BRITISH SUBJECT SHOT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 646, 25 February 1914, Page 2

BRITISH SUBJECT SHOT.

MAY LEAD TO INTERVENTION. Washington, Monday. Mr W. J. Bryan, Secretary of State, has been informed through the American Consul at Jaurez of General Villa'a version of the exemtion of Mr Benton, a wealthy English ranchowner in Mexico.

Villa stated that Benton threatened his life, and waß court-martialled and shot on a charge of attempted assassination.

A full statement of the case has been transmitted to Downing street. Benton's friends ridicule the ide;s that any trial was accorded him, and state that he openly boasted that he never carried arms in Mexico.

The police prevented an open-air meeting of protest at El Paso, Texas, fearing trouble. A number of residents met in a theatre and condemned the American Government's bad mangement of affairs connected with Mexico. A hundred Mexican refugees joined in the protest.

Speakers accused the United States of being guilty of aiding the lawless elements through its vacillating policy. Bentons maternal grandfather participated in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava. Other relatives of his are officers in the British Army. The whole of Texas has become worked up into a state of intense excitement, as Benton was very popular throughout the Southern States. He was known as a very brave man. His wife, a Mexican lady, is prostrated with grief. She declares that Benton never carried a revolver, and did not participate in any Mexican plots. Mr Bryan has conferred with Sir Cecil Spring Rice, and the President (Mr Woodrow Wilson) has conferred with the Cabinet over the murder. In diplomatic circles it is generally believed that Britain will cow press the United States to intervene in Mexico.