Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1920-05-28
SEND CARRANzA'
BODY TO CAPITAL
Special Train Carrying Remain1
to Mexico City.
WAS AScASSINATED BY AID?
Fugitive President of Mexico and Sew
eraI of His Friends Made Prison.
ers and Then Executed by
General Herrera.

Mexico City, May "A Specldl
train carrying the body of President
Venustiano Carranza is on its way to
the capital.
Accompanying the dead president
are seven other Baskets, containing the
bodies of his most intimate followers.
A small group of thirty-tWo chief
tains, two civilians and the eight COZ
fms are all that remain of 7,QOO pow
erfully armed crack troops ana huge
crowd of the former presidents satel-
| Lites who fled from Mexico City, carry
ing nations loot and treasure.
Here in the capital are confusion
and vague sense Of terror OF the con-
sequence at home and abroad.
Its a delicate situation grayeiy
| declared Col. Benito Ramiers, chief OF
Obregon's staff.
Two Versions of Killings.
There are two versions at staff head
quarters as to how the killings took
place. One-and it's the one that the
revolutionary leaders are praying is
the correct one-is that Carranza and
his seven followers were casualties IN
a regular battle. The other most like
| ~ version is that Gen. DOdOlfo Her.
rera made the eight men prisoners and
assassinated them.
The dead, in addition to Carranza,
probably include Luis Cabrera, secre-
tary of the treasury; Gen. Francisco
Murguia, CarranZa'S commander IN
chief; Aguirre Berlanga, secretary OF
| The interior; Alfonso Cabrera, brother
If Luis, former governor of the state
of Puebla, and the man who arrested
Consul Jenkins and caused all the
| trouble over the kidnapping; and GEN
eral Urquizo, subsecretary of the war
department.
Herrera the Key Figure.
At the little town of Tlexicaltenango
| In northern Puebla, near the great
light and power plant at Necaxa which
supplies Mexico City, occurred the
tragedy on the explanation of which
hinges the fate of Mexico. Encircle@
by pursuing revolutionary forces UNI
| der Gen. Jesus Novoa, and realizing
| that escape was impossible, one OF
| two things took place either the rebel
troops commanded by General Her
rera discovered and attacked the pres
idential party and Carranza and his
seven companions were killed in bat
| tie, or Herrera, as member of Car
ranza's fugitive group, turned on his
chief and murdered them.
Herreras status will decide wheth-
er the drama was the unavoidable out
come of war or pure murder.
Rebels Appear in Clear.
In either event it is difficult to see
Just how the revolution headed by
Obregon can be blamed. Herrera was
a Mexican rebel against Carranza. His
forces operated in the state of Vera
Cruz, on the southern fringes of the
Manuel Pelacz oil zone around Tam
pico. Last November Herrera took adj
vantage of an amnesty decree issued
by Carranza and surrendered to the
federal government.
His forces were incorporated in the
regular army and they passed out of
the limelight.
| When Carranza evacuated Mexico
City, Herrera accompanied him. At a
great battle at Rinconada, when Gen.
Jacinto Trevino, operating under OBJ
! RECON- disastrously defeated the forces
of Murguai and the presidential fugi-
tives abandoned the IL special trains
and plumber, Herrera-and here is
| the crucial spot in the whole affair
! is said to have deserted the Carran-
zistas and joined General Mariel, an
other Obregon commander, at the en-
gagement.
Herrera then is said to have joined
in the pursuit Of the president.
He is then supposed to have opened
an attack at dawn Friday, probably
while the Carranza camp was asleep.
Violated Obregon's orders2
| The fact that only important per-
sons were killed, and apparently no
soldiers were either attackers or at
| tackled, and no other member of the
Carranza crowd was even injured,
seems to bear out the version that
Herrera either rejoined Carranza att
er Rinconada, then turned on him, or
never did desert him and become an
| Obregonista.
| Where the revolutionary party can
be linked up with the affair lies in the
possibility that Herrera did attack as
an Obregonista and captured and exc
cuted the victims. In this event he
violated Obregon's orders to all his
generals not to harm President Car
rama or his followers, but to give
them all guarantees of safety.
If Herrera did this he obviously
would be arrested. He has not been
arrested, and Obregon's chief of stag
told me he wouldn't be, as it was a
formal battle and the casualties, ire
grettable as they are" could not be
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