The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-05-07
Does PoHcyat Vera Cruz Mean
Ultimate March on Mexico Civ?
Men About Gulf PORT of Whom
Could Spared Any Emergency Two Reasons Offer Themselves:
Continuation of Peaceful Occupation the Seizure of Hueras
Stronghoh-Wthdrawal Endangers Americans in Capital

By JOSEPH P. AMIN,
Staff Correspondent Of The Wash.
iugton Herald.
Vera Cruz, May S-The American blue
jackets and marines now have complete
control of Vera Cruz. They form semi
circle from shore to shore for a radius
Of about four miles.
Nineteen American lives and rs Next
cans Is the cost SO far Of peaceful
occupation. peaceful occupation. In
so far as we can see here. consists OF
sending landing forces into hostile and
armed country without such help and
protection as those landing forces should
have been able to expect from our ships
in the harbor. Other Incidents of a
peaceful occupation. as we have seen il
so far, include the turning loose. after
capture. Of 1.000 armed uniformed fed
eral soldiers and a transport loaded with
munitions, giving these soldiers the op-
portunity. which they Immediately en-
braced to land few miles south of Vera
Cruz. and effect a junction with other
federal forces under Gen. Mas. now
threatening Vera Cruz from the west.
We now have In and about Vera Cruz
something under 1900 armed men. ap-
proximately 5000 of which could be
spared from the immediate vicinity OF
the port. With less than half this force
and our ships in the harbor. Vera Cruz
would be impregnable in the face of any
attempt on the part of Mexicans to re-
take II with such forces as they could
get together within a reasonable length
OF time, What then, does this mean
A continuation OF peaceful occupation,
or does II mean On to Mexicon City"
where the lives of hundreds of for
eigners, including Americans now are
already in jeopardy.
Nothing that has been done by Wash
ington has so encouraged Americans in
Mexico as the ordering of troops from
Galveston. For Gods sake, don't let
the President withdraw troops from Vera
Cruz, now. II he does. there will be a
general massacre of Americans in Mexi.
co City and other points of the interior.
III he does not want to take Mexico
City Immediately the foreigners may be
able to protect themselves until the
President is ready to take decisive ac-
ton, but II he withdraws troops from
Vera Cruz now, he may look for the GER
tain massacre OF Americans and other
foreigners, because of the moral effect
OF such action on the Mexican populace 81
This in part Is the statement Of a
Washington man who has spent the
better part of twenty years In Mexico
City and who came down ON the first
refugee train. 1t is echoed by every
man. and woman, who claims to know
anything about conditions here. They
are glad to see the troops in Vera
Cruz, but rather than have those
troops withdrawn after a peaceful &C.
cupation" they would return to the
conditions prevailing before the feet
was ordered here.
Conditions here are rapidly working
toward a normal military government.
Civil government is impossible because
the Mexican officials. uncertain as to
the tenure of American occupation,
will not take the risk of execution by
Huerta in the event OF the withdrawal
of American forces from Vera Cruz
The policing OF the town is entirely in
the hands of bluejackets. The marines
are on the hills commanding the town.
The city has been districted or, fairly
picketed. military magistrates estab-
lished, and everything is being done to
restore order and encourage the return
of Mexicans to their occupations
Mexicans are leaving their houses and
appearing on the streets in numbers
The central plaza is crowded, bands
are giving afternoon concerts and all
nationalities gather around the little
tables and cafes fronting on the plaza.
Too much cannot be said in COM
mendation Of the work OF bluejackets
and marines in taking Vera Cruz and
restoring order. The main story of
the fighting has been told in dispatches
With virtually no landing training the
bluejackets, whose average age prob
ably is less than twenty-one years,
were dumped on the beach in ship
and started through a hid
den fire towards the center of a
strange city.
The smallest part of the losses came
from the organized resistance which was
eliminated in the first days fighting by
from the Utah and Florida.
and marines from the Prairie. Along the
waterfront stretching north and south
for three-quarters of a mile, commanding
all landings, are innumerable small build
ings, box cars, and structures, which
made perfect hiding places for individual
In these Gen. Mas. before
retiring from the city. had posted several
released convicts each with one
or more rifles and several thousand
rounds of ammunition with smokeless
powder. Under this fire bluejackets, first
from the Florida and then from the
Utah. came before they touched a foot
on shore. Where the fire came from
they could not tell. Two men were killed
and several wounded before the landings
were made. The men landed all around
these buildings and this line of "snipers''
hidden and held their fire while
the bluejackets walked into a second line
on taller buildings a block back
The naval cadet barracks had been
at midnight on Monday, the
young students retiring with the main
portion Of Gen. Mas forces In these
barracks which commanded the custom
house landing across an open space 100
yards square, a large force of "snipers'
were barricaded behind mattresses across
the second-story windows. These were
not located until the second day, when
several companies from the New Hamp:
shire, at 1 O'Clock in the morning started
across this field to meet a concentrated
hre from a building they had every reason
to believe had been cleaned out the first
day. A quick retreat to shelter, and
signals to the gunboats Prairie and Ches-
ter, which covered the building. resulted
in fire from five-inch guns which killed
and wounded more than 100 in the build
ing and quickly silenced the fire. But
Tor the peaceful. occupation policy this
building could have been investigated
and then shelled the first day and the
lives of two bluejackets from the New
might have been spared.
Besides this second line of snipers who
occupied the tops of all tall buildings.
the police Of the city had organized. and
some fifty of Mass regulars with several
machine guns, all under a drunken colo
1el, had gathered in the center of the