The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-03-12
Details Of the Seizure of the Place by
Nicaraguans and Landing of Troops
by an English War Ship.
BOUTELLE SCORES HERB ERT
Latter Had No Authority to Place
the Navy Under Blounts
Confirmation of the Reported Capture
OF the Yacht Natalie and Execution
of the Crew by Haitians.

SAVANNAH, Ga, March 1.-THE report
of the landing of the British at Bluefieds,
in the Mosquito reservation, was con-
frmed to-day by the arrival of the steamer
Elliott, Captain A. Brown The Elliott,
which is a British steamer, left Bluefelds
Sunday morning March l. She arrived
there Feb. q, just one day too late to wit
ness the arrival of the Nicaraguans. Capt.
Brown says the Nicaraguans entered Blue
fields Feb. % and 26 He did not know
their exact numerical strength, but there
was an armed force of four or five hundred
of them at Bluefelds when he arrived
They brought no cannon with them They
simply entered under arms and without
any resistance on the part of the natives
They at once hoisted the Nicaraguan flag
over the custom house and over the other
public buildings. The flags remained up
during the time the Elliott was in port
There was no fighting. The Mosquitoes were
considerably terrified by the presence Of so
large an armed force, as they were, practi-
cally, without protection in the city.
Captain Brown says the reports that
reached this country with regard to the
name Of the British warship there are in
error. 1t was not the Cleopatra, ha said,
but the lamar. The Mosquitoes, he states,
fearing they might be attacked by the
Nicaraguans, appealed to the lamar for
protection. Thursday, March 10, the Ia
mar, without any authority from the British
government, as the officers had not time
to get any such authority, sent three boat
loads of armed men ashore Captain
Brown did not know the exact number of
men, but between fifty and one hundred
landed. They were armed with carbines
and cutlasses. The men went ashore in the
steam launch OF the man-of-war and car
ried with them two Gatling guns and three
field pieces. The British forces did not
land at Bluefields, but at Bluehelds bluff,
about four or five miles northwest of the
city. There was some understanding be-
tween the Mosquito chief and the officer
in charge of the lamar, the chief asking
that the men be landed for the safety and
protection of his people. The British sol
diers went into Bluehelds from the bluff.
TAey could not go by land, but had 10 use
the steam launch in which they carried one
There was no fight of any kind between
March /, the day the men landed, and
March 4. the day the Elliot sailed. There
was little excitement among the people
The Mosquitoes were frightened when the
Nicara guanS first entered, but after the
landing of the British troops all excitement
subsided, and the people seemed willing TO
rest easy and let things go on as they were
until the trouble between the Indians and
the Nicaraguans is settled. The Nicara-
gnans, of course. objected to the landing
of the British troops, and charged the Brit
ish officers with an open violation of the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty. Little attention was
paid to this by the British. The Nicara-
guans wanted them to stick to the terms
OF the treaty. The lamar sailed from
Bluefields Thursday night for Colon for
the purpose of cabling to England for ad-
vices In the meantime the troops were
left in camp at Blueheids bluff. The Tamar
returned to BluefieldS late Saturday night.
Captain Brown did not learn the result of
the correspondence with the English De-
partment of Foreign Affairs. as he was five
or six miles away from Bluefields and did
not land there again before leaving Sunday
morning when the soldiers were still in
camp at the bluff.
The Elliot passed the wreck Of the United
States corvette Kearsarge, on Roncador
reef last Tuesday morning. She went with
I'm about five miles of the KearSarge, af-
fording an opportunity for a good view of
the hull. The captain of the Elliot says
there is nothing left of her but the hull
The decks have been swept clean. The
smokestack, masts and everything above
board are gone. The hull is in a very dam
gerous place, but so far as it Is to be seen
in shows no signs of going to pieces.