The chief of police of Valparaiso to the intendente of Valparaiso.
Valparaiso, October 27, 1891.
H.
Señor Intendente: In obedience to your verbal order to report concerning the contents of an extract from the note of the United States minister addressed to the minister of foreign relations relative to the affray which took place on the 16th instant between some North American seamen and a number of Chilean seamen and people of this city, I have to inform you that I ratify in all respects the report which I made to you on this subject under date of the 18th instant, and I may add that the charges made against the police by the United States minister are wholly unfounded, since the police did nothing more than their duty and did not maltreat a single one of the foreign seamen. It was their duty to disperse the crowds which had collected in several streets, owing to the riot which had taken place between the seamen of both nationalities and a number of the people of the city—to send all that they were able to take to the police station, in order to shelter them from further attacks, and as you are aware 31 United States seamen and 11 Chileans were taken before the criminal court for examination.
Capt. Honorio Zamudio, who was in command of a detachment of police, found on reaching the scene of the disorder a mob of not less than 1,000 persons, and in his report to me and in his statement before the judge of the criminal court he has declared that that serious riot was put down by his intervention, adding that the wounded men who were found, both American and Chilean, were sent to the hospital, and that they had been wounded in the fights which had taken place before he arrived. He adds that, when he reached Marquez street, he heard the shot of a gun or [Page 336] pistol, and turned towards the group whence he thought that it had come; he then found that a foreign sailor had received a hall in the neck, and it was impossible in that crowd to find out who had fired the shot. This is all that I have to say on the subject.
Ezequiel Lazo.
The foregoing agrees with the document on file at this legation.