"I WAS IN THE STREET TALKING WITH A FRIEND 'WE SAW TURNBULL BEING AND WE WENT INTO A BAR PURSUED BY SOME FIFTEEN ROOM.... THE PEOPLE IN OR TWENTY CHILEANS.... THE BAR TOLD ME THERE THE CROWD WAS HITTING WAS A CROWD OUTSIDE HIM WITH CLUBS AND ROCKS, WAITING FOR ME AND NOT WHILE OTHERS SHOVED AND TO GO OUT, SO I WAITED KNOCKED HIM DOWN. HE AWHILE UNTIL I THOUGHT WAS A SIGHT TO BEHOLD, THE MOB HAD GONE AWAY. ALL COVERED WITH BLOOD THEN I WENT OUT AND AS FROM HEAD TO FOOT. HE SOON AS I WAS OUTSIDE WAS WAS RUNNING AWAY, STRUCK ON THE HEAD WITH FLEEING FOR HIS LIFE, A STONE. I TURNED AROUND TRYING TO GETAWAY.... AND TRIED TO GET BACK THE LADY WITH ME AT THE INTO THE SALOON, BUT THEY l WINDOW FAINTED AWAY... WOULDN'T LET ME IN. THE 6 %X^ ^W^m^. IT WAS THE CRUELEST THING I EVER SAW, BUT WE COULD MOB WAS AROUND ME ON »^^mx&m^^^\ ALL SIDES:' NOT DO ANYTHING."

WILLIAM TURNBULL, WILLIAM JENKINS, EYEWITNESS William TUrnbull and the Brink of War By Allan J, MacRae

n a fall evening in October 1891, tion, William Turnbull sought employ- the local Protestant school. "He was a tall, William Duncan Turnbull, late of ment and adventure; unfortunately, he well built, good looking fellow, standing OCharlottetown, was savagely attacked by found both. Born into a seafaring family six feet or over, and was quiet, inoffensive an angry mob in the Chilean port of Val- at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and popular with his companions." paraiso. The incident brought the United on 14 October 1867, William was the William's father, Captain Robert States and to the brink of war. seventh child and one of four sons born Turnbull, Sr., was an accomplished mas- to Captain RobertTurnbull, Sr., and Mary ter mariner. He was born in County Duncan. Few records have survived to Durham, England, on 29 March 1803, The Native Son tell us how young Turnbull spent his and emigrated to Prince Edward Island boyhood. From an article that appeared sometime in the early 1820s. A young Prince Edward Island has long been in the SnmmersideAgriculturalistm 1892, adventurer par excellence, he met, noted for exporting brains and brawn to we know that he took a great interest in courted, and won another Yorkshire the United States; however, it is a rare sports "and was organizer of the native, Isabella Severy (nee Gray), the occasion when an Islander emigrates Charlottetown Boating Club. As well, he 43-year-old widow of John Severy of South, precipitates an international inci- was quite a draughtsman, and designed Crapaud. They married on 5 August dent, and becomes an American hero. the Boating Club's colors: a square knot 1826, and overnight Captain Turnbull Yet that is precisely what happened to on a blue ground." He was given a strict became a landowner of minor means. William Duncan Turnbull. Methodist upbringing, and it is believed On 24 March 1827, a daughter, Hannah Like many young men of his genera- he received a rudimentary education in Gray, was born. Appointed Constable

20 ^William Duncan Turnbull, United Revolution in Chile Provocations States Navy. The photograph was taken in Brooklyn, New York. The revolution in Chile began as a politi- The seizure of the Itata was quickly cal dispute between the executive and followed by a series of other "incidents." for Crapaudin 1830, Turnbull soon added legislative branches of government over When Congressional forces seized the a further 150 acres to his farm. By the exercise of power as granted northern half of Chile, preventing over- the late 1840s, he owned and operated in their constitution. The dispute even- land contact between Balmaceda's gov- the sailing vessel, Hannah Gray, and tually led to open rebellion, with the ernment and the outside world, the had established a successful trading Congressional forces taking up arms United States Navy agreed to move the business between Charlottetown and against the legally elected government country's telegraph link with various ports in New England. of President Jose Manuel Balmaceda. Peru (the cable happened to be owned Isabella Severy Turnbull died on 11 Although the conflict was clearly an in- by American interests) outside Chile's January 1856, and was buried atTryon. ternal affair, the United States soon territorial waters, putting it out of reach The mourning period for Captain became embroiled. of the rebels. Then, on 20 August, Ameri- Turnbull was brief. Four months later, When the USS was ordered can naval forces openly "spied" on a on 27 May, he took as his second wife to Chile in the spring of 1891, its osten- Congressional landing at Quinteros Bay, Mary Duncan, a native of Charlottetown. sible purpose was to protect American a few north of Valparaiso. The They married at Portsmouth, New Hamp- property and to provide safe passage for rebels pressed on towards the capital of shire, but they made their home at American nationals onshore. In reality, Santiago, executing any prominent Charlottetown, where the Captain kept the Baltimore was on a secret mission. Balmacedist supporters that fell into their his schooner. From this second mar- The besieged Balmaceda governmenthad hands. A week later, as the Balmaceda riage was born William Duncan Turnbull asked the Americans to intercept and seize government collapsed, the United States in 1867. the merchant ship Itata, which carried a legation in Santiago granted asylum to Naturally, it was thought that young shipment of arms and ammunition for the 80 Balmacedists, including seven minis- Turnbull would follow in his father's foot- Congressional forces. No consideration ters of the old government. steps and go to sea. Accordingly, he was given to the fact that the American Other foreign legations also provided made his way to Boston in the summer Navy had no legal right to seize the Itata, sanctuary to supporters of the defeated of 1889. There, on 18 September 1889, a Chilean vessel, as the United States had government, but the Congressionals the 22-year-old Islander enlisted in the declared its neutrality and Chile was not condemned only the United States (and United States Navy as a foreign national. an enemy. Nevertheless, the Itata and its Argentina, which sheltered Balmaceda He became a coal-heaver aboard a re- much-needed cargo of munitions was himself) for giving asylum. The Ameri- cently commissioned American warship, seized by the Baltimore and dispatched can government's repeated "interfer- the USS Baltimore. for safe-keeping to San Diego, California. ence" and its ill-disguised support for The USS Baltimore was a first-class As might be expected, the loss of the Balmaceda had enraged Congressional man-of-war in the American Navy. Con- ship and its cargo was a bitter blow to the supporters, even in the hour of their sidered one of the best-equipped ships insurgents, and caused much hard feel- victory. of her day, the Baltimore was in the ing towards the United States govern- vanguard of United States military pres- ment for so transparently siding with the ence. In the spring of 1891, the State Balmacedists. But the "Itata Incident" The Baltimore Affair Department ordered her to Chile. She turned out to be merely the opening gun arrived off the port of Valparaiso on in a salvo that would raise Congressional By mid-September, life around 7 April 1891 in the midst of a full-blown hostility towards the United States to a Valparaiso appeared to have quieted, and revolution. fever pitch. order had been more or less restored.

~««*\o*<3e ^ u,»^Cv Commissioned in 1888, the Baltimore was part of America's "Great White Fleet." She was 328 feet long with a sea speed of 18 knots.

21 This map of the Valparaiso waterfront was drawn to illustrate the attacks on the Baltimore's crew.

wounded; the others received minor wounds—except William Turnbull. Thinking the coast was clear, Turnbull stepped out of a The captain of the port extended the Valparaiso bar and into a night- hospitality of the city to all the ships mare. Surrounded by an angry, stone- anchored in the harbour. There were throwing crowd, he tried to get back The Brink of War many foreign warships at Valparaiso, into the saloon. They would not let him and their crews soon took up the offer. in. Turnbull took to his heels in a desper- It was now America's turn to be out- The Americans were more cautious, but ate attempt to escape the fury of the raged. The day following the attack, on eventually, on Friday, 16 October 1891, mob. One of his attackers, Carlos Gomez, 17 October, Captain Schley of the Balti- Captain Schley of the USS Baltimore caught up with Turnbull and stabbed more telegraphed news of the attack on granted his crew liberty. William him. his men to the United States legation at Turnbull was one of the 117 crew mem- Gomez fled as Turnbull fell to the Santiago. Indignant over the attack, he bers who went ashore between one and cobble-stoned street. Blood streaming referred to it as a "brutal assault and two o'clock that afternoon. from his wound, he got up and tried to butchery of my men ... an indignity of The men were in the uniform of the run again, but was again overtaken by such gravity I being obliged to refer it in United States Navy. They landed, ex- Gomez, who stabbed him repeatedly in plain terms to the honorable Secretary changed some money, then walked into the back. The mob closed in. Turnbull of the Navy." the section of the city where the cafes, was brutally beaten, battered with sticks Back in the United States, news of the saloons, and shops were located. Trouble and clubs and stones. In all, he was attack stirred widespread outrage and was already waiting there. Turnbull's stabbed 18 times with dirks and bayo- indignation. On 26 October, the Wash- shipmate, John Hamilton, would later nets, two of the stab wounds entering ington Evening Star declared, "The kill- testify that the broker warned the Ameri- the lung. Finally, the mob moved on, ing of Turnbull is no light matter. It will cans "they had better keep indoors, as leaving its victim for dead. not be well for Chile if... she permits the the mob of Chile were out to get them." Turnbull was allowed to lie in the present murder to assume the appear- The "mob" consisted of "all the riff-raff street without receiving any medical at- ance of an unprovoked and unredressed of Chile: discharged soldiers and sail- tention. Finally, the police took him to assault upon the [American] republic. ors, and cut-throats and everyone the police station, where he spent the She will not care to deal with the whole who harbored terrible ill-feeling against night. The next day, he was taken to the American people, aroused against her Yankees." According to another Ameri- prison ward of San Juan de Dios Hospi- by the blood of their murdered sailor, can sailor, William Sullivan, a saloon- tal, where the Sisters of Charity which she has sprinkled in their faces." keeper's wife told them "to be very care- endeavoured to make him comfortable. The United States Navy subsequently ful of these people that they had it in Four days later, after repeated requests ordered a thorough investigation of the for us." for his release, Turnbull was taken attack at Valparaiso on the Baltimore's By five o'clock a mob had indeed aboard the USS Baltimore. There, on 25 crew. The inquiry was conducted at Mare gathered. In all, 21 American sailors October 1891, Turnbull died of his Island, California, in December 1891 and would be attacked. One was shot and wounds. January 1892. Over 70 of the Baltimore's

22 crewmen were questioned and each gave having just finished a bloody civil war. his deposition. At the heart of the affair As historian Osgood Hardy has com- was the brutal murder of William mented, the President's message was Turnbull. Meanwhile, at Santiago, Chil- regarded by the American public as "the ean officials conducted their own inquiry, precursor of a virtual declaration of war which would whitewash the facts of by the United States Congress." Every- the incident. where there was talk of war. In the wake of the "Baltimore Affair," But war did not come. the American government lodged a for- Realizing that his government had mal diplomatic protest to the Chilean committed a serious blunder in its government. Chile failed to recognize handling of the "Baltimore Affair," Presi- that the attack had ever taken place and dent Montt of Chile bowed to American refused to accept responsibility. By 20 pressure. On 29 January 1892, the con- January 1892, diplomatic exchanges aris- troversy between the United States and ing from the "Baltimore Affair" had Chile was officially ended by a formal pushed relations between Chile and the apology from the government of Chile United States to a crisis; it was clear that and a promise of reparations. a showdown was at hand. War between the two countries was being discussed Epilogue openly among the foreign legations at Santiago, and British newspapers were The "Baltimore Affair" was settled by the taunting the United States about its payment of $75,000 in gold by the gov- threats of a n imminent invasion of Chile. ernment of Chile to the government of When President Benjamin Harrison the United States. The money was to be delivered a formal address to Congress distributed among sailors and their heirs on 25 January, he seemed determined to as reparation for damages that had been push the Chilean-American controversy caused by the riot at Valparaiso. Of this to a final showdown. Harrison outlined sum, Hannah Turnbull MacRae, half- the "Baltimore Affair" and the savage sister of William Turnbull, received murder of William Turnbull in a passion- $10,000. She in turn allowed $500 each to ate tone. Plainly, he expected Congress Turnbull's full sisters, Grace Turnbull to force the issue to a point where Chile Merrill, Annie Turnbull McCartney, and must either formally apologize and make Mary Turnbull—all of Boston, as well as Turnbull's tombstone in Valparaiso was reparations or face the prospect of war, $400 to Jane Turnbull of Charlottetown. erected by his shipmates. The inscription Carlos Gomez and Jose Ahumada, reads "W. Turnbull/coal heaver JJ.S.N./ the two Chileans who led the fatal attack born in P. E. Island/Oct. 14th 1867/died on Turnbull, were sentenced by the Oct. 25 1891/of wounds received/Oct. Judge of Crime at Valparaiso to 500 days 16th 1891 in Valparaiso/aged 24 years imprisonment; 300 days of each sen- 11 days/' tence was for carrying arms without per- mission. rather heavily condensed from my Ph. On 27 October 1891, William Duncan D. thesis, 'William Duncan Turnbull and Turnbull was buried with full military the Chilean-American Controversy, 1891- honours in the Protestant Cemetery at 1892" (University of California, 1984). Valparaiso, Chile, escorted by a party of Complete references for the information six mounted policemen. A fine tomb- repeated in this article can be found stone was erected by the Navy Depart- there. Generally speaking, the sources ment of the United States government. It can be broken down into two divisions. continues to be cared for today. Turnbull's background and family his- Hannah Gray Turnbull, William's half- tory have been gleaned from genealogi- sister, married George MacRae of cal sources in Prince Edward Island, Augustin Cove in 1847. In 1860, the New England, Britain. The various events MacRaes moved to Kildare Capes in Lot of the Chilean-American controversy are 2, where Turnbull was a frequent visitor re-constructed from American Depart- to their home. The author is their great- ment of State records, especially the great-grandson. Dispatches from American Ministers, 1890-1892 (Record Group 76, National Archives, Washington, D.C.) and the Sources transcripts of the inquiry into the "Balti- more Affair" {Mare Island Investigation, The story of how ayoung Charlottetown 1891-1892), supplemented by newspa- Hannah Turnbull MacRae Jron a picture sailor almost precipitated war between per reports from the United States and taken when she was in her mid-80s. the United States and Chile has been Chile, ifli

23