April 15, 1856
A steamboat called the Illinois arrives in Aspinwall, a Central American seaport off
the coast of the Caribbean.
It carries about 1,000 passengers, all of whom are heading to California by way of a
Pacific Mail Steamer called the John L. Stephens at Panama City.
On board the Illinois is an American named Jack Oliver.
The train ride to Panama City will take about 5 hours - and, while waiting for it to arrive
at the station, Jack Oliver decides to visit the nearby Aspinwall attraction known as Bottle
Avenue - a road littered with local bars and cantinas.
Jack Oliver has a drink, and purchases several more for the impending train ride.
When it finally arrives - the passengers all come aboard.
Several of them, including Jack, are drunk.
The 5 hour journey passes with the men continuing the festivities as they’re transported to
Panama City.
By the time Jack Oliver steps off the train, he is, for all intents and purposes, exceedingly
intoxicated.
The passengers soon find out they are, again, stalled.
Panama City has no wharfs for large vessels like the John L. Stephens to dock - the primary
site for this is the nearby Taboga Island, which sits 20 kilometers away, only reachable
from the mainland by ferry.
These ferries to and from Panama City are only possible during high tide, but on this
particular day, Jack Oliver and the other passengers have arrived during low tide - meaning
these 1,000 American travelers are forced to sit and wait several hours for the tide
to come in.
Jack Oliver and a few others decide to go drinking.
A block or so from the railway station, he and his compatriots find a bar and settle
in.
After an hour or so, the already drunken men are utterly plastered.
Jack Oliver and his friends stumble out onto the street and begin to make their way to
the ferry for the last leg of the trip.
They happen upon a vendor named Jose Manuel Luna, who is selling slices of watermelon
on the street for five cents a piece.
Drunken Jack Oliver walks over, takes a slice of watermelon, eats it, and refuses to pay.
From here, accounts differ.
It is generally believed at this point that the vendor, Jose Manuel Luna, pulls out a
knife and threatens Jack Oliver.
In response, one of Oliver’s friends throws a nickel at the vendor’s face, and the argument
escalates.
Oliver, at some point, pulls out his revolver and points it at the vendor.
The knife-wielding Jose Manuel Luna turns and runs.
Another Panamanian, who witnesses the entire incident, tackles Oliver, and a struggle ensues.
(GUNSHOT.)
The gun goes off, and a bystander across the street is hit.
Blood pours onto the pavement.
An American has shot a son of Panama.
Moments later, more locals arrive, join the fight, and more shots are fired.
A riot ensues.
(GUNSHOTS.)
Panamanians charge through the city, mercilessly beating and robbing any Americans they see.
Several American-owned hotels are looted, and other buildings, destroyed.
When the police arrive to contain the violence, one of them is hit by a stray bullet from
an American railroad station.
At this, the officers immediately abandon their posts and join in the riot.
At the railroad station, an American freight agent named Joseph Stokes sends a telegraph
to the other stations to warn them of the emergency, and pleads for someone…
anyone... to come to their aid.
Outside the railroad station, the mob tears the telegraph pole down, attempting to use
it as a battering ram to break through the front door.
Windows shatter as rocks and bullets rip through the air.
Eventually, help for the Americans arrives by train.
Inside is a small battalion of armed railway agents lead by Randolph “The Hangman”
Runnels, an ex-Texas Ranger and well-respected leader of a former local militia known as
The Isthmian Guard.
Runnels and his men jump out of the train, take aim at the horde of rioters and shout
for them to put down their weapons.
"Drop your weapons!
Every one one of you!"
"The Hangman" Randolph Runnels is a living Panamanian legend, and at the sight of him,
the locals immediately stop rioting, turn, and flee.
By the time the dust settles, fifteen Americans and two Panamanians are dead.
Another twenty-nine are injured.
All over a 5 cent slice of Watermelon.
But, of course, it wasn’t REALLY about that, was it?
You could blame the increased tension in the city between Panamanians and Americans - the
locals had grown bitter toward the U.S. for a stagnant economy and low employment since
the country’s arrival.
You could blame the Illinois for arriving too soon, leaving 1,000 Americans to wander
the streets of a resentful populace.
You could blame Jack Oliver for not being able to hold his liquor.
You could blame Bottle Avenue for selling the liquor in the first place.
You could blame Jose Manuel Luna for pulling a knife over a case of petty theft.
You could blame Oliver’s friend for throwing a nickel in Luna’s face and needlessly escalating
the situation.
You could blame the locals for rioting.
You could blame the police for joining in.
You could blame all of these things, or any one of them - but that’s the thing about
history.
History doesn’t care whose fault it is.
It just lays out the facts.
It's up to us to decide what they mean.
In response to the riot, the United States is soon granted by New Granada the right to
establish military bases on islands in the Bay of Panama, as well as the right to take
control of the Panamanian Railroad.
This increases American presence in the area - and eventually, leads to the creation of
what we now call the Panama Canal.
The U.S. military bases remain there until December 31, 1999.
A day later, the new millennium begins.
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