It appears from Mr. Grant’s report that the men assaulted were Nils
Johnson, Ingvald Ramstad, Charles Jonson, and Fred Jensen, regularly
shipped seamen but not American citizens; that two died from the result
of their wounds; that they were on shore contrary to the master’s
orders, and that the perpetrators of the crime have been apprehended and
will be brought to trial.
The minister for foreign affairs expresses regret at the occurrence;
states that from the information he has received the crime was committed
during a general street row, in a low part of the city, and that efforts
are being made to apprehend the culprits.
I will send you as soon as received a report on the origin of the
occurrence, which I have asked the consul to make, but will take no
further action until instructed, for apparently every effort is being
made to have the affair speedily adjusted.
[Inclosure in No. 335.]
Mr. Grant to
Mr. Thompson
.
Florianopolis
,
December 27,
1894
.
Sir: In explanation of my telegram of the
18th instant, I have to inform you of the following occurrence:
The American schooner Isaiah K. Stetson, Capt.
Charles F. Trask, having been unloaded, was cleared on Saturday, the
15th instant, bound for Barbadoes.
Early on Monday morning, 17th, the captain came to me and reported
that on the previous day, at about 1 o’clock p.m., he had given
leave to four of his crew namely, Nils Johnson, Ingvald Ramstad,
Charles Jonson, and Fred Jensen, to go on shore, but with
injunctions to return on board before dark. He, the captain, went on
shore at about 6 p.m., and meeting the men, ordered them to go on
board, but they refused to go, saying that they would get on board
later with the assistance of the crew of the Elcho, an English bark that lay moored at a wharf.
The captain returned on board without the men, and between 8 and 9
o’clock he was called for by the crew of the bark Elcho. He went on board the said bark and there found
three of his crew—Ingvald Ramstad, Charles Jonson, and Fred
Jensen—dangerously wounded and the other, Nils Johnson, slightly
wounded, the wounds having been, according to [Page 55] the men’s declaration, inflicted by
a group of soldiers armed with knives or other sharp instruments.
He, the captain, stated that he had tried to obtain medical aid for
the wounded men, but had been unsuccessful, as several doctors to
whom he had applied refused to go with him to see the men. He
afterwards, with the aid of the police, who appeared on the spot,
had the three men who were dangerously wounded transferred to the
hospital, where they arrived between 12 and 1 o’clock in the night,
Nils Johnson, who was very slightly wounded, proceeding on board the
ship.
On hearing this report I immediately applied to the chief of police
and requested him to take the necessary measures for the capture and
punishment of the soldiers who had committed the crime. The chief of
police assured me that all the necessary steps would immediately be
taken. I then, with the captain, procured a physician and proceeded
to the hospital, where I found the three seamen mentioned, all
stabbed in different places, and two of whom were in a very
precarious condition, one, Charles Jonson, having part of the bowels
protruding from a wound in the stomach.
They were all attended to by the physician I took with me in
conjunction with the physician of the hospital, who arrived some
time after we did. Charles Jonson died during the night of the 17th,
and Ingvald Ramstad on the next morning, and both were buried in the
afternoon of the 18th. The two men who died, Charles Jonson and
Ingvald Ramstad, were Norwegians by birth. Fred Jensen is a Dane,
and Nils Johnson a Swede; but as they were all regularly shipped at
New York on board the vessel, which is American, they are of course
all considered American seamen.
Considering the seriousness of the case, I thought it my duty to
telegraph direct to you, informing you at once of the matter, and I
beg you to advise me whether I have done rightly.
Several of the soldiers, in fact I believe all who perpetrated the
crime, have been discovered and imprisoned, and will be duly tried
and punished. The case is proceeding in due course, and if you wish
it I will from time to time inform you directly how the affair goes
on. If there is anything else that I ought to do, please to instruct
me, for the case is new to me.
The Isaiah K. Stetson sails to-morrow, three
seamen having arrived from Rio and shipped.
Fred Jensen, who was severely stabbed in the left arm and the back,
being unable to proceed, although much better and completely out of
danger, remains in the hospital discharged. Nils Johnson, quite
well, proceeds with the ship.
Awaiting your instructions, I am, etc.,
Robert Grant,
United States Consular
Agent
.