The Sentinel=record., 1914-02-21
MEXICAN SITUATION ASSUMES
 SERIOUS AND WARuKE ASPECT

oldteS consul at JuareZ.
 MT Consul" he said. "the peo- pie of Fl Paso and foreign refugees from Mexico are in feverish state because of the murder of Mir Ben ton. They have been unable to learn details of the crime and have asked me to seek information. Any light you can shed on the subject will be appreciated'
 q have telegraphed the secretary of state that Bentons death has been officially reported to me" replied the consul. ''Sudh other details l have forwarded to Washington by mail Gen. Villa said he did not care to talk of the case to the press or pub lie, but gave me the information for Mrs. Benton, the widow, and the state department They are at liberty to talk, but l promised the general l would remain silent"
 Asked as to his use of the phrase officially reported and if he per sonally thought the official report by Villa might have been mislead- ing the consul said that inasmuch as the rebels have been sending ChiAua- hua prisoners to Juarez and Juarez prisoners to Chihuahua, he had q faint hope that Villa might, for his own reasons, have misled him. This morning the consul watched the train bearing Villa and his staff and about twenty others hoping to catch sight of Benton, but had seen none but Mexicans
 Benton disappeared Tuesday.
 Mr. Edwards made his first in- quiry of Villa yesterday on receipt of instructions from Secretary Bry- an, who made the request at the in- stance of the British ambassador Sir Cecil Spring-Rice.
 MT. Edwards" Villa is reported as saying, MT. Benton is dead. You are an official of the American gov e.nment, and I give you this as off cially your due. I have made denials to other inquirers as this is not a matter for the public. It is for the information of the widow and of the state department"
 What else passed between them MT. Edwards would not say.
 The consul telegraphed the bare announcement to Washington last night and the news reached El Paso through press dispatch when Sec retary Bryan made the information public today
 Generally it was believed that Villa. who had known Benton fon years, was trying solitary coniine- ment as a corrective to Benton's we'll known disposition to speak his mind frankly without regard to con sequences. Edwarcs waited until after his last hope flickered away with the departure of the train this morning before informing Mrs. Ben ton that her husband was dead. She is g Mexican. and while highly edu- cated understands the English Ian guage imperfectly. The consul spoke in his own tongue and the result was that while he was telling his tragic story, the widow, on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of her sustained anxiety, gathered only the purport of the tale that her hus- band was dead.
 Villa had gone, and thus his yer sion of the story remained locked up in the cOnsurs breast and in his records. The inability of Benton friends to get definite details had much to do in arousing excitement.
 After leaving the consul, MT. Curry called at the jefetura at Jua- reg to see Federico Gonzales Garza, the jefe alarms, but the latter was absent. Other officials were enjoy ing their siestas and could not be disturbed.
 Just what occurred between Villa and his ill-fated visitor last Tuesday never may be known. It was learn ed that Benton wished permission to bring to the United States 400 head of cattle on his ranch, Los Remedies, in western Chihuahua.
 His cousin, part owner of Los Remedies. thought the request would be wasted, although other foreigners had been considerably treated when asking similar favors. Charles Qua | ley of New York and Mexico, friend now here among the other refugees, advised him of the probable proced- ure.
 Villa probably will grant your re- quest, but he'll give you a lecture, and you must not resent the lecture. If you do, you may get into tronble.v Dudley said.
 of he lectures me, m lecture back" Benton replied 'I have ney- CT made a political move in Mexico and if he accuses me of it, have
 some accusations of my own to
 make"
 Benton made the request and this
 friends never saw him alive after
 ward. As Mrs. Benton gathered the
 story from Consul Edwards, Villa de
 clined to grant the permit saying;