Mr. Sullivan to Señor Perez.
Sir: I have the honor to inform your excellency that the consul of the United States of America at Cartagena, in an official note of the 12th ultimo, addressed to me, says:
“The final trial of the persons accused of complicity in the assassinations of the officers of the steamers Rayo and Colombia took place on the 8th instant, before the judge of the province, and a jury of five persons, and they were found to be not guilty, and were discharged.”
From another source I have also been most credibly informed and believe, “that the jury was composed of an ex-judge suspended from civil rights for a corrupt sentence, two ex-brother officers of the principal accused, and two unobjectionable persons; that one of the topics for the defense was that no such crime as assassination existed according to Bolivian law;” and another, “that the jury need not be afraid of any foreign intervention,” &c.
The following extracts from letters now before me, written by gentlemen of the highest standing and social position in Cartagena, for whose honor and integrity I unhesitatingly vouch, will serve to convince any candid and unbiased mind, that the said trial and acquittal of those men were but a mockery of law, of justice, and of international comity.
[Page 1065][Extract No. 1.]
“In a few moments after the two ex-officers of the Rayo were murdered, I was at the Hotel Bolivar, where I saw the dead body of Lieutenant Borchart stretched upon the stone floor of the dining corridor, with a great crowd; and then the governor of the province, Miguel A. Vivez, to my question who had done the deed, said governor answered ‘that hundreds of eyes had seen it, but as nobody will dare to give a full deposition, probably the authors of the crime will not be discovered.’
“In the crowd was a young man whose daring looks and movements indicated one of the participators. His name is Peñaranda, and he was, I was told, secretary to General Mendoza Llanes. I was informed by—that said Peñaranda had arrested him in the street, and probably would have killed him had he not been recognized as not belonging to the Rayo. I was also informed by—that said Peñaranda was one of the leaders in causing the death of Lieutenants Borchart and Murdaugh.
“From that day, 1st September last, up to this date, November 19, 1867, I have not spoken to a single person without the confidence of the guilt of the national officers, Cespedes and Barrios, and of the carpenter, A. Franco, aided by the soldiers with their muskets, as having murdered ex-Lieutenant Borchart at the Hotel Bolivar, and of the national officer, Yates Marquez, as having murdered ex-Lieutenant Murdaugh at the club.
“A couple of days after the murder, Mr. O. visted me, and told me privately, that he was present and saw everything with the murder of Borchart, but that he did not dare to come forward and declare the truth, because he knew he would have to pay for it with his life. He said he had seen Lieutenant Colonel Cespedes shooting a number of times at Borchart. He also related to me the saving of Mr. Dorning, which is exactly as represented by Mrs. Antonia Gallardo,” &c.
[Extract No. 2.]
“There was ample time for the authorities at Carthagena to acquire a knowledge of what was threatened, and to provide against it.
“About five o’clock p. m., on the day in question, the naval agent of the royal mail steamer Tyne arrived at my house, and from him I learned that there were officers of the Rayo on board. The doctor and purser of the Tyne left the ship at seven, and the ex-officers of the Rayo, Borchart and Murdaugh, followed them.
“About a quarter to eight I accompanied said naval agent to said steamer Tyne, and while there a dark-complexioned person, short, and dressed in the white trowsers and blue jacket, with Repi, usually worn as an undress by the officers of the battalion ‘Regauder,’ with a crowd of about thirty or forty persons, rushed towards us, crying ‘a la lancha,’ and pistols were presented at the naval officer, amid shouts of ‘aquese esta es el oficial del Rayo.’ I knocked up the revolver presented by the leader of this mob, and asked what he wanted. He replied in an excited manner, pointing to the naval officer, ‘es el un oficial del Rayo.’ I corrected the mistake, and again asked what he wanted. He replied, ‘buscando los oficials del Rayo que nos han ultra jado de una que no podemos sufrir.’
“On my return from the steamer Tyne I inquired of several persons what was the cause of the disturbance, and received the same reply; and on approaching the Hotel Bolivar I heard several shots, and in passing the door was caught in the midst of a crowd that issued therefrom. Here I saw a tall, thin man, dressed in white, whose hands were dripping with blood. I asked who had wounded him. He replied, ‘Un oficial del Rayo.’ During all this time not a word was said about any attack on General Mendoza Llanes.
“Soon after this I saw an armed guard at the door of this hotel, and then heard for the first time the story of an attempt on General Mendoza’s life. This was at least three quarters of an hour after the said attack upon the naval officer of the steamer Tyne, above alluded to.
“About half past nine o’clock of the same night there was no guard at the Hotel Bolivar, nor did I see then any patrol or preparation to provide against a fresh outbreak.
“It appears that at the first alarm the President, Señor Gonzales Caraso, took refuge in the cuartel, and that at half past ten o’clock that night he was at his house and undressing to go to bed. A moment’s reflection would have told him that the mail steamer would leave at day-break, and that there was no other means of sending the surviving Americans out of danger. They owe their lives entirely to the women of the hotel and to the United States consul’s exertions.
“As soon as the crowd who had gone to the steamer Tyne, as above stated, were satisfied that those they were in search of were not on board, a cry of ‘al Hotel Bolivar’ was raised, and they immediately went off in that direction.
“I am particular as to time, in order to show that the story of an attack on General [Page 1066] Mendoza Llanes having provoked the murders is an afterthought; and that the civil authorities were guilty, as I venture to affirm, of at least gross omissions of duty.
“I am not able to say by whom the murders were actually committed, but t state that from the morning of the 2d of September up to this day, (November 22d,) the general report in this city has not wavered in pointing out Colonel Cespedes, Captain Barrios, Lieutenant Marquez, a carpenter named Franco, a policeman called Vivez, (the man whom I had met with his hands bloody,) and Señor Peñaranda, the secretary of General Mendoza Slanes, as active participators in the crime.
“So little shame was felt in Carthagena that a French gentleman who expressed his abhorrence of the crime and his disgust that robbery had been added to murder, was threatened by an officer of the battalion regenerader that he would be treated in like manner if he were not silent.”
[Extract No. 3.]
“I must state this crime causes the most painful sensation among foreigners resident in Carthagena, in like manner with natives who possess human feelings.
“The fatal time, about half past seven o’clock, I was in my balcony; saw a mob rushing to and fro in the streets; heard report of fire-arms in direction of the Hotel Bolivar and club.
Mr. Juan N. Pombo informed me that the most atrocious crime had been committed on the persons of the two officers of the Rayo, one in the Hotel Bolivar and the other in the club; the first victim Mr. Borchart, and the second Mr. Murdaugh. Inquiring who effected the hideous action, I was answered that it was a gang of the officers and part of soldiers of the battalion regenerados, actually on duty in Carthagena; that he, Mr. Pombo, was, unfortunately, at the fatal moment, in the club; that he, with others, thought to prevent the crime, but to no avail, as the actors were determined to take Mr. Murdaugh’s life. He also then told me that the mob was then leaving the club, when a young man at the door said to them that he knew where Mr. Murdaugh had absconded himself, and, void of honorable feelings, he escorted the officers of the regenerader to the fatal spot, and there Mr. Murdaugh was immediately butchered, and, as is stated by an eye-witness, executed by an officer named Teodoro Yates Marquez. After returning from the spot above mentioned, many persons also state that the said Marquez boasted of having accomplished his savage and hellish deed, brandishing the awful weapon (revolver) with which he had given vent to his unremitting thirst for human blood.
“Regarding what took place at the Bolivar Hotel, I learned that Messrs. Borchart and Dornin were making calls upon their friends after they had landed from the Royal Mail steamer, arrived from Santa Martha in the afternoon of the 1st of September last. Repairing to the Bolivar Hotel, they noticed a large crowd on the corner, front door, and steps of the hotel. Unconcerned, they walked through; but, on reaching the last steps to the corridor, they were fired upon.
“It seems that Borchart had no arms to defend himself. Mr. Dornin had his revolver and a small dagger. He commenced to make his defense against an overwhelming concourse, and throwing the dagger to Mr. Murdaugh with the object that he should also make his own defense, Mr. Dornin was severely wounded; and when the mob started upon Mr. Borchart, who had reached one of the rooms, Mr. Dornin was taken care of by the landlady of the hotel, and secreted in her own room, to prevent his being assassinated as his two comrades.
“Entering the room, Mr. Borchart resisted with all his power against the door to prevent the entrance of his followers. His strife must have been vigorous, as he had to battle between life and death.
“The rush ceased momentarily. He then strove to make a rapid escape towards the corridor to save himself; but unluckily, as he opened the door, although with precaution, he was seized by a man named Nicholas Franco, who commenced struggling with him, and from whom Mr. Borchart received in the hip a mortal cut with a carpenter’s chisel, which brought him down to the pavement of the corridor.
“In this awful situation revolvers were discharged at him, of which one ball, entering the left side of the breast, immediately caused his death.
“Antonio Gallardo, a servant in the hotel, and Mr. Nicholas Peñaredonda, were, I am informed, present, and can give their testimony as to these facts.
“The next morning I went to the hospital, and there found and examined the dead bodies of Borchart and Murdaugh; found several wounds upon each, more especially the one which each had received upon the left breast, which must have been the mortal one, penetrating, as is supposed, the hearts of those two American citizens.
“The facts above stated are well known to the community at large in this city.”
So far as I have been able to learn, none of the gentlemen from whose letters I have taken the above four last extracts are citizens of the United States of America.
The following are extracts from translations of evidence in the case, by eye-witnesses:
Señor Antonio del Real, in a note to the United States consul at Carthagena, dated [Page 1067] November 12, 1867, says: “Was in the house called the Club, on the night of the 1st of September last, when Mr. Murdaugh came in, and after a polite salutation to ourselves he went into the dining hall. Mr. Juan N. Pombo then requested Mr. Ruiz, the proprietor of the house, to persuade Mr. Murdaugh to retire, because there was much alarm, &c. After Mr. Ruiz had spoken to him he went out; and after hearing some shouts in the street he returned, and a servant boy of the house, as we were told, indicated to Murdaugh where to hide himself.
“This occurred in the midst of a great tumult, especially observable in the lower part of the house and in the street, where I saw some shots fired. I heard some shots fired inside of the house, and then I was told that Mr. Murdaugh had been found on a flat roof, in the midst of some boxes of flowers, and that they had killed him with pistolshots,” &c.
Señor Juan N. Pombo says, in a like note, “that he was in the house called the Club on the evening of the 1st of September; heard some shots fired. The principal corridor and interior of the house had been invaded by a crowd of armed individuals, who were searching for the officers of the Rayo,” &c.
Señor Eugenio de Janon, in a note of November 21 last, says: “On the 1st of September last, about 6 o’clock in the evening, more or less, I came off from the steamer Tyne in company with Messrs. Borchart, Smith, Dornin, and Murdaugh, and together we went to the Hotel Bolivar. On arriving up stairs, in the corridor of that hotel, I found directly in front of me a young man named Temistocles Peñaranda, who, seeing the four ex-officers of the Rayo with me, expressed himself in improper terms against them, calling them pirates, bandits of the Rayo, thieves, &c. Be it that the ex-officers referred to not wishing to take any notice of Mr. Peñaranda, or be it they did not understand the epithets which he directed towards them, the fact is they did not answer a single word, but went towards the room which opens on the hall.
“I told him that he ought not to express himself in the manner he was doing, because he might provoke a quarrel; and I told him that those gentlemen brought a letter of recommendation from General Santos Gutierrez for the President of the State. He then went to his room.
After this I was in the bed-room a few moments with the ex-officers, whom I soon left to go out on private business. On my return, Mrs. Antonio Gallardo told me that a mob, composed of the people, officers, and soldiers, had assassinated Mr. Borchart and wounded Mr. Dornin.”
Mrs. Antonio Gallardo, in the city of Carthagena, on the 1st of September last, testified before the alcalde of the district as follows:
To the query about her knowledge of what has taken place this evening at the Hotel Bolivar, where she was, she answered, “that she was in the said establishment and saw Mr. Peñaranda insulting four Americans that were in the corridor of the hotel, and who had just come up stairs, to which insults said Americans did not answer, when Peñaranda withdrew into his room; that a few moments later appeared an armed party looking for the Americans, which found only one, and he locked himself up in a room; that, nevertheless, they forced the door and fired at him every time that door was ajar; that the forces of that American giving way in holding the door, he thought to save himself by flight, but was detained by Mr. Nicholas Franco, who took hold of him, threw him on the floor, striking him at the same time with an instrument in his hand; that, after this, soldiers of the battalion regenerader shot at him with muskets and left him dead.”
Questioned if she had heard, and from whom, that the intention of the Americans was to kill General Mendoza Llanes, and if she saw any movement or anything else to indicate such intention, she answered, “that she did not hear or see anything of the kind, but that she knows General Mendoza was not in the hotel.
Evidence of Nicholas Peñaredenda, taken before the provincial court at Carthagena, November 5, 1867, is substantially as follows:
“Am a native of Maganque, twenty-eight years of age, married, and a merchant; was in Carthagena on the night of the 1st of September last, and that while in company with a young man named Falquez, from Santa Martha, Mr. Diego Leon approached and asked them the cause of the alarming movements observable at that time in the vicinity of where they were. They answered that they did not know. Said Leon then said he thought it was a question with the Americans, and then withdrew.
“Then witness and said Falquez went towards the Hotel Bolivar, and on their way having met General Mendoza Llanes, they stopped him, and having asked him if the report that the Americans had attacked him was true, he answered them in such a vague manner that the witness understood from him there had not been any such attack make upon him.
“That after this the witness proceeded alone to the Hotel Bolivar, and on going to the stairs of this establishment he heard the report of fire-arms, and, accelerating his steps, he found in the upper part of the house a multitude of persons, among whom he recognized Manuel Cespedes and Vicente Barrios, who, armed with revolvers, were firing upon two Americans who were then defending themselves from the shots thus [Page 1068] fired at them; that the witness being obliged to observe this occurrence, being then in the midst of it, interposed between Vicente Barrios and one of the Americans with whom Barrios was struggling; that the witness succeeded in saving the American and shutting him up in a room of the house; that the said American was wounded in this attack, but the witness cannot say who wounded him because there were so many attacking with sabers, &c., (arma blanca,) and at the same time the witness was wounded below the left nipple, by a stab from an instrument in an unknown hand; that this crowd went down stairs in search of another American, and the witness remained at the door of the room in which he had placed the American; then heard a voice in the house shouting: ‘How? are you going when there remain enemies up stairs?’ and observing at the same time that the people, with armed soldiers, were coming up stairs, then the witness resolved to leave the said door, and on going below he found Mr. Cespedes and begged of him to save the American; that a few minutes afterwards he heard shots fired inside the hotel, and the voice of a man who came out of the house, saying: ‘Now they have killed him!’ that witness then went up and found the American, whom he had shut up in the room, dead; that he then went out, and, late at night, found the American consul, and helped that officer to take on board the royal mail steamer two Americans who had been saved, of whom one was wounded; that shortly before leaving for the steamer the United States consul succeeded in procuring a public force, under the command of Cruez Diez and Colonel Caraso, who had helped the consul and mysef to get these two Americans on board of the said steamer,” &c., &c.
Mr. Manuel A. Orewoz testified before the provincial court at Carthagena, on the 31st December last, substantially as follows:
“Am forty years of age, a native of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, resident of Carthagena, merchant, and married; that on the 1st of Septemper last, in the evening, he was at the Hotel Bolivar, as the place had been and is his dwelling-place, and was an actual witness of the horrible scandal which in the end resulted in the death of the North American, Borchart, and the wounding of Mr. Dornin, also a North American; that of the multitude of people that were in the hotel that night he knew but few persons, except a young man, Peñaranda, who may justly be called the general promoter and instigator of the disgraceful occurrences of that night; that he also saw there Manuel Cespedes, second commander of the ‘battalion regenerader,’ Mr. Vicente Barrios, an officer of the same force, and a carpenter named Franco; that he only remained in the hotel that night, only until the assassins, assisted by armed soldiers of the said battalion, fell upon Borchart; that about 11 o’clock same night he returned to his lodgings in said hotel, and became engaged with Colonel Perea and the proprietor of the hotel in the means of saving and embarking of Mr. Darnin, who was wounded, and his companion, Smith, who were delivered by said two persons and myself to the American consul at 1 o’clock that night.
“That Borchart was killed and Dornin wounded before he had first left said hotel that night; that in a crowd of so many persons, who disputed the means of entrance to the room of the person who was the victim, had taken refuge, &c.
“He cannot positively say who had killed Mr. Borchart or wounded Mr. Dornin,” &c.
On the 6th of November last the United States consul at Carthagena wrote to me, as follows:
“Mr. Manuel Amador Fierro, the President of the State, sent for me to call at his office, and represented to me his disposition to comply with the demands of the national government in relation to the murders committed in this city on the 1st of September last, but stated he had not the power to perform what he knew to be his duty in the case, as the parties against whom he had to proceed composed the only armed force in this city; and should he undertake to carry out the proper measures it is probable he would himself be made a prisoner, which would make the situation much worse; consequently he begged of me, as a favor, to write to you per first opportunity, to request you to apply to the President or government of the nation, and state his desire that a force of one hundred national troops be sent to this city immediately; and in case the one hundred men have already been sent to Baranquilla, under the command of Colonel Ponce, that orders be immediately sent down to that officer to bring that force immediately to this city.
“His excellency also requested me to say to you that any communication from the government to him in relation to this matter he should like to have come through your medium and that of this consulate.
“I inclose a letter from his excellency for the secretary of war.”
I duly delivered the above letter for the secretary of war to his excellency Señor Carlos Martin, late secretary for foreign relations of Colombia, and at the same time explained to him the contents of said note of United States consul Hanaberg, when said secretary Martin assured me that the troops that had escorted General Mosquera were ordered to return to and remain at Carthagena, for the purpose indicated, and for the purpose of maintaining the peaee, good order, and dignity of Colombia. Such was my understanding with Secretary Martin on that subject.
[Page 1069]Said consul has also informed me that the President of Bolivar had complained to him that no troops had been sent to his aid.
Your predecessor, in an official note of the 10th of October last, in reply to mine of the 5th of the same month, says, as translated:
“In the same manner the said government has issued peremptory orders for disbanding the battalion which was in Carthagena, under command of G. Gonzales Curazo, to which the officers referred to by your excellency’s note belonged; the said force will, therefore, no longer be in the service of the republic.”
I have been advised by the said United States consul that the said troops, who had garrisoned Carthagena at the time of said murders, and who were charged with said crimes, have ever since been retained in the public service garrisoning said city.
Upon a careful review of the whole circumstances in this unpleasant affair, and mindful of the friendly relations which ought ever to exist between Colombia and the United States of America, I suggest to your excellency the propriety of your acceding to the terms and conditions contained in my note, addressed to your predecessor on the 20th of January last, asking indemnities for the families of the said two murdered Americans, as well as for said Dornin and Smith, their companions and countrymen, who has escaped being murdered at the same time and place.
Relying upon the friendship and good faith of your government towards mine, I have the honor to reiterate to your excellency my highest consideration and respect.
His Excellency Señor Doctor Santiago Perez, Secretary of the Interior and Foreign Relations, United States of Colombia.