| Show A COWARDLY ATTACK Story of the Assault on the Balti mores Sailors r ONE OF THE OFFICERS TELLS IT m tjeln Was Strolling Along the Streets When a Chilian Picked a Quarrel With him Ile Was Stabbed Seven Times i I r CHICAGO Nov 23 Probably the most Intelligent and consecutive account yet received re-ceived In this country regarding the Chili an massacre of the United States steamship steam-ship Baltimores men reached here today in a letter irom one of her officers B W Wells to his father writing under date of October 20 from Valparaiso HE TOLD OF THE EXCITING OCCURRENCES He said the men had had no liberty since the middle of August until the day of the mas sacro and were only granted it then after the captain requested the police to protect the men in case of any trouble on shore The men went i ashore and strolled about quiet and orderly order-ly About G oclock Boatswains Mate Rig gen one of the best men in the crew had I words with a Chilian sailor Another of the Baltimores mon came up and said something when the Chilian spat in his faco and he was promptly knocked down This started a row and soon the two men were surrounded by a crowd of Chilian sailors roughs and boatmen outnumbering outnumber-ing them forty to one Higgins was stabbed and sank to the ground The other man fearing a like fate started to run but was pursued and STABBED IN THE BACK SEVEN TIMES Another man came along and picked Rig gin up to carry him away when a squad of police fired and a bullet passed through the shirt of the man holding Riggin and piercing pierc-ing the latters neck lodged under the shoulder blade The other man seeing the brutes loading again dropped Ri gin and ran The next heard of Riggin he was seen in a cart dying while the crowd of Chilians applied epitnets He died in a short time The Baltimores officers found people who could identify the policeman who did the shooting About 7 p m another man was brought off stabbed twice in the back one wound penetrating the lung All night the howling howl-ing mob were after the Baltimores sailors caught them singly and brutally beat and stabbed them There were a number in the hospital badly wounded when the letter let-ter was written and a number who escaped with slight cuts and bruises In fact as the young officer said the sick list the day after was BAD ENOUGH FOR A REGULAR BATTLE He expressed the utmost Indignation say ing the affair was brutal and cowardly He is sure our boys were set upon without warning and says Dont lose sight of the fact that Riggin was shot by a policeman police-man while dying from a stab wound Several other men whe running to save their lives were cut at by officers with swords Men were held up and robbed in broad day light in the streets of Valparaiso I and ono of the Baltimores officers walking down to the landing was spat at Besides all this there aro dozen other things such as spitting the flags of the Baltimores neat while it was at the landing kicking the men in tho boats etc The night of the fight one man was so hard pressed ho jumped off the landing and stones were thrown at him while he was in the water When a boat from an American merchant ship tried to piok him up it was driven back The young officer adds that from all reports the police abetted the whole affair |
