at p. IN. in three streets which
tI,.,T e,,E. s.ss..
ceived at the intendencia at els, and
that the police arrived on the scene at
$50, full half hour after the assault began Al
that time he says that 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
an examination, have not been found
guilty of any breach of the peace
so far as the Gillian authorities are able to dis
cover, unarmed and defenseless, are fleeing
for 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 brutally 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 nghtinp
with stones, clubs, and bright arms, is, in
view Of these facts Incredible. 1t is further re-
futed 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 than 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-
ceived by our men, the following extract
from the account given Of the affair BY
the La Patria newspaper, of Valparaiso, OF
October Il, cannot be regarded as
too friendly; "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 10 es-
cape from the stones which the Chiians threw
at 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 its progress.
Under these circumstances and without any
cessation OF the bowling and throwing OF stones
at the North Americans the conductor entered