Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1915-04-21

A Carranza -ubieutrnant. partly m-
toxlcated, ~ charged with being pun-ihlr
for ilring al the United Statea army "a
plane as II sailed through the air over Fort
Brown and Brownsville late Tuesday aft
ernoon. H. said he thought il Was Villa
biplane Carranza Consul Jose ~ Cara.
who went IL Matamoru~ immediately upon
the firing 10 make au Investigation ui the
extraordinary occurrence made this stale
ment of his findings ~ Colonel Augu-tu- u.
BlockSom. commandant at Fort Brown. at
the same time extending an apology TOR
the occurrence ~ behalf oi General II. u.
Nafarrate. who was absent from Maia-
moros. The ~uhlicutcnant Il Ill Jail III Ma
tamoroS. No bullets hit the hiplnnc.
. The biplanc. occupied hy Lieutenant III.
n. Milling. commander. a- observer. and
Lieutenant H. !. luuc~ a~ pilot. rose over
Fort Brown "a , o'clock III thc afternoon.
II made three circles near the river. and
it. nearest approach was within TWO hun
dred feet of the boundary stream. Be
cause Of the great noise made hy Tine en-
CINE of the hiplanc the aVat"r~ dId u"t
The iir~ shots were i ~catt,rng tire aud
appeared N come from d point near
what = known a- Santa Cruz, directly oP-
poslte the city of Brown willie. M" more
firing wa then heard until the hiplanr
made IT, second appearance near the hi"
Grande. when i second vullrN WAS lri out.
startling numbers 81 people "A Fort Brown
and IN the city who were witnessing the h-
planes flight.
The third time the hiplane reached near
the Rio Grande there Wa \ rpup that
sounded like the fire from machine "ur.
) Forty or nfty shots were fired IA TIN
ume. The total of shots fired numbered
sixty To eighty.
.Iorenzc Iuarrz. chief NJ immigration II
Matamoro~. who was on the Mexican end
Of the international bridge Al the tnir ih'
shooting started. despatched c"urici
down the river toward the ferry landinn
10 stop u.
Of thl- action Consul Cara svo- in'
following account
.Between the International bridge an,
the ferry landing squad M CarwuI.
soldiers IN command ~ sub lieutenant
was working on the munnplanc landm.
station. Mr. Juarez came upon them au'
demanded an explanation ~ thr firm. iron
IN. snb- lieutenant. who Acknowledged iha
he had ordered hi men 4" fire np"n th'
blplane. stating that ~ did N" ~ accord
ance with orders issued IN hi~ command
IN. officer several weeks age when ih'
Nill~ta~ began the ~irgr ut Matamoro-. N
that time order we're ISSUED to TIRE up"i
any aircraft appearing over Matam"r"-
The sub lieutenant -aid that hc did no
know the American force aero. the rive
had biplane and H. supposed the on
appearlng overhead wa 4 Nilh-ta plane
The officer was placed under arrest and !
being held IN the Matamor"~ iail. The ca~
will BE- placed before General Nafarrtt
npon his return a. the city and proper pun
ishment will bc dealt out IA the guilt
parties.
"lTnfortunatey. m the time that th
plane was making H. flight and wa- hc'u
fired upon just opposite Brownsville. ma
chine .un was being tried oui at Puerta
Verdis. which i III our trenches about
half mile from Fort Brown. This was 4
extremely unfortunate coincidence. a~
nm posivte. a. a result 81 my mvc~tlsatin
that the fire from this gun Wa not 4
Z rected Al the biplane.
al asked the sub lieutenant whether
knew that he wa~ firing upon am Amrrlc.
h,nlane. and h. declared that he did ~
know there was plane or the Amcrlca
side. not having read the newspapers N