The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-03-17
QUOTES A1dHKIgAN ARM
Law 10 UPHOLD KILLING

lW.AStIfNGTON, March 16.-Associ.
,ated Press by Federal Wireless) -Ro-
berto ", Pasquiera, the Mexican Con-
stitntionalist agent here, has made pub
lie concentration from Gen. Pancho
Villa, in which the rebel chief outlines
the authority by which he claims he
was justified in the execution of VIII
liam $. Benton, British subject. The
communication reads: tss
"The attention of the commanding
general Of the Division Of the North
having been drawn 10 the published re-
ports in respect to the recent execution
of William s. Benton, he desires II
known that the action of the authori.
ties in that case was entirely justified
by the laws and nsagas of war.
tsUnder Article 81 81 General Order
100, for the government of the United
States armies in the field, il is pro-
vided that EARNED prowlcrs' who come
within the lines of the army of oeeu-
patton with hostile intent are not On,
titled 10 the privileges of pris3ners Of
war. ~ t Il.
d'Articlo So provides that persons
within occupied territory who employ
violence toward the established authpri-
ties are subject to the penalty of death,
whether they arise singly or in number.
'tThere is absolutely no doubt but
what Benton, a Huertaist sympathizer
and msrderer Of Mexican citizens, de-
| liberately attempted an act of violence
against the persons and life of the
commanding general, and for that rea-
son, in accordance with the laws and
Iusages of war, he was tried by a mill
tary tribunal, constituted for that pur-
pose, and executed pursuant to its SEN
tenoe--a proceeding sustained by Amer
lean and European precedents. s
%General jackson in 1918 hung two
British subjects, Arbnthnot and Am
brister, for having given alien sym
patty TO hostile Indians in Florida,
General Butler hung Mumford at New
Orleans in 1852 for merely hauling
down an American flag from over the
custom house, and two years later Ken.
NEEDY was hung by the United States
military authorities at New York be.
cause of his completely in a plot to
set fire TO that city. E.e
What was iustifable under nqsrtial
law In the United States then is e6r.
tainly, justihable under martial law in
Mexico now. &tI .gs
~rhe fact that Benton was a British
subject has no bearing on the legal as,
poets of the case, as under international
law the alien is rs iamenable to martial
law as is a Citizen 49,
VILLA Is explanation was unofficially
Lexhihited to state. department officials,
but though, read with interest, it
brought no comment. es..5
Army officers took particular interest
in the reference to Benton as an farm
ed ,prowler,' and as such not entitled
TO the protection, of the rules of war.
The 'ssarmed prowlern !. described IN
tOrder 1907 of the American Army is
essentially, a guerilla, they explained,
and one who IS caught within military
lines with arms, either engaged in the
wanton destruction of property or as
part of ar invading force, Ii was adj
mittcd generally that if Benton made
murderous assault on Villa with q
weapon, he might have been subj eot
to the death penalty, but on that point
evidence is wanting, and arnRy officers
are reserving Judgment.
NEW YORK, February 27--In a
will signed with a cross, because he
never learned to read or write, Mathew
o. Mcintyre, who made nearly a mil
lion dollars raising hogs, left the bull,
Of his estate to st. Patrick's Church in
Long Island City, TO he used for the
snpport of the parochial school, SO that
children of his parish might have the
education he was denied. Nine neph.
.ews and nieces contested the will on
Ithe ground that Mcintyre was incom,
petent when he affixed his mark to il
year ago. The Surrogate of Queens
county overrpled their contest and ad