The judge of the criminal court, in an official letter of the 26th
instant, informs me as follows:
“On the 20th of the present month a confrontation, with
profitable results to the good success of the inquiry, was held
before this court between several sailors of the Baltimore and the culprits in the
process, which it instituted with reference to the disorders of
the 16th, and although the undersigned is mainly interested in
terminating as soon as possible this already prolonged
proceeding, the declarations of some of the sailors above
alluded to make it indispensable to vacate the previous
citations, and to hold a new confrontation between three of
these sailors and other witnesses in the case.
“It is also thought necessary to hear the account of the doctors
who attended the dead sailors after the examination ordered by
this tribunal and the opinion of a commission of experts,
keeping in view the arms carried by the police during the
disorders of the 16th, and the perforation of a neckerchief worn
by James M. Johnson, at the time when, according to him, he went
to assist the murdered Riggin, and which was first made by the
bail which ended his (Riggin’s) days, in order that it (the
commission) may then inform this tribunal whether the said
perforation could or could not have been caused by the rifles
with which the police were armed.
“In regard to the medical report as well as in regard to the
technical commission which has just been referred to, I have
thought it proper to appoint, as an evidence of the absolute
impartiality with which this tribunal is proceeding and of the
desire
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to throw light
upon the lamentable event which it is investigating, the
surgeons of the Baltimore and one of the
superior officers of that vessel to concert with the other
experts designated by the court in this act of justice.
“Giving expression to these ideas and to others which the
continuation of the process requires, the court under date of
the 21st of the present month decreed among other things, the
following:
“‘The declaration of James M. Johnson appearing to contradict
that of the witnesses Vergara, Castro Jeria, Hernandez, and
Iglesias, let a confrontation be held between all of them and
Charles Langen, also a sailor of the Baltimore.
“‘The city doctors, Antenos Calderon and Daniel Carvallo,
associated with the doctor of the cruiser Baltimore, and with other medical men, who may have
seen Riggin before and after his autopsy, will inform this
tribunal:
- “‘(1) Whether the shot wound which produced the death
of that sailor was caused by a revolver or a rifle,
giving the caliber of the projectile and the effects of
the same; and in case the last is resolved upon, if it
could have been from the rifles or carbines used by the
police, examples of which will be placed at their
disposition; and
- “‘(2) Whether the nature and gravity of the wounds
inflicted by a cutting instrument, rather than the shot
wound, might have removed the same Riggin, and the
probable time necessary for the cure of these
wounds.
“‘Be pleased to ask information of the doctor who examined sailor
Trumbull, whose real name is Turnbull, in his last illness,
regarding the precise causes and reasons of his death.
“‘Be pleased to name a commission of experts composed of
Commander Vicente Zegers Recasen, Lieut. Col. José Maria Bari,
and Lieut. Henry McCrea, of the cruiser Baltimore, in order that, keeping in view the
neckerchief delivered by sailor Johnson during the
confrontation, and the rifles and carbines with which the police
were armed during the disorders of the 16th, they may inform
this court whether the holes which are noted in the mentioned
neckerchief have or have not been produced by a ball shot made
with these arms.
“‘Be pleased to send an official letter to the intendente of the
province in order to obtain through him from the captain of the
Baltimore the exact descriptive list
of the deceased W. Turnbull; and to ask that the witness Eugene
Frank be cited, in order that, given the descriptive list of
that sailor, he may make clear whether he was or was not the
person that the culprit Carlos Gomez wounded. The same Gomez and
Federico Jensten will also make declaration regarding the
same.’
“I beg you, therefore, that in order to give completion to the
decree, having transcribed this, you will be pleased to transmit
the present communication to the captain of the Baltimore, that he may grant the
necessary permission to the doctor of that ship and to Lieut.
McCrea, in order that both may accept the commissions which this
tribunal commits to them, and that he may arrange in the same
manner the confrontation of the sailors Johnson, Langen, and
John Davidson, who, according to the before-mentioned decree,
will be brought face to face with the invalid sailor, Adrian
Bravo, indicated in the last appearance, when brought together
as one of the promoters of the disorders of October 16. The same
captain will be good enough also to remit by means of your
official intervention the other facts which this court has
thought necessary to ask, notifying him that, sailor Turnbull
having died on board the Baltimore, the
doctor who attended him in his last illness must belong to the
same cruiser.
“Counting on the acquiescence of the captain of the Baltimore, the court fixes the 30th from
2 to 3 p.m. for the hearing of the new confrontation that has
been ordered.
“In conclusion, Mr. Intendente, I must add that in order to
preserve the dignity of the proceedings of this court, during
the continuance of the confrontation held on the 20th, it was
necessary to remove by force one or two sailors of the Baltimore who presented themselves in the
court room in a state of intoxication, and whose behavior
necessitated their removal.
“The court could have better punished for itself the lack of
respect which these sailors committed, but as a demonstration of
special kindness towards the representatives of the Navy of the
United States in this port it consented that they should be
taken back to their ship, being satisfied with the full excuses
that Lieut. McCrea, who had charge of the sailors that were
giving their declarations, made for this same act and with the
formal promise that their fault would be severely punished on
board of the same cruiser.
“In recording in this note that strange incident of the
confrontation I have no other purpose than that of calling the
attention of the captain of the Baltimore
to the inevitable excesses that seamen deliver themselves up to
always when they come on shore, even when it maybe to appear at
the citation of a tribunal of a friendly nation which affords
them hospitality, and even when they may be under the immediate
watch of their respected and honorable chief who conducts
them.
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“Perhaps that incident will acquaint the captain of the Baltimore better than the actual
proceedings of the trial the real origin of one of the causes
that must have had much influence in the disorders of the 16th
of October.”
Which I have the honor to transcribe to you, in order that you may be
kind enough to assist, if you please, the action of justice in this
grave business.
God guard you.
