The Washington times., 1911-01-15
Wilson Resolution Demands
House Take Up Alleged
Persecution.
STATE AND JUSTICE
DEPARTMENTS NAMED
Officials Must Answer If They
Knowingly Give Aid to
Diaz.
Continued from First Page.)


Hopk!ns 6, Hopkins, however, agreed
list night that Azcona should remain
in iail for the additional twenty days,
provided that a hearing should then be
forthcoming and that the complaint pa
pers have been properly prepared and
have not been left incomplete, in order
to gain more delay.
In reality Mexico wants AZcona re-
turned in order that he may be punished
for his anti-Diaz activities. The day he
Hef<hat country a warrant was issued
tharging sedition. Technically, since
Azcosa is now in the United States, he
is charged with false pretenses, per-
fectly legitimate charge from the Ameri-
cancan viewpoint, except that 1t IS
about four years old and has been
resurrected to suit the exigencies of the
occasion. Mexico could not dare de-
pland Azcona because of his political be-
uefs.
Delicate Diplomatic Question.
1T is a delicate diplomatic question
that has been raised by the arrest and
detention in the District jail of Juan
SANCHEZ AzcOna. Aside from the as
SUPeG activity Of Representative Wilson,
Whv will ask Congress to ascertain the
wig fore GS such proceedings, the entire
x!tuation is one fraugRt with diplo-
iuarlc and international entanglements.
Fne refugees from political persecu-
ton, Nho, it is claimed, have been
Earassed heretofore by the paid agents
and spies Of the Mexican government,
have l,een of the rather uninfiuentidl
Glass Hearings before the House Rules
Cofamittde during the closing days OF
The past session Of Congress, developed
tIE fact that many of these refugees
have heen followed to the United States,
arrested and rearreSted on trumped-up
charges, and, finally liberated because
thaEe was no charge on which they
might he returned to the DlaZ govern
nept.
THESE refugees. however, were thank
+ul in the end to be let alone. There
was no aftermath that might work dis
advantage, through publicity, to the Mex
lean government. If the machinery of
the American Government erred, lnno-
gently Or otherwise, in becoming a party
10 the arrest of these fuSiuVeS, the
State Department has never been called
TO account.
Different With Azcona.
With Azcona it is different. He is a
man of money, influence. refinement,
and position. The Dlazites have de-
scribe6 him as the most dangerous
map in Mexico-Iooked at, of course,
from the Diaz viewpoint.
Here is the story of AzcOna as re-
lated by himself while prisoner in
Washington:
The man who is now being held here
to await the pleasure of the Mexican
government is thirty-four years old.
,F nn -y.ir CT Of
Heidelberg. He studied also for two
years in Paris. preparing himself for
a career in the practice of law.
Azcona has a wife and child in San
Antonio. the American city to which he
fled when he learned that the Mexican
government had ordered his arrest. AS
a sympathizer with Francesca Madero,
Azcona knew what that arrest would
mean.
When a warrant was made out in
Mexico City for the appreh ensiOn of
Azc6na it charged sedition. That is
crime in Mexico; it could not be con-
strucd as a crime after the refugee
reached the soil of the United States,
hence the charge against Azcona to-
day is obtaining money under false
pretenses, a. crime which, if proved,
justifies extradition under the treaty
between this government and that of
President DiaZ.
Hear the story 'of Azcona as to the
shift of charges by the agents of Diaz.
When Azcona left school he forsook
the law for Journalism He became
the chief editorial writer, in the course
of time, on the Diario, a pro-govern-
ment publication published in Mexico
City. This was in 1906. He held that
position two years, drawing salary
of $4,000 per annum, and, incidentally,
receiving an election as member of
the Mexican congress.
Founded Independent Paper.
In 1893 Azcona founded the Nuevo
Mexico, a paper that rapidly forged to
the front in the Mexican capital because
of its independence and its opposition to
the Diaz regime. For a few months
the paper was unmolested, as was its
editor. Then it was conf1scated by the
government. 1t suspended publication
for a few days, only to reappear in
mysterious mapner from another print
shop. This, too, was confiscated, and a
gentle warning to desist was conveyed
to AzcOna.
Azcona did not stop in his efforts to
MAKE MEXICO a real TepuDuC. II we
are to be a republic, let us be a real
one and not a monarchy" AZcona
preached daily in his editorial columns.
The power of his pen-for he is force
full writer-got under the skin of what
AZcona and the followers of Madero
call the Mexican oligarchy.
As a member of congress AZcona in
dulged in so-called revolutionary talk.
Let Us have self-government; let
US vote and see. that our votes are
counted" urged the progressive Mexi-
can.
Again was the publication of the
newspaper stopped, and, this time the
word came from the headquarters of
the Diaz faction:
Get this man and get him at once"
Warned By Employe.
It was an employe of the Mexican
government who tipped off, Azcona
that a warrant had been prepared for
his arrest. Outwardly this employe
served Diaz: at heart he sympathized
with those whe were demanding the in
dependence of Mexico Azcona knew
that the die had been cast. He started
for the United States-where freedom
of speech and thought is assured, but
in which today. II is said, there are
200 Mexican spies whose sole func-
tionS are to harass those who have fed
the political prosecutions of Mexico.
Anyway, Azcona went to San Antonio.
ha