Arizona republican., 1914-02-21
Class Execution of Prom inent British Subject as Murder and Mass Meet ing is Held in Fl Paso When Protest is Made
STATE DEPARTMENT
 IS CRITICIZED
Resolutions Call Upon Con- gress to Demand Full Records of Alleged Crimes and Outrages Charged to Rebel Chieftain
ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATCH1


 FL PASO. Feb. 20.-The execution or murder of William s. Benton, British subject, and one of the most prominent foreigners residing in northern Mexico, by Gen. Francisco Villa, started wave of indignation eliminating in a call for mass meeting in an Fl Paso theatre to- I'ght Resolutions accusing the state department at Washington of sup pressing the reports of it's own con suls and deliberately misleading the American people as to actual con ditions at the border, and demanding that congress call on the state de- partment for full records of alleged crimes and outrages were drawn up. There is little doubt they will be adopted.
 Former Governor Curry of New Mexico, scheduled as the principal speaker, was named as committee of one, at the impromptu indigna- tion meeting, to investigate the kill ing of Benton. Curry asked Thomas D. Edwards, United States consul at JuareZ, about Benton.
 
 state that Benton's death had been officially reported to me" replied the consul Such other information as was given me I forwarded to Washington by mail General Villa said he did not care to talk to the public or the press, of the case, but gave me the information for Mrs. Benton and the state department. They are at liberty to talk, but I promised that as consul I would re- main silent"
 Asked regarding his careful use Of the phrase. officially reported dead" and if he personally thought the of ficial report by Villa might have been deliberately misleading, the con suI said that since the rebels have been sending JuareZ prisoners to Chihuahua and vice versa, he had faint hope that Villa might. for his own reasons, have lied to him.
 Benton disappeared on Tuesday. and there is no disposition except in the American consulate, even Q if therein. to doubt the authenticity of Villas report.
 
 rorted as telling Edwards. You are an official of the American govern ment, and I give you this officially as your due I have made denials to other inquirers, as this is not matter for the public. It is for the information of the widow and the state department"
 Edwards would not state what else passed between them.
 The consul telegraphed the bare an nouncement to Washington last night and the news reached Fl Paso through an Associated Press bulletin when Sec retary Bryan made the information public today. It is regarded as typical of the situation, that news should have reached here from the outside. Friends of decedent newspaper men have made a most diligent search and inquiries without obtaining definite clew
 That Benton and Villa had quarreled was learned and there were many yer sions of the quarrel, but all official ut terances were misleading. as they were intended to be. Generally it was be- lieved that Villa, who had known Ben ton for years, would not dare to kill him. but was trying solitary confine- ment as a corrective to Benton's well known disposition to speak his mind frankly without regard to consequences. Edwards waited until after his last hope flickered away with the departure of the train this morning before in- forming Mrs. Benton that her husband was dead
 She Is a Mexican woman and while highly educated, understands the Eng fish language imperfectly. The consul spoke in his own tongue and the re- suit was that while he was telling his tragic story, the widow. on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of her sustained anxiety, gatherel only the purport of the tale-that her husband was no more. Villa had gone and thus
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