The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-31
EYEWITNESS TELLS
 OF H0NDURAN BATTLE
New Orleans Man Was Prevent
 at Ceiba Engagement
AIR THICK WITH BULLETS
Government Troops Were Inferior md COwardIy-Christmas Preserved order After BnttIe-Non-
 Combatants in Danger

New Orleans, January 30.-Details of the battle at Ceiba, Honduras, on January 25, in which the revolutionists under Gen eral Lee Christmas were victorious. were given out tonight By, F, G. Masquelette of New Orleans, who was an eye wit ness Masquelette arrived from Ceiba on the steamer Karen which docked here late today. MT. Masquelette says he was on the wharf at Ceiba when the battle be- gan and immediately started towards the city to witness the fighting, but beat a quick retreat when bullets began to fall all around him.
 General Guerrero, the Davilla comman- der, defended the town herocially, Mas quelette said, and at the time he was shot was engaged in trying to force his men to attack the reyolutionsts. The men deserted and left him alone on his mule, waving his revolver. He started to fire, but before he could do so 90 insurgents in trenches opened fire on him with rifles. His mule ran back to the British consulate. There the general dropped from the animals back, almost dead. After the battle General Christmas called at the hospital to congratulate General Guerrero for the bravery he dis played during the engagement. General Guerrero died shortly afterwards.
 ] Louis Bier, the only American killed, according to Masquelette, met his death in peculiar manner. His house was di- rectly in the firing line of the attack | i0p in which a and panions were lying on mattress on the second floor, when a bullet struck the window sill, much of its force being spent before it landed in Bier's stom- ach. He did not know he was wounded until he saw blood flowing from the wound.
 There must have been 10000 shots fired and the battle lasted for four hours Masquelette continued.
 'The steamship Harold, lying in the harbor, was hit twice and bullets fell on the gunboats Marietta and Tacoma be- fore they moved out of the harbor.
 "The insurgents had better arms and were much better drilled. the government troops being composed of conscripts and without any experience, and they grew panicky at the first sign of battle. One of these. conscripts, who was banana carrier the day before, ran into the of fee where I was and begged to be pro- tected Half of the government soldiers went over to the revolutionists. In the house of Frank M. Brown, an American, a dozen bullets were swept out after the battle. How more non-combatants es- capped being killed is a mystery to me. In the American hotel, near where Bier was killed, were 30 women and children. None were hurt, but the top of the hotel was riddled with bullets and several can non balls passed through it.
 When we left Ceiba they were bring ing in the dead and wounded. There were said to be many dead in the brush who probably would never be found. estimate the total number of dead as fully 75 One of the first things General Christmas did after the fall of Ceiba. " the statement concludes, was to post placards about the town on which 1t was announced that a fine of 800 sols would be imposed against any liquor dealer sell ing his wares that night. There was no disorder and 1t Is safe to say Ceiba was never so quiet as immediately after the battle."