The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-09
(By George Creel.)

Ine naLlOn stands accused or cow
 ardice and desertion "a Secretary ot the Navy with bungling, treachery ! and gross deceit.
 l Admiral H. T. Mayo was in com mand of the American naval forces l at Tampico. The entire incident 1 centered around him. He is, there : fore, the one man able to speak with
 Nauthority, and to pass accurately upon
 the truth or the falsity of the charges Listen to his testimony.
 ''It is misrepresentation to say that YAmerican citizens in Tampico were deserted in an hour of imminent dan- ger. ! Tt is distorting facts to say that iAmericans, robbed of the protection ot their own flag, were forced to seek refuge under the colors of foreign power.
 1 Tt is not true that the Tampico affair was marked by gross bung- ling. The fact that close to 5000 Americans were taken out of the city,
 without loss of life or destruction
 of property, is result that ought tosspeak for itself.
 i "I have no interest in parties or political controversies but I have a very deep interest in the honor of the United States, the pride of the fAmerican Navy. :. It is this honor
 and this pride that I am glad to de- fend against aspersion and nisrep- lsentation.
 T. The interview. held on the deck of lfhe Yankton in Hampton Roads, is the IfirH word from Admiral Idss5o. His lliH3 have been locked isr bedience 1 toi 1he immemorial law of tl,5 Navy thE& officers cay not speGH IT write Ep@blifly without permd ssion. The ipef4nfssion was given to him by Sec 1 rdtary Daniels as the result of a widespread insistence that the "one ] man who KNEW shduld be allowed
 to give all the facts in the case.
 | The letter from the Secretary to kAdiniral Mayo was not an order, how lever. It contained the simple state
 ment that the people were entitled ito the truth about Tampico, and hat kAdmiral Mayo, unless disinc1ined. should feel at perfect liberty to tell his story without fear or favor. One glance at AdmiraIf Mayo brings [ the unacceptable conviction that neith- CT, fear nor favor would ever play a part in the expression of his views. Simplicity. courage and independence are written in every line of his strong face. Tt is my pleasure to comply with 1 the suggestion of the Secretary" he ! said. Confusion is bad thing when the good name of the country is at stake" For five hours we sat in the cabin i, of the Yankton, for Admiral Mayo Apersisted in referring to his reports land records in substantiation of every statement, and the narrative that fol- flows is a painstaking chronicle of the {, Tampico incident from beginning to
 end.
 ~I went to Tampico first in Decem-
 Der, 1913." he commenced. Admir- Val Fletcher had been there before me for some time, once taking off six hum dred Americans and keeping them on
 his ships until all danger was thought !, to have passed. By February, 1914. the situation at Tampico had become so entirely normal that he decided to concentrate most of our forces at Vera ! Cruz. But early, in March the rebels
 gathered around Tampico in some force, and so was sent back and
 took my position in the river in front of the town. (Six miles up from the coast.) e.a 1gG- % 1. From March until April 5, very | little happened, but onfthe latter date i the federal troops, moving out to at tack the revolutionists, were thrown back on Tampico, suffering rather | decisive defeat. Down the river, at Donna Cecilia and Arbol Grands, the trevolutionists also won, and as a con- l, sequence of these activities, the pro- | tection of foreign life and property became an acute problem. "In addition to our own ships at Tampico, there were also present the
 English cruiser Hermione, the German
 cruiser Dresden, and later the French
 cruiser Des Cartes. We held a con- ference and drew up a joint communi cation addressed to the commanders
 of the federal and rebel forces in
 which we set forth the rights of neu- trals an non-combatants. This state ment delivered, all of us set to work
 arranging to gather in our citizens ] if Tampico was attacked.
 f q had to send twice to Donna Cecilia and Arbol Grande before lcould get the women and children. the
 second time Issuing a virtual com
 mand. From Tampico itself they were | taken only when rebel attack appear 1 ed imminent. The English and Ger
 man commanders adopted similar
 courses. and, starting April 10 every
 ship was soon filled with refugees. 1 "On April g, at noon, learned that sthe crew of the Dolphin's whaleboat
 had been arrested by the Huerta of- l lficials, and sent on shore at once. Some of our sailors had been arrested on shore while others had been drag ged from the boat itself, although it
 carried the American flag at bow and stern4 A colonel, coming upon the
 sceney ordered their instan release, but not before they had been marched up the street as prisoners.
 General Zaragoza, in command, 1 hastened to express his regret, declar-
 ing it the unauthorized act of an ig-
 norant, irresponsible subordinate. He
 was a fine, honorable gentleman, and our relations were always pleasant, but
 the circumstances made it impossible
 to accept his personal explanation and private apology. Insult and humilia-
 tion har been public, and I felt thtt reparatton must be equally public if American rights were to be respected at all Tn plain words told him that the officer who made the arrest must { be PUNISHED, and that the flag of
 the United States must be SALUTED. As @ matter. of course, General Zara- goza had to refer the affair to Mexico