THE CIVIL WAR OF 1891 369 the latter knocked him down. This was John W. Tal- bot, who was accompanied only by a fellow sailor named Charles W. Riggin. They were beset by a crowd of Chilean citizens and sailors. These were principally sailors who had recently been discharged from the transports, and longshoremen and not sailors from the Chilean fleet. The Americans were chased into a street car, then driven out of it and Riggin was beaten until he lay half dead in the street. This was within three minutes walk of the police station and the Intendencia; but the police were half an hour reaching the spot. Arriving, one of them appears to have shot the already expiring Riggin, at least, such is the testimony of two men who claim to have been eyewitnesses of the bru- tal act. The uprising was quite general in several places at about the same time ; there had been significant, omin- ous threatenings before ; no doubt the thing had been planned by the mob, as the "Baltimore" crew had been on the streets from i 130 p. m., to 6 :30 p. m., and there had been time enough for conferences in the grogshops. Eighteen of the "Baltimore" sailors were stabbed and beaten, one receiving as many as eighteen knife wounds. Only one Chilean was hurt. Six of the sailors were severely wounded ; the others received only slight bruis- es and cuts. Thirty-six of the United States sailors were arrested, for "the deplorable condition of affairs,"* and dis- charged. Some leaders of the Chileans were arrested, a trial was protracted through nearly three months, and some convictions obtained. In the long diplomatic correspondence which fol- lowed between the two governments, Senor Matta, Chil- ean minister of foreign affairs, complicated the rela-
- Judge of Crimes Foster.
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