The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-26

/ LIZ 4EIssrE6ra9E1l rfEhfS.
| The president then tells tbs stc-J OF tne
stack on the sailors of the baltimore a. related
| in the testimony of Captain schley and others
/ AZ the Investigation, showing that tie sslIors
| were sober and behaving themselves, sFioenee1
further By tie fact that The CEIlszn pohce haze
no arrests. and Gays IL IL renarks0s tnal AIS
pToIEaessd investigation By tia Judge Of e-IU1es
| did not enable hiEa 70 assign any mora Sails
| factory account Of its origin than row between
drunken sailors. lie then quotes the testimony
OF Apprentices Talbot that TIE trouble or gIcA'eo
IN Chilean sailor splitting IN Taibotfs lace, for
which he knocked him down Then followed
general attack or Talbot and Riggi1, with the
result already known Ths president con-
tiDues:
There is nothing in the report Of the Chilean
Investigation made to rs that seriouslJ i'm
peaches this testimony. II appears HON
Chilean sources that almost instantly, Tltn q
suddenuezs that strongly implies meditation
ard preparation, the mob, which IL Ii stated Dy
the police eEfhoritIes at one tine numbered
900 AID ct another 100, engaged in an assault
upon the sailors, who ere represented as reply
ing With stones. clubs and side arms The re-
port Of the fu:endeute OF October % states that
the eight began 81 2. n In three streets, when
are named that the information was received
AZ the inteudente's Office ct els, and that
the police arrived on the scene ct $50. full
half hour after tie assault was begun. At that
time, he SAYS, q mob of 1000 men had col
Iected. and that for several squares there was
the appearance OF battlefield. The scene at
this poin, is very graphically set before Us By
the Chilean testimony. The American sailors
who, after long examination, had not been
found guilty Of any breach Of the peace, so tar
the Chilean authorities were able 20 dis
cover. ur.srmed and cefenseless, are fleeing for
their lives, pursued by overwhelming numbers
and fighting only TO gain their own escape from
death or suecor some mate whose life was IN
F~AD If 81 ,@,fs-v
stabbed AMI beaten, while one Chilean
seems, from the report, to have SUI
fered some injury, but how serious or
with vhs. character Of weapon, or whether BY
q missile thrown By our men or By some of his
fellow-ri5ters, 10 unascertained The pretense
that our men we're fighting with stones, clubs
or side arms in view Of these facts, appears in
credible. Il is further refuted by the fact tina:
the prisoners when searched we're absolutely
without arms, only seven peukniyes 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. Almost every con-
fused wound was on the back OF the head The
evidence OF the ships officers OF the day 10 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-
ceiyed by our men the president quotes an ex-
tract from an account given Of the affair by Ia
Pdtrtd, q newspaper which he says cannot be re-
garded as too friendly. 1t tells how our men
beaten down, has already been told many
times. The message continues:
No account, evasion or subterfuge Is able 10
cloud our clear vision OF this brutal work. II
should be noticed in this connection that the
American sailors who had been arrested, after
the examination were, during the four days
following arrest, every one discharged,
no charge for any breach OF peace or
criminal conduct having been sustained
against q single one OF them. Judge OF Crimes
Foster, in note 10 the inteudente under date Of
October "a, before the receipt Of dispatch from
this government OF the following day, which
aroused the authorities of Chile 10 a better
sense Of the gravity of the affair, says: "Hav-
ing presided over this court temporarily in re-
gard to the seanen of the United States cruiser
Baltimore, which have been tried on account of
deplOrabe conduct which took place." etc. The
noticeable point here is that our sailors had
been tried before the I'D of October,
and the trial resulted In their acQuittal
and return to the vessel It Is
quite remarkable and quite characteristic
of the management of this affair, the trial by
the Chilean police authorities, that we should
now be advised that seaman Davidson, OF the
Baltimore, had been included In an indictment
his ofense being, SO far as have been able to
ascertain, that he attempted to defend ship
mate against an assailant who was striking him
with knife. perfect vindication of our men
ia furnished by this report. One only is found
to have been guilty of criminal fault, and that
Tor an act clearly justified
As to the part taken by the police in the a flair
the case made out by Chile il also far from salts
factory. The point where Riggin was killed is
only three minutes walk from a police station
and not more than twice that distance from the
| intendente's ofics, and yet, according to their
official report, fully half an hour passed after
| the assault began before the police were upon
| the ground. II has been stated that ell but two
OF our men.have said the police did their duty
| The evidence taken at Mare island shows that il
| such statement was procured from our men, il
| was accomplished by requiring them to sign
| writing in a language they did not understand
/ and by their representation that it was
| mere declaration that they had taken
| no part in the disturbance. Lieutenant McCrea,
who acted as interpreter 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 10 Captain Schley on his return to the
1 vessel.
| Evidence 10 in existence of the .uimositv
toward our sailors in the minds OF the sailors of
the Chilean navy and the populaee of Valparaiso,
20 abundant and various as 10 leave no doubt in
| the mind OF any one who will examine the
| papers submitted, as il manifested itself in
/ threatening and insulting gestures toward our
/
their boats, and the derisive and abusive
! epithets with which they greeted every appear
| auee OF American sailors. On the evening of
| the riot Captain Schley reports that boats from
| the Chilean warships several times went out Of
| their course to cross his boats. compelling them
| TO back water. He complained of the dis
| courtesy ind & was corrected. That this feel
| ing was shared by men OF higher rank IS shown
| by the incident related by Surgeon Stitt of the
Baltimore. After the battle of PIacilia while he.
| with other medical officers OF war vessels in the
| harboT, was giving voluntary assistance 10 the
| wounded In the hospitals, the son of a Chilean
| army officer OF high rank was under his care.
| and when the father discovered ii he few into a
| passion, said he would rather have. his son die
| than have Americans touch him, and at once
| had him removed from the ward. This feeling
| was not well concealed in the dispatch of the
foreign Office, and had quite an open expression
| In the disrespect shown in the treatment of the
| American legation. Chilean boatrnen refused.
| even for large offers of money, to return our
| sailors, " no crowded 90 the mole 20 their shin.
| when they were endeavorug 20 escape from the
| city on ths night of the assault The market
| boat OF the baltimore was threatened, and even
| quite recently the gig of Commander Evans, Of
| the Yorktown, was stoned while waiting at the
/ mole
The evidence OF our sailors Clearly shows n st
| an attack was expected By the Chilean people;
, that threats had been made agains: our men,
| and that IN one case, somewhat early in the
| afternoon, the keeper of one house into which
| some OF our men had gone, closed his estao-
| ushmeus in sntici patton of the attsck which,
! be advised them, would b made upon them as
| darkness came on.
In the report of Captain sehley to the navy
| department. he says;
| In the only interview that had with Judge
Foster who was iavcstig sting the case. relative
| IL the disturbance, before he was aware OF the
- a. ia med M.