Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 April 1875 — The Acapulco Massacre. [ARTICLE]

The Acapulco Massacre.

Washington, April 16. The Navy Department has received a communication from Capt. Queen, commanding the United States steamer Saranac, dated Acapulco, March 27, he having been ordered thither to inquire into the circumstances attending the death by violence of an American citizen. Capt. Queen reports that about the 15th of March Procopio C. Diaz and other residents of Acapulco, all natives and citizens of Mexico, organized a congregation for religious worship according to the Protestant creed. The meetings were held on Sundays and other days in the house of Diaz, and were strictly erf’ a private character. Diaz and some members of his flock were occasionally stoned by the populace and otherwise annoyed, but sustained no serious damage to their persons. In December last the Rev. H. H. Hutchinson, head of the Presbyterian Mission in Mexico, was solicited by the congregation to become their pastor and to organize the congregation in a more formal manner. Converts were added to the church, and in all the society numbered sixty-eight persona, mostly natives of the country. Preaching took place and prayer-meetings were held at Diaz’ residence. They looked for a suitable building for church purposes and soon rented one which had served as a Roman Catholic Church, was subsequently used by French invaders, and was then occupied as a rftercantile warehouse. The chapel was formally opened in January last, Mr. Hutchinson officiating as pastor. On the 25th of that month, after the services, the congregation retired without any fears of injury from their enemies. Mr. Hutchinson did not at that time attend the chapel, the services being conducted by Mr. Diaz. There were present thirty or forty members. A few minutes after 8 o’clock in the evening, aa the congregation were singing the last hymn, a disturbance was occasioned by a party of Mexicans armed with machetee and muskets. From the testimony adduced on the examination into the disturbances only six or eight of these armed men entered the building, > the others remaining outside for the purpose, it is said, of finishing the Protestants who should attempt to escape. The struggle in the chapel did not continue more than eight minutes. Shots were fired, but the principal damage was done by the machetes. The Protestants, after the assassins retired, barricaded their chapel as a means of protection from the force outside. The military commander and his aids soon reached the spot and were directly followed by forty soldiers from the garrison. The District Judge and his Secretary also appeared upon the scene and ordered those inside to open the doors of the chapel. This the Protestants refused to do until they were assured the party so ordering were their friends. It was then ascertained, according to official inquiry, that three men and one woman had been killed and eleven men wounded. Among the number killed was a colored man named Henry Morris, a barber and a native of Boston. His body was fearfUHy mangled, the head being almost severed from the body,. He had fr% quently been warned by his friends not to go to the meetings, as there were reasons for believing that by so doing he would place his life in danger. A woman was killed by a bullet passing through her h«*ad, and a man was found in a dying condition. This man was one of the attacking party, and was shot by Diaz, who was badly wounded, having received eight wounds. Mr. Hutchinson, on the evening of the attack, on being advised to remove to other quarters, went to the California Hotel. A Mexican guard was sent there to protect him should an attempt be made on his life. By advice of the United States Consul he went on board of a vessel and sailed for San Francisco.