to escape in the direction of the Plaza Wheelright, but the
other was felled to the ground by a stone. Managing to raise himself
from the ground where he lay, he staggered in an opposite direction
from the station. In front of the house of Senor Mazzini he was again
wounded, falling then senseless and breathless.

No amount of evasion or subterfuge is able to cloud our clear vision
of this brutal work. It should be noticed in this connection that the
American sailors arrested, after an examination, were during the four
days following the arrest every one discharged, no charge of any breach
of the peace or other criminal conduct having been sustained against
a single one of them. The judge of crimes, Foster, in a note to the
_intendente_ under date of October 22, before the dispatch from this
Government of the following day, which aroused the authorities of Chile
to a better sense of the gravity of the affair, says:

Having presided temporarily over this court in regard to the seamen of
the United States cruiser _Baltimore_, who have been tried on account
of the deplorable conduct which took place, etc.

The noticeable point here is that our sailors had been tried before
the 22d of October, and that the trial resulted in their acquittal and
return to their vessel. It is quite remarkable and quite characteristic
of the management of this affair by the Chilean police authorities that
we should now be advised that Seaman Davidson, of the _Baltimore_, has
been included in the indictment, his offense being, so far as I have
been able to ascertain, that he attempted to defend a shipmate against
an assailant who was striking at him with a knife. The perfect
vindication of our men is furnished by this report. One only is found
to have been guilty of criminal fault, and that for an act clearly
justifiable.

As to the part taken by the police in the affair, the case made by Chile
is also far from satisfactory. The point where Riggin was killed is only
three minutes' walk from the police station, and not more than twice
that distance from the _intendencia_; and yet according to their
official report a full half hour elapsed after the assault began before
the police were upon the ground. It has been stated that all but two of
our men have said that the police did their duty. The evidence taken at
Mare Island shows that if such a statement was procured from our men it
was accomplished by requiring them to sign a