The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1914. TROUBLED MEXICO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12, 5 May 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1914. TROUBLED MEXICO.

What is held to be a most authentic statement regarding Mexico, and the real ■ truth as to the details of the death of the Englishman, lienton, has boon set forth by’the special correspondent of an Italian journal, and translations of this account show that from the military point of view the Government of Huerta won considerable success, which kept the revolution in check. At the end ot November, the rebels were besieging Tampico, threatening St. Louis, in possession of Torreon, and blocking all roads to the American border. Now, on the contrary, wide stretches

from Coahuila ami Nuevo Leon have boon reconquered, riie railways restored, and so effectually watched that traffic is normal again. Torreon has been won back from the revolutionaries and become one oi the strongest places of defence for the Government. The attitude of the population in the north, which in general, six months ago, was hostile to Huerta, lias, this writer affirms, completely changed on account of the abominations committed by the revolutionaries. The revolution plunders and destroys wheresoever it goes. What has been reported about the horrors perpetrated is not only not overstated, but one would need to be present on the spot in order to grasp the fact that not so much as the tenth part of the truth is known. The country from St. Louis southward is ti graveyard showing the traces of murder and rapine. All bridges, great and small, have been blown up by dynamite, all railway stations are iu ruins, thousands oi railway trucks destroyed by fire, the sheds swept away, and merchandise to the value of million* annihilated. Along the whole line, besides thu rails, and be-

tween rough graves and human skeletons, are the incinerated remains of military trains, which have been blown into the air. Hie same authority also states that numberless _ people, outside the actual combatants, j have been murdered and that amongst j these was the Englishman, Benton, j Villa, he states, refused to surrender the body, ■ because it would bej seen that the death was not brought about by a judicial execution, on the ground of a court-martial, as he maintains, but because it would be demonstrated that Benton was murdered by two revolver shots, discharged from behind him. Benton was unarmed. He did not insult Villa. He asked the latter in correct manner what he intended to do to indemnify him (Benton) for his cattle, which had been commandeered. As !i e was about to cross the threshold, Villa fired at him. One of his adjutants followed his example. Benton fell as if struck by lightning, with his face to the ground. And after some further startling details the conclusion arrived at is: “In view of the great sacrifices which the Government takes upon itself to maintain order and to defend the national resources, and especially in view of the anarchic conditions which the revolution everywhere calls forth, all the diplomatic representatives are upon the side of the Government, whicli shows that it possesses the needful energy to control the situation, although it is without credit. Even the American charge d’affaires, does not in his reports conceal the lamentable position in which Mexico funis horoself, in consequence of the American policy which ■ is throttling the country financially, and is supporting the revolution by all sorts of means, even including the American consular agents.”