The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-01-21


ough overhauling, and Will not be COM
pleted for ten days or more. She cannot
go 10 sea In less than two weeks. Many
OF her officers have been granted short
leaves of absence, but can be quickly
summoned if necessary. l have received
instructions to prepare the dry dock for
the Charleston, and to put her in as soon
as she arrives. L do not know just when
she Will get here; it may be tomorrow
morning. but the dock is ready for her
whenever she does arrive.
AS soon as she can leave the dry
dock the monitor Comanche will take
her place there and have her bottom thor
oughly cleaned. In every other respect
Inc Comanche is in first-class condition.
90 not believe, however, she will be
sent TO sea, but Will be retained for har-
Dor defense. No steps have been taken,
as was reported, to replace her two ff-
teen-lnch smooth bores by rifles of a
smaller caliber. The Mohican, wooden
vessel, carrying eight smooth bores and
TWO rifles, has been in perfect order for
SIX weeks and could go to sea any day
She has SO far received no orders to leay e
the yard
Work is also being done on the Ranger
and Adams, but they can be of little
service. The Omaha and Swatara are laid
up, ana Will probably never go to sea
again. The double-turreted monitor
Monadnock is lying alongside the dock,
and some work is being done on her, but
her engines are not in, and none of her
armor is ready.'
The Admiral said in conclusion: 1--WE
have not received any unusual
amount OF ammunition or war material of
late. but yOu may say that every vessel
III this yard, or that comes here, will be
put in tirst-class fighting condition as
quickly as possibly"
Speaking OF the reported scarcity of
sailors to man the warships here, Captain
Wilson OF the receiving snip 1ndpend-
ence to-day said that although he had
comparatively few men on the indie
pendence, yet there were plenty to fully
man all the ships now in commission at
the yard. II others were needed they
could be obtained without difficulty.
MATTERS WILL BE AMICABLY SETTLED.
New YORK, Jan. 20.-The Herd{o's
Valparaiso man cables thus: You can
state positively that President Mont yes
terday told an ottcial high in the Chilean
service that there was not the slightest
DOUBT out what all matters at present in
dispute between the nited States and
Chile would be amicably settled within a
short time. 1t is a deliberate falSehood
that the ! orkt ,wn was fired upon"
WOULD NEED A LARGE ASdYs
BCSToN, Jan. l0.-Robert Barnett. a
prominent member of the Democratic
State Committee, who spent two Years III
Chile, said to-day: 1T would take ut
least 59,VUU soldiers to produce any effect
whatever in Chile. They would have to
be transported, and the cost wovld be
enormous. The Chileans are very rash.
feel sure that if war is declared it will
be long time before we secured q victory
and the country would be put to a great
expense. The cost for Il mere start will
be 5000, GOO"
CAPTAIN SCHLEY INTERVIEWED.
VALLEJO, Jan. 20.-Captain Schley of
the Baltimore was this morning shown
the report of the PTocuratOr Fiscal OF
Valparaiso, as published IL the morning
papers. lie sand: II am not at all sur
prIsed by this report. 1t is exactly what
l expected. Such conclusions were rem
dered necessary TO sustain the Chilean
contentious in the case, and the only
thing that surprises me is that they did
not convict and sentence me to some sort
of imprisonment" Captain Schley then
went over the report and discussed it in
detail. Regarding the rejection by the
Procurator OF Langin's and Johnson's
testimony, on the ground that their
stories did not agree perfectly, the Cap
tain said: These two men were our
strongest witnesses, testifying as they did
directly to the shooting of Riggin by the
soldiers. The court has 10 find some plea
Tor rejecting their evidence and hit on the
fact that they appeared not to have known
each other before the trouble occurred
This is very natural. Langin was not a
member of the Baltimores crew at the
time. He was sailor on an American
vessel wrecked III valparaiso harbOr
some days before the men were assaulted.
End enlisted on the Baltimore week al
ter the riot.
''As for the statement that the men
dined together in an clearinghouse on the
day Of the riot, it is possible that two men
could eat at the same hotel without meet
ing each other. IN fact, there is no pos
siDle doubt that Riggin was killed by the
rife bullet fired by the soldiers. John
son was STOPPING over and supporting
Riggin on his left arm and shoulder.
The soldiers fired when only six feet
distant. The bullet pierced the shirt and
the neckerchief covering on the right
shoulder of Johnson and then struck
Riggin in the neck, ranging downward
and inticting the wound which the doc
tors sly clused instant death. Blood
poured from the wound and covered
JohnSon's shirt. The shirt was shown to
the Valparaiso court, and yet the Procu-
rator Fiscal states that he rejects John
sons testimony because there were no
blood stains on his sleeve, as there must
have been if his story were true The
PrOcurator's statement that no one testi-
fed who fired the shots is false, as John
son and Langin both testified that the
soldiers fired them"
Regarding the dispute as to the weapon
from which the bullet that killed RigCin
was fired, Captain Schley said: This is
what / knew would occur as soon as I
heard experts had been summoned. The
day after the mob, a Valparaiso paper
l,n+ 50 H.
fired pistol at policeman, missed him
and killed Riggin. This theory was at
once seized upon by the Chileans, but
when an examination of Higgins body
was made, it was found a bullet had
passed through over nine inches of the
nrmeSt tissues in the human body. passed
through the vertebrSe, shattering them,
and Then through the shoulder blade.
And after all this left the body on the
other side with such velocity that the
flesh was hardly torn at all. There is no
pistol in existence that could infiict such
wound as this. There is no possible
doubt the ball came from a rifle. 1t
was necessary for the ChileanS to prove
that it was revolver wound, in order TO
e&onerate the police, and they, therefore.
called IN two physicians as experts. AS
was expected, these men, only one of
whom was really physician, the other
being merely hospital nurse, and one of
whom had never examined Higgins
body, testified that the wound was in
tlicted by pistol bullet. This gave the
court an excuse to reject the entire testi-
mony.
Lieutenant McCrae and DIR. White Of
the Baltimore made careful tests by FIRING
pistol and rifle balls through shirt and
neckerchief like Johnson's into a piece of
meat and found the rifle ball penetrated
through both cloth and meat exactly the
same as those in Higgins ease. DIR.
White had just treated three or four hum
dred rifle wounds and was an expert on
the subject. Both McCrae and White
testified most positively before the court
that the wounds were caused by a rifle
bullet. giving their reasons for the nnin