The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-05

assistant secretary or otake. mf. LIonl1s consul-gensral at Panama and the consul at Colon
 'Uprising on Isthmus reported. Keep Department promptly and fully inform
 Before this telegram wss sent, however, one was received from Consul Maimros at Colon. running. as follows:
 Revolution imminent. Government force on the Isthmus about 50 men. Their ofh- cial promised support revolution. Fire department, Panama, Al, are well organ ized and favor revolution. Government vessel. Cartegena, with about 4o0 men. arrived early today with ~commander in chief. .Tobar. Was not expected uuti1 November 10. Tobar's arrival Is not prob able to stop revolution"
 This cablegram was received at 2:8 p. I m. Mir, Loomis sent the telegram which he had already prepared to both Panama and Colon. Apparently. however. the con sul-general at Panama had not received the information embodied in the Asso- Assistant Secretary of Sate bssed hts dispatch; for his answer was that there was no uprising, although the situation SIS p. In. Immediatelv afterwards he sent another dispatch. which was received at $50 D.. m., saying that the uprising had occurred. and had been successful with no bioodshed. The Colombian gunboat Bogota next day began to shell the city of Panama, with the result of kiiline one Chinaman The consul-general was direct ed to notify her to stop firing. Mean bard notified the Department that he had landed a force to protect the lives and property of American citizens against the threats of the Colombian soldiery.
 taken by the United States troops to re- store order. the commander of the newly landed Colombian troops had indulge1 in wanton and violent threats against apprehension. As commander Hubbard reported in his letter of November ?. this officer and his troops practically began the I forbeaTanee Ts e and % coolness % of our offi- cers and men prevented b'oodshed. The letter of Commander Hubbard is of such interest that 1t deserves quotation in full, and runs as follows:
 "u. 5. s. Nashville, Third Rate:
 Colon. U s. Colombia, Nov. D, 1905: sir: Pending a complete report of the occurrences Of the last three days in Co., lon, Colombia, I most respectfully Invite the Departments attention to those of the date of Wednesday, November 1. which Amounted to practically the making Of cer in command of the Colombian troops in Colon. At o'clock ?. m. on that date was summoned on shore by a p-econ- certed signal, and on landing met the Colonel Shaler. the generai superintend. ent of the Panama Railroad. The con sul informed me that he had received no- tice from the officer commanding the Co- lombian troops, Colonel Torres. through the prefect of Colon. to the effect that if the Colombian officers, Generals Tobal and Amaya, who had been seized in Pan- on the of the sd S oners, were not released by o'clock p. m.. he, Torres. would open fire on the town of Colon and kill very United States citizen in the place, and my. advice and action rnnuQGted. 0dViQad that All the United States citizens should take refuge in the shed of the Panama Raii- road Company. stone building suscepu- fense. and that would immediately land such body of men. with extra arms for arming the citizens. as the complement of to and I Immediately ,sturned on board. landing was immediately given, and at l:3O p. m. the boats left the ship with party of 4msrssr z msn under tNe Witzel. with Midshipman J. P: Jackson as second in command. Time being press ing gave verbal orders to Mir. Witzel put it into the best state of defense pos sible, and proect the lives of the citizens assembled there-not firing unless ftre1 upon. The women and children took re- fuge on the German steamer Marcomanla and Panama Railroad steamer City of Washington. both ready to haul out from dock if necessary. The Nashville got under way and patrolled with her along the water front close in ana ready to use either small-arm or shrapnel fire. The Colombians surrounded the building of the railroad company almost immediately about one and a half hours their attitude was most threatening. 1t being seemingly their purpose to provoke an attack: Hap pity our men were cool and steady. ana while the tension was very great no shot was fired. At about 3i15 p. m. Colonel Torres came into the building for an in- terview and expressed himself as most whole affair was a misapprehension and that he would like to send the alcaGe of Colon to Panama to see General Tobal and have him direct the dis- A special train was furnished. and safe conduct guaranteed. At about 5:30 D. m. Colonel Torres made the proposition of withdrawing his forces to Nashville's force and leave the town in possession of the police until the return of the alcalde on the morning of the 9th. After an interview % Tish hi the United th states ability of good faith in the matter. I de- cided to accept the proposition and brought my men on board, the disparity in numbers between my force and that of the Colombians. nearly ten to one. mak- ing me desirous of avoiding a conflict so long as the object in view. the protection or Amerlcan cltlZenS, was not lmpeF1 eu
 am positive that the determined etti- tude of our men. their coolness and evil dent intention of standing their ground, had a most salutary and decisive effect on the immediate situation and was the in- itiel step in the ultimate abandoning of Colon by these troops and their return to Cartegena the following day. Lieutenant Commander Witzel Is entitled to much praise for his acmirable work in command on the spot.
 I feel that cannot sufficiently strongly represent to the Department the gross T ess of th's outrage and the insult to our dignity, even apart from the savagery of the threat.
 Very respectfully,
 John Hubbard,
 commander U. s. Navy. Commanding" The Secretary of the Navy,
 The Secretary of the Navy:
 Navy Department, Washington. D. C."
 In his letter of November Commander
 ''U. s. s. Nashville, Third Rate.
 Porto BellO, U. s. Colombia, Nov. 8, 190S.
 sir; l. l have the honor of making the following, report of the occurrences which took piece at Colon and Panama in the interval between the arrival of the Nashville at Colon on the evening of November 2, 1905. and the evening of Mo- vember 5, 1903. when by the arrival of the U. s. s. Dixie at Colon l was relieved as lano, U. g. Navy.
 ''2 At the time of the arrival of the Nashville at Colon at o:90 D. m. on Mo- vember 2 everything on the Isthmus was quiet. There was talk of proclaiming the independence of Panama, but no definite action had been taken and there had been no disturbance of peace and order. At daylight cn the morning of November 3 1t was found that vessel which had come in during the night was the Colombian RunbOat CarteRena carving between 400