Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1914-04-30
. n. Pr,sli.ut's msss,r.

Tho Prssitsat's msssigl :. B
Before the-hostilities-in Mexico
began, President Wilson submit
ted to; Congress athe following
message, whicArshould be read by
every citizen. throughout the
country:
Gentlemen OF the Congress:
ut is my duty to llyour at
tention to a situation which has
arisen in our dealings with Gen
eral Victoriano Huertaat Mexico
City which calls Tor aetion, and to,
ask for your advice and cooper.
atiop in acting uponit. On the
ninth: Of April a paysmaster Of
the us. s. Dolphin landed at the
1tuFbds sbtMge landing at Tam.
pico with O whaleboat andboat's
crew to takelon certain supplies
needed by his ship and while en-.
gagged in loading the boat was
arrested by an. officer and squad
Of men of the army of General
Huerta. Neither the paymaster
nor anyone of the boats screw was
armed. Two OF the men were in
the boat when the arrest was
made and were obliged to leave
it and submit to being takeninto
custody, Notwithstanding th q
fact that the boat carried, both
at her bow and her stern, the flag
Of the United States. The officer
who made thearest was proceed
ing up one Of the streets of the
town with his prisoner when met
by an officer of higher authority,
who ordered him to return to the
landing and await orders;, and
within an hour and a half from
the time of the arrest orders were
received from the commander OF
the Huertista forces at Tampico
for the release of the paymaster
and his men. The release was fol-
lowed by apologies from the COM
mander and later by an express
sion of regret by General Huerta
himself.
General ,Huerta urged that
martial law,o obtained at the time
at Tampico; thatorders had been
issued that no one should be al
lowed to land at the Iturbide
bridge; and that our sailors had
no right to land there. Ournaval
commanders at the port had not
been notified Of any such hprohibi-
ton; and even if they had been,
the only iustidable course open to
the local authorities would have
been to request the paymaster
and his crew to withdraw and to
lodge a protest with the COM
manding officer Of the fleet. Ad-
miral Mayo regarded the arrest
as 80 serious an affront that he
was not satisfied with the apollo
gies but demanded that the flag
Of the United States be saluted
with special ceremony by tn mil
itary commander Of the port.
"The incidentcannot be regard
ed as a trivial one, especially as
two Of the men were taken from
the boat itself-that is to say,
from the territory of the United
States; but had it stood by itself
it might have been attributed to
the ignorance or arrogance of a
single officer. Unfortunately it
was not an isolate case. A series
ofincidents have recently occurred
which cannot but create the i'm.
preston that. the representatives
OF General Huerta were willing to
90 out Of their way to show dis.
regard for the dignity and rights
of this government and felt per.
iectly safe in doing what they
pleased, making free to show in
many ways their irritation and
contempt. A few days after the
incident at Tampico. an orderly
from the US. s. Minnesota was
arrested at Vera Cruz while ashore
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