Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-13
TEXAS RAIDS CEASE,
BANDITS IN HIDING
CONTINUED from First Page.D

Continued from FIST RAGE
directions that sufficient troops be held
| ready for any emergencies
The telegram of Gov. Ferguson OF
Texas. asking for more troops Is being
! held at the War Department awaiting
further word from Maj. Gen. Funston.
Secretary Breckenridge reported there
were no new disorders today. ANY
further troop movements will be left
entirely to Gen. Funston.
A detailed statement of the distribu-
ton of the troops has been laid before
the President and officials take the
view that the army can be used fur
Their only if the Governor Of Texas
were to certify in a constitutional
manner that he cannot control the SIT.
uation with the state forces and
Secretary Breckenridge said after his
conference with the President that
Gen. Funston had asked for no more
troops and that none would be sent
! without his request.
Gen. Funston has been authorized to
show Gov. Ferguson his message from
Secretary Garrison saying he can nave
as many troops as he thinks necessary.
Cause Is Confusing.
In discussing the border situation to-
day Secretary Lansing of the State De-
partment said that there was consider
able confusion existing as to just what
lay behind the so-called raids. He said
that to the best of his information
much of the trouble in Texas was many
miles this side of the border, and that
while some Mexicans appear to have
been mixed up in the raids, many OF
the bandits were Americans
1t was made plain also by the war
Department that the Governor of Texas
IN g.
tic disorders in the state, and that the
forces of the United States are to be
used only on border duty in case OF IN
vasion by Mexicans. The governor can
use the state militia and can call on
every able-bodied citizen of the state
to aid dn suppressing the internal trou-
bles. it was explained. If the situation
gets beyond the control of the state,
then an appeal may be made to the red
eral government.
The Carranza agency here gave out
two dispat ches received from the border
tending to show that the raids in Texas
have nothing to do with the Carranza
forces. apd that as a matter of fact
local politics in the Brownsville
district has been the cause of
some of the trouble. One of the dis
patches quotes Franck c. Pierce, an at
torney of Brownsville and native
born Texan, as declaring that neither
Carranza nor Villa soldiers have play
ed any part in the disturbances, but
that an effort as being made by some
political leaders in Texas to throw the
bla me on the Mexican factions in order
to bring about intervention by the
United States in Mexico.
Politics at Bottom.
Pierce is quoted as saying. also: Had
Sheriff w. T. Vann Of Cameron county.
Tex, the county of which Brownsville is
the county seat, been given proper and
patriotic support by some of his constitu-
ents who figure prominently in the po-
litical affairs of this region the situa-
ton could not have become so acute"
The dispatch continues: sheriff Vann
was elected last election after bitter con-
tests in the primaries and in the general
election, and has inaugurated reform
crusade in Brownsville. There has been
a feud between the city police department
and the sheriff 8 Office in Brownsville for
some years, with many resultant fndict-
ments The last federal grand jury of
Corpus Christi indicted tSate District
Judge Hopkins and some Nueces county
officials for conspiracy to debauch the
electorate"
The other message to the Carranza
agency contained a categorical denial
from Gen. Nafarette that any of his
troops had crossed into Texas.
Ask for Rifles.
The Mission (Texas) Chamber of
! Commerce today wired the National
Rifle Association here asking for rifles
and ammunition Immediately, in view of
the reign Of terror in this section, and
the urgent need of arms and ammunition
for protection" The National Rifle As
ISOLATION distributes condemned army
rifles to rife practice clubs.
Lieut. Albert S. Jones. secretary of the
bassociation. said the Mission people would
| have to form a club before the guns could
] be issued That would take three or four
months Lieut.. Jones says many rifle
clubs have been formed in New Mexico
and Arizona during the last two months,
and that many have been supplied with
rifles.