Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-12-31
STORY OF YEAR MARKED
BY SENSATIONAL EVENTS
Most Momentous Twelve Months of Modern Times
Reviewed-Great European War, Mexican
Troubles and Other World Happenings.

! British feet sailed under sealed orders Au-
/ gust 4, and a big naval battle An the
/ North sea was confidently expected by
/ the waiting world. It soon became ap-
/ parent that Great Britain's purpose was
/ TO deal a fatal blow at German commerce,
( safeguard that Of Belgium, France and its
own and render the enemy's feet inopera-
! tive by holding it IN the Baltic. a week
| later, the port authorities of New York
! were notified that the Atlantic lines were
/ unrestricted, and few days afterward
! the Pacific lines were pronounced open
/ and safe" Sixty British war vessels
! guarded the exit Of the Kiei Canal and
prevented the thirty German battIeships
I anchored there from coming out. Within
| a few days, more than thirty Of the great
/ German ocean liners were interned in
| neutral waters and q number Of German
merchant ships we're captured or de-
! strOyed.
/ By the middle of November more than
| four hundred war vessels and merchant
! men on all sides had been captured or in
! termed in neutral ports. The Emden in
| the Pacific and the Karlsruhe in the
/ South Atlantic, two German raiders,
/ preyed successfully upon allied and neu-
/ trail commerce until the former was put
out of action During the past three
/ months the Germans have destroyed
! number of British cruisers by means of
| torpedoes. In an action of the coast of
| Chile, a squadron of five German war
4 ships sank the Monmouth and Good Hope
with all on board. On October gal
| though it was not known to the public
for fortnight afterward-the British
super-dreadnaught AudaciOus was sunk
I by mine off the coast of Ireland. Short
/ ly afterward the British admiralty de-
clared the North sea a closed military
area.
On December the German cruisers
/ Scharnhorst, Gneisau, Leipzig and Nuern-
/ berg, under Admiral Won Spec, were sunk
\ by a British squadron under Vice-Admiral
/ Sir Frederick Sturdee, off the Falkland
/ islands. The German cruiser Dresden es-
/ capped, badly damaged. December Is a
/ German fleet bombarded the English coast
towns of Hartlepool, Whitby and Scar
! borough, killing $50 and wOunding 800 citi-
! zens and causing much property damage.
] Three British merchant vessels were sunk
by mines laid by the bombarding fleet.
At the close Of the year operations in
| the west seem practically at a standstiII.
| December II the Germans reported a vic
tory IN Poland
As a result of the immediate paralysis
in the financial world due to the sudden
embodiment of the European nations,
| Americans abroad were subjected to
great inconvenience and not little actual
/ hardship. Much relief was afforded the
Belgian sufferers and large sums Of
money for the purpose were raised all
over the country.
The American Red Cross sent the relief
ship Red Cross to European waters,
with a full equipment of physicians
nurses and supplies. on September Il.
Chaotic Conditions in Mexico.
Early in the year foreign nations began
| to be critical of the administrations
"hands-on' Mexican policy and to insist
that the job of pacifying Mexico belonged
logically to the United States Victo-
riano Huerta had held the provisional
presidency for a year and boosted in his
cups that he would hold his office longer
| than President Wilson would remain in
the White House. Meanwhile the bandit
chief Pancho Villa was steadily gaining
ground in the north. The fiercest battle
of the revolution. which was fought for
almost two weeks, ended in victory for
the rebel forces.
There was an appalling loss of life in
this long continued fight, and more than
! four thousand fugitives crossed the Rio
Grande and took refuge in American ter
| ritory. Here they were cared for by the
United States authorities.
On February 8 President Wilson re-
| voked an order by his predecessor in Of
flee to put stop to the shipment of arms
and ammunition into Mexico by citizens
of the United States. On April IA, Presi-
|
| to assemble an imposing naval force at
| Tampico, on the Mexican coast. This
! was due to the refusal of the Mexican
president and his military aids to salute
| the American flag as an essential feature
of an apology for an unwarranted arrest
and imprisonment of several American
! hlueiackets who had landed on Mexican
soil to obtain a supply of gasoline.
| Although the episode was the result of
a misunderstanding in which all the par
ties concerned shared about equally, it
was manifest that Huerta was in no mood
| to comply with any request of the Wash
ington authorities. however politely and
even delicately made. He refused to or
der the salute, and the naval demonstra-
ton followed.
Congress passed a resolution sustaining
the president in the position which he
| had taken. On April q Admiral Fletcher
seized the custom house at Vera Cruz.
| The Mexicans resisted the occupation of
the custom house and the result was a
fight. in which 16 Americans were killed
and II wounded. General Mas, in COM
mand of the garrison, withdrew and left
the Americans in possession.
Nelson O'Shaugnessy, the American rep
resentative, was given his passports and
requested to leave the country Brig
Gen. Frederick Funston, commander of
the American forces at Vera Cruz, was
ready to enter on a vigorous campaign.
Before hostilities were carried further
the diplomatic representatives at Wash
ington of Argentina, Brazil and Chile sent
in to the office of the department of state
| q formal tender of their services as medi-
ators. President Wilson accepted the Of
fer and both Huerta and Carranza ac-
cepted the proffered mediation.
| The medtatory conference was held at
Niagara Falls. Canada, and opened on
May 20. On June y the conference had
| agreed upon a plan accepted both by
| President Wilson and Huerta Then q
| deadlock arose over the choice for presi-
dent-the American delegates declined to
accept the name of any nonconstitutional-
list
Meanwhile. the constitutionalists were
making unmistallable advance toward the
| capital. Their success was so pronounced
that it was evident they would soon be In
control of the government
On July l the conference came to an
end without definite result, and four DAYS
later Huerta was reelected president by
his partisans. On July 10 the dictator re-
| signed the presidency and took passage
for Europe, leaving the executive author
ity in the hands of a prominent citizen.
| Francisco Carbajal.
| The new president and Carranza could
| not agree upon the surrender of the gov
eminent TO the victorious constitutional
! list army, and on August 10 CarbajaI re-
signed and the chamber of deputies dis
| solved. Five days later, the constitution
alist army entered the City of Mexico
without opposition. Venustiano Carranza
Immediately took upon himself the Office
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less assault on Quebec, Gen. Richard