Born on June 16, 1867 to Elisha Francis Riggs, scion to the Riggs & Company fortune. Studied at Yale University and was a member of the Scrolls & Key Society, where he graduated in 1909. Was commissioned in the US Army and rose to the rank of Colonel during the first World War, was military attache at the American Embassy in Petrograd, Russia from 1916-1918, and chief of the Russian Field Mission with the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, and the American representative on the Armistice Commission in Klagenfurt Basin, Austria, Austria, from Dec. 1918 to Dec. 1919. He was in the office of the Military Intelligence Department in Washington from Dec. 1919 until June 1920. He was appointed Chief of Police of Puerto Rico in 1933, by then governor Blanton Winship. He was an unpopular police chief, stemming from his decisions to repress the growing sugar cane labor movement and the Nationalist Pro-Independence Movement, that culminated in the Rio Piedras Massacre, in which 4 members of the party and one policeman were killed. The Nationalist Party considered him responsible. On February 23, 1936, after Palm Sunday mass on San Juan Cathedral, his car was detained by scuffle between a police officer and Hiram Rosado. When he got out of the car to investigate, he was shot three times in the head by Elías Beauchamp, killing him instantly. Beauchamp and Rosado were aprehended and killed during "interrogation" at the Insular Police Department Headquarters in San Juan.
Born on June 16, 1867 to Elisha Francis Riggs, scion to the Riggs & Company fortune. Studied at Yale University and was a member of the Scrolls & Key Society, where he graduated in 1909. Was commissioned in the US Army and rose to the rank of Colonel during the first World War, was military attache at the American Embassy in Petrograd, Russia from 1916-1918, and chief of the Russian Field Mission with the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, and the American representative on the Armistice Commission in Klagenfurt Basin, Austria, Austria, from Dec. 1918 to Dec. 1919. He was in the office of the Military Intelligence Department in Washington from Dec. 1919 until June 1920. He was appointed Chief of Police of Puerto Rico in 1933, by then governor Blanton Winship. He was an unpopular police chief, stemming from his decisions to repress the growing sugar cane labor movement and the Nationalist Pro-Independence Movement, that culminated in the Rio Piedras Massacre, in which 4 members of the party and one policeman were killed. The Nationalist Party considered him responsible. On February 23, 1936, after Palm Sunday mass on San Juan Cathedral, his car was detained by scuffle between a police officer and Hiram Rosado. When he got out of the car to investigate, he was shot three times in the head by Elías Beauchamp, killing him instantly. Beauchamp and Rosado were aprehended and killed during "interrogation" at the Insular Police Department Headquarters in San Juan.
Bio by: Max Les'Shyerar
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