Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-02-01

| Chilian government an abstract OF
| the conclusions of the Fiscal General
upon the testimony taken by the
Judge of Crimes in an investigation
which was made to extend over near
| ly three months. [ very much re-
gret to be compelled to say this re-
port does not enable me to modify
the conclusion announced in my an
nual message.
am still Of the opinion that our
sailors were assaulted, beaten, stab
bed and killed, not for anything they
or any one Of them had done, but for
what the government of the United
States has done, or was charged with
having done, by it's civil officers and
naval commanders.
If that be the true aspect of the
case, the injury was to the govern
ment of the United States, not to
these poor sailors who were assaulted
in a manner so brutal and cowardly.
The Baltimore was in the harbor of
VaIparai so by virtue of that general
invitation which nations are held to
extend to the war vessels of other
powers with which they have friend
ly relations.
The officers and sailors Of the Balti-
more were in the harbor of Valparai-
SO under the orders of their govern
ment. They were upon the shore by
the implied invitation of the govern
ment of Chill, and with the approval
of their commanding officer.
The incidents Of the affair are brief
ly as follows: On the 10th of October
last Captain Schley, commanding the
United States steamship Baltimore,
gave shore leave to III petty officers
and sailors on the ship. These men
left the ship about 1:3O p. m. No in
cident of violence occurred; none Of
our men were arrested; no complaint
was lodged against them; nor did any
6 o'clock.
Capt. Schley states that he was him
self on shore and about the streets of
the city until $50 on that day. He
met very many of his men, who were
upon leave; that they were sober and
conducting themselves with proprie
ty, saluting Chilians and other men
as they met them. The Sisters of
Charity at the hospital to which our
wounded men were taken, when in
quired of stated that they were sober
when received.
About p. m. the assault began, and
it is remarkable that the investigation
by the Judge of Crimes, though SO
protected, does not enable him to give
any more satisfactory account of it's
origin than is found in the statement
that it began between drunken sailors.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Malta, in his telegram to Mr.. Mnott,
under date of Dec 81, states that the
quarrel began between two sailors in
a tavern and was continued in the
street, persons who were passing join
ing in it. The testimony of Talbot, an
apprentice who was with Riggin, is
that the outbreak in which they were
involved began by Chilian sailors spit
ting in the face of Talbot, which was
resented by a knockdown. 1t appears
that Riggin and Talbot were at the
time unaccompaniedb by any others of
their shipmates. These two men were
Immediately beset by crowd of Chilli
an citizens and sailors, through which
they broke their way to a street car,
and entered it for safety. They we're
pursued, driven from the car, and
Riggin was SO seriously beaten that
he fell in the street apparently dead.
The report of the Intendte of October
81 states that the fight began at p.
m. in three streets which are named.
That information was received at
the Intendencia at 6:15, and that the
police arrived on the scene at $50, a
full hour after the assault began. At
that time he says that a mob of 1000
men had collected, and that for sew
eral squares there was the appearance
of ''real battlefield" The scene at
this point is very graphically set be-
fore US by the Chilian testimony. The
American sailors, who, after SO long
an examination, have not been found
guilty of any breach Of peace, SO far
as the Chilian authorities are able to
discover, unarmed and defenceless,
are fleeing for their lives, pursued by
overwhelming numbers and fighting
only to aid their own escape from
death or to succor some mate whose
life was in the greatest peril. Eight
cen of them are brutaHy stabbed and
beaten, while one Chilian seems from
the report to have suffered injury.
No amount of evasion or subterfuge