The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-02-19
M AJORITY OFDEAD
WOMEN ANDCHILDREN|
Carts Piled High With Corpses Driven to Outskirts
OF City and Bulned-Scarcely District of Capt.
tai Escapes Great Damage by Bombardment

Mexico City, February 17-(By Cour-
ior to Vera Cruz. February IS).-All
the horrors OF bombardment have
been experienced by the residents Of
this city for many days. Various ma
chine gun and rife fire has ragged in
the streets mt range sometimes OF less
than 100 yards
Scarcely q district of the capital has
escaped injury. Hundreds OF buildings
attest by their hole marked sides and
wrecked interiors TO the destructive
qualities OF modern artillery.
How many have been killed or
wounded is Il question which none can
answer definitely. From source usu-
ally considered conservative, il has
been stated that the number of dead
is not less than 1000 while the total
OF the wounded amounts to from 5000
TO $4,000. The great majority OF thSee
are not soldiers. but men, women and
children unable to escape the lines of
tire. IT is a well-known fact that de-
tachments of fifty and 100 men have
been moved down by machine guns
mere and there at various times when
caught iii the narrow streets Carts
piled high with corpscs have been
driven TO the outskirts Of the city and
burned.
Every morning in the zone of the
actual fight piles OF burning rubbish
arc to he seen. These heaps are for
the most part rubbish, but the odor Of
burning flesh tells another story.
practical, though grucsomc, meth
Oh mas been utilized in one place The
gas escaping from broken main has
Peen lighted. and there, in that steady
hane' mas been improvised crema-
tory. In the basement of an apartment
house n few blocks from the arsenal is
the grave Of Mrs f. w Holmes. one
OF the two American women killed
early in the fighting by the entrance
INTO her home OF a shell. For three
WIN the corpsc. unable to remove it,
ana unwilling to leave it, perhaps to
suffer further mutilation
Soldiers entered the apartment where
he kept vigil and before his eyes robbed
the place. He managed to find boards
ana carpenters tools and nails in the
building and constructed coffin. in
to which he laid the CODY of his wife.
lie carried IL to the basement and
there dug and filed her grave
Cessation of nusIness.
me absolute cessation OF all in
austrian and business activity is fast
reducing AN enormous number of non
com oatants 70 a state bordering on
starvation The more fortunate are in
many cases able to take care of them
selves, but the closing of the banks
mas made precarious the condition even
OF some of these The provisional bank
ing institution established for Ameri-
can residents who fInd themselves in
difficulties has been meeting their de-
mands with currency. Aside from the
question OF money, however, the Sit
uatiol has been rendered more diff
cult by the failure of vegetables and
olher farm products to reach the city
Tor some days. During the night uuan-
uties enter. but not nearly enough to
supply the demand, and meat is some
thing with which thousands have had
no acquaintance for rays
Neither the forces loyal TO President
Madero nor those commanded nv the
rebel, Felix Diaz, has been defeated
at the close OF fighting in the centre
OF Mexico city Oh Monday night. Nor
ana either side show indications Of Civ
ing way
The operations of the day added an
other chapter to the records of the
desoiation and anxiety caused by the