The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-29
WALLACE WAS SHOT l. FROM BEHIND BY A MEXICAN SOLDIER
Evidence Reaches Govern ment That Amercan Was Killed for No Cause
 Whatever
By Assoeidled Press

Washington, December 28 Claims of the Mexican goverr ment, as recently presented |: the American embassy in Mex ico City, that the killing near Tampico late in November of James Wallace, an American citizen, resulted from his fail ure to heed the warning of a Mexican sentry, are denied in an account of the incident which reached Washington to- day from the Aguila company, of which Wallace was an em. pfoye.
 The killing of Wallace caused the state department to make an urgent in- quiry of the Mexican government as to the circumstances.
 The Mexican foreign office in it's re- ply. charged that Wallace, while intoxi- cated passed a sentry stationed at what was characterized as "a dangerous SPot anu AditihS eO Atdits was SiiOh hsAN killed
 The Aguila Company's report which was presented a meeting in Tampico of oil company managers and which is the first detailed account of the Ameri- cans death to reach Washington, says:
 ''On the morning of the 26th, of No vember James Wallace, employed by us as foreman on our Eastern reservoirs at Portrero Del Llano, was riding from the office down to the tank farm. dis tance of about 250 metres. On the road was an outpost of four government sol diers with a machinesgu As far as we have been able to ascertain, Wallace's horse reared while passing this outpost and kicked the machine. whereupon one of the soldiers killed him instantly None of our men actually saw what hap pened
 Some of them had been talking to Wallace a minute or two before, and hearing the shot they ran out of the office and found Wallace lying on the ground dead.
 The soldiers gave the explanation that Wallace insisted on passing be- tween the machine gun and sentry, that his horse refused to go forward for which reason one of the soldiers beat it several times with the butt of his rifle and that Wallace then threw his horse over on the soldiers nearly upsetting the machine gun. They also claim Wafiacekhi the soldier with an axe- handle he was carrying and futher- more made the statement that Wallace was intoxicated. These statements are not substantiated by facts. Apart from the circumstances that we have never known Wallace to be intoxicated dur ing the ten months he was employed by us and that it~is in any case very unlikely a man would be under the in fluence of liquor when going to his work at eight o'clock in the morning we know positively that Wallace was absolutely sober as several of our mer were talking with him few minutes before he was killed.
 "As regards Wallace having assaulted the soldier with an axe-hand1e the lack of foundation for this statement is prov ed by the fact that the axe-handle which he was carrying down to ths tank farm was still found strapped to the saddle when the horse Wallace had been riding was brought back to unlikely. to say the least, that a man armed with only a stick should attack four soldiers with rifles and a machine gun.
 "Another circumstance which proves rhe soldier who killed Wallace did not act in self defense is that the nature of the wound, according to medical evil dence shows beyond any possibility 0 doubt that Wallace was shot from be- hind