Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-12-04
ANOTHER AMERICAN
SLAIN IN N Ex|CO
Relations Between u. s. and Car
rama Govt. Are Forced Tow
ard the Long Expected Break
ing Point
SITUATION Is GRAVE
Man Murdered Was james wallace,
Employc Of nm American OIL Com
pany-shot Dead by Carranxn Soldier
Near TampicO

Washington, Nov. 2S-Another Ameri-
can murdered in Mexico, close on the
imprisonment of Consular Agent Jenkins,
coupled with reports of revolution in
Mexico City with Carranza in flight to
Queretaro. added complexities to-day
which seemed to force the already tense
Mexican situation toward the long ex-
pected breaking point.
There were no official announcements
for the guidance of public opinion as to
what action if any the American govern
ment might be contemplating, but ad-
ministration officials, by indication, were
willing to show that the government is
taking firm position. considering the
eventualties, and is prepared to deal
with them, once a course is chosen.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT.
Another Of tho last straws," as one
official put 1t, was laid on to-day with
the official report of the murder OF
James Wallace. an American oil man,
by a Carranza soldier near Tampico on
Wednesday. The State department sum-
married. its advices in this formal state
ment:
James Wallace. an American employe
of an American oil company near Tampco
was murdered by Mexican federal SOL
der at Potrero Del Llano, on Wednes-
day, November rs. The murderer was
not taken into custody.
According to the departments ad
vices the officer in charge of troops camp
ed in the vicinity claimed that Wallace
had provoked the murder. The depart
ment has been informed as the result of
an investigation, that a mule on which
Wallace was riding to the place Of his
employment SHE'D at machine gun
w.icn 1t was passing, overturning the
gun. The soldier Immediately shot Wal
lace. the bullet striking him in the neck
and killing him instantly"
The Wallace referred to Is believed here
to be w. NJ. Wallace, an employee of the
Gulf Refining company, Familiarity known
to his associates as Jam Wallace. re-
Gently went to Tampico after having been
in Colombia for the Gulf company. He
was about 40 years old.
SOME FORCEFUL WORDS
The Mexican ambassador. Ignacio
Bonillas called on Secretary Lansing
at the state department to-day and they
not only went over the Jenkins case, but
Mr. Lansing also laid before the Mexi-
can envoy the report Of the killing of
Wallace which has just been received.
Their conference was OF course conf
Dental, but it is understood that the
secretary conveyed to President Car
ranza's representative a message more
forceful and direct than any yet trans
mtted in any diplomatic note. Mr.. Bonil-
las was informed that the department
placed no credence in the charges on
which Jenkins is held in jail in Puebla.
tn, ttrhi ch ha irnn do
clines to intervene, and it Is understood
that Mr.. Lansing further outlined to the
ambassador the inevitable consequences
of continued murders and molestations
of Americans, probably more pointedly
than was done in the governments OFF,
cial note Of last July.
ANOTHER OUTRAGE
About the same time word came in
Of the death of another American as the
result Of brutal treatment of bandits
who held him for ransom. He was Otto
Lund, of Swedish birth, naturalized
American, who died of blood poisoning
after being held for ransom five months
in the State of Mavarit. His captors
chopped off one of his fingers with foul
weapon and wrapped it within their writ
ten demand for ransom money which they
sent to his friends in Topic. Blood
poisoning and gangrene killed the man,
while his wife, an American woman,
and their child are reported in want in
Topic.
The murder of Wallace, however,
assumes proportions of overshadowing
Importance. Potrero Del Llano, the
ranch on which he was murdered. is six
to nine miles south of Tampico. The
old pipe lines of the Aguiar, Gulf Refin-
ing and Huasteca OIL companies run
through the property. When word Of
his death was received here the officials
OF all three companies were commune
Gated with for identification. The Gulf
companys office at Houston, Texas, re-
sponded that Wallace probably was
W. M, Wallace. who was known to be
In the Tampico district and on the Potrero
Del Llano property.
If the Identification be correct, Wallace
is the eighth employe of the Gulf COM
pany to meet death at the hands of Mexi-
cans in the Tamplco district and the
eighth American to be killed in Mexico
since July %, when the United States
warned Carranza that further murders
of Americans would seriously affect the
relations between the two countries
LIST OF MURDERS
According to state department records
the eight murders have been in this
order:
July SIR. A. Cunningham at Mata-
moras.
August 2s-Adam Schaefer at Pinos.
August 30-H. $. McGill at Coapa
September "A. p, Hennessy at La
Colorado.
September 21-Lieut. C. II. Connolly, U.
s. A., at Bahia.
Lieut.. F.. b. Waterhouse at Bahia.
(These We're the two army aviators who
lost their way were starved and finally
murdered by Mexican fishermen)
November l4-E. X. Lack at Maxicali
said to have been killed by a Mexican Of
fetal
1t Is further said from the unofficial
records that wallace is tho seventh
American killed by Carranza soldiers in
the Tampco district
Immediately on receipt of the news Of
the death of Wallace the State department
ordered investigation and further report
on the details,
investigation and report on the new
phases OF the jenkins case raised in the
Mexican note refusing to meet this gov
ernments demand for the consular agents
immediate release, already had been or
dered
ments was TO put the Mexican situation
already acknowledged bad. into the worst
light Of probably more than year
1t has been known here for some time
that tho preliminaries OF the Mcyican