New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-24
Gen. Molina Also Killed
When Herrero's Men
Mistook Him for BOnil-
las i'm Hut of First Chief
Assassins Take
Sixty Prisoners
MurguiaL Led FightAgainst
Attackers i'm Dark; To
Name President TODAY

ASS"NNSAO AAA DoA N ~
Name President To-day
MEXICO CITY, May % (By The
Associated Press). - Venustiano
Carranza was killed when traitors,
led by General Rodolfo Herrero, sur
rounded and "fred furiously" into
the hut where the fugitive was sleep
ing, according to dispatch received
here to-day by General Alvaro Obre-
gon from Juan Barragan, Carran-
zista chief Of staff.
General Morales Molina was the
only other person killed in the at
tack, according to newspaper dis
patches. The reports quote General
Herrero as saying he desired to kill
only Carranza and Ignacio Bonillas,
former Ambassador to the United
States. Herrero is said to have mis-
taken General Molina for Bonillas.
Sixty Taken Prisoner
Fighting in the semi-darkness un-
der the leadership of General Fran
cisco Murguia, Carranza's followers
made such a valiant defense that
Herrero's men were forced to take
sixty prisoners, the message from
Barragan said.
Newspaper reports say the three
generals and two members of Car
ranza's Cabinet, who were first re-
ported to have been killed in ths
Tlaxcalantongo fighting, have now
disappeared, and probably are in
hiding.
An effort to select a Provisional
President OF the republic will be made
here tomorrow, when an extraordinary
session of Congress will convene to
choose chief executive under the
Aqua Prieta plan. The failure of the
permanent commission of the National
Congress to obtain a quorum on two
occasions, to sustain its assumed au-
thority to choose Provisional Presi-
dent, is taken to indicate the choice
made by the extraordinary session will
be acceptable.
General Molina, who was killed with
Carranza, conducted the military trial
OF General Roberto F. Cejudo, former
commander in chief OF the forces of
Emiliano Zapata in Hidalgo, who was
accused of dealing with the rebels.
Details of Assassination
Barragan's dispatch giving details of
the killing of CarranZa and Molina
follows:
villa Juarez, State of Puebla, May
%.
ITO General Alvaro Obregon.
referring to your telegram of
this date, Herrero joined the column
at Patla. processing loyalty. Arriv-
ing at Tlaxcalantongo, Herrero Of
fered hospitality to Carranza, plac-
ing sentinels who knew the terrain
At a o'clock in the morning his men,
abusing the confidence imposed in
them, surrounded the shelter where
Carranza was sleeping, firing their
rifles furiously into the hut. Every
one offered resistance, although
with the natural decentralization
caused by the unexpected attack.
General Francisco Murguia fought
darkness), repulsing the traitors,
who surprised the defenders when
they were leaving their shelters to
attack the enemy.
Clear Military Honor
"The unexpectedness of the attack
enables us to clear our military honor.
The defense was general to such an
extent that the attackers were forced
to take sixty prisoners, among them
Mario Mendez. Pauline Fontes, Gil
Garias, General Heliodoro Perez.
Colonel Che Gomez, General Viilela
and Carranza's military aid.
Mendez formerly was director of
the national telegraph linees, Fontes
was former director of national rail-
ways and Senior Garias was Car
ranza's private secretary
"Our conscience is clear Our grief
for the death of the President is in
consolable. We are satisfied that we
did not abandon him for one moment.
Loyalty Useless Against Treason
"The few men wounded and dead
is explained by the fact that the at
tackers planned their crime knowing
the place where the President, who
had placed his confidence in Herrero.
was sleeping. The loyalty and cour-
age of the Presidents followers were
useless against the treason of those
criminals"
Ihe message was signed by Barragan
and Marciano, Gonzales, Federico Mon
tes, Francisco de H. Mariael and others.
The flags on the American Embassy
and all the other embassies and lega-
tions were placed at half-staf when the
news of the assassination of President
Carranza arrived.
Herrero's Father Slain
Juan Sanchez Azcona, who is in
charge of the Foreign Once, to-day "a
noon sent the following communication
to all the foreign diplomats in Mexico
City:
With sorrow inform you that at {
o'clock on the morning of May Fl Presi-
dent Carranza was assassinated in the
village of Tlaxcalantongo, State OF
Puebla, where he had passed the night
in his flight through the Necax, a noun
tain range, accompanied by forty per.
sons, mostly high army officials.
The assassin, Rodolfo Herreru. be-
longed to small force Of General
Mariel, follower of Carranza. who
protected him in fight. Herrero COM
manded the escort charged with guard
ing CarranZa the same n;rh+ Aft.