The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-02-12

shall not be reopened until further or
der from the Government. On the same
day the armed forces of the Govern
ment took possession of the court
house, tore down the notices OF the
Chief Justice and put new locks on the
doors The armed guard remained
watching the courthouse. DR.. Raffel,
the President of the municipality I'M
der the Berlin treaty, then asserted
that, under the treaty, as there was a
vacancy in the office of Chief Justice,
he, the President, was acting Chief
Justice In this he was strongly backed
up by the German Consul and German
The United States and British Consuls
and Captain Sturdee took quite another
view, and that was that under the
agreement with the Provisional Gov
eminent no official was to be disturbed,
and that this was a distinct breach OF
that agreement. They further held that
there was no vacancy, as no authority
could dismiss the Chief Justice unless
the three powers; and in addition there
was no vacancy, in fact, as the Chief
Justice was in Samoa and claimed the
full possession of his rights. This was
communicated to DIR. Raffel and the
German Consul, but they declined to
give way and reasserted their position.
Captain Sturdee then issued a public
notice that the Supreme Court had been
illegally closed, and that the Chief JUS
tice, supported by the u. S. A. Consul
General and H. B. M. Consul, under the
protection of the armed forces Of the
Porpoise. would hold court at noon
on January Z and that IL resistance
were met, fire would be opened to sup
port the rights of Great Britain and the
United States. Notice was sent the
German Consul, the President and the
Provisional Government. The Provi-
ct mt INN
drew the armed guard from the court
houge, and Notwithstanding the pres
sure brought to bear upon them, and
the persuasive eloquence Of Herr Won
Bulow and others, remained steadfast
in their decision and sent no force to
oppose the opening.
To try and persuade Mataafa to come
out of his shell and oppose the Porpoise,
the German Consul sent round on
horseback by German man-o' warsmen
notice in German that Captain Stur-
dee had notified him he intended to
shell Apia that forenoon, but as Cap
tain Sturdee had not said so he did not
do so. At noon the Chief Justice, sup
| ported by the two Consuls, went to the
courthouse. An armed force of 20 from
! the Porpoise, under Lieutenant Parker
| halted a little way off. The President
and German Consul were found on the
courthouse veranda, and claimed that
the President was acting Chief Justice
in possession, that Chief Justice Cham
bers was no longer Chief Justice.
Both made violent and. heated
speeches, to which Consul Maxse, who
acted as spokesman for himself and
the United States Consul, replied firm
ly and to the point. He declined to
discuss the situation any longer. He
said he intended to open the court with
or without force, and that he and the
| Porpoise were at the disposal of his
Honor, the Chief Justice, N. S. Cham
bers Esq. Lieutenant Parker then
brought up his men alongside the court
building. The Chief Justice behaved
in a dignified manner, declining to lis
ten to either President or German Con-
sui unless they addressed him as your
Honor; this they refused to do After
more clustering and a further formal
protest. the Germans withdrew just as
the clerk of the court with one blow
of sledge hammer sent the door of
the courtroom wide open. With the
officials went all the German element,
after giving three cheers for Germans