OCR Text |
Show U. S. HOLDS VERA CRUZ; FIGHT STILL ON I (Special Cablo to The Tribune.) VERA CRUZ, April 22. It is reported that the Con- H necticut and Minnesota have landed marines at Tampico. There was no resistance. Early Report of American Loss Shows Four Killed i and Twenty Wounded; Enemy's Losses Heavy; General Maas Resists Stubbornly; Prairie Shells Foe; Vera Cruz Civilians Snipe From Roofs. H UTAH'S GUNNERS LEAD FRAY I With Five Shots They Destroy Tower From Which I Sharpshooters Are Picking Off Our Men; 10,000 I Americans Will Be Ready to Advance on the H Huertistas Today; Bombardment Is Likely. . H LATEST BULLETINS. ll WASHINGTON, April 21. Rear Admiral Fletcher reported H to the navy department from Vera Cruz under date of 10 p, m. that the firing was in progress. The report said: "Sniping continues from nearby houses. No additional Jt casualties." The cmiser San Francisco had arrived in the inner harbor at 10 o 'clock and the Chester was expected an hour later. 'M VERA ORUZ, April 21. The Hamburg-American steamer Ypiranga moved to port this afternoon and signaled the flagship, i voluntarily placing herself under Rear Admiral Fletcher's orders. j 'M The Ypiranga will stand by tonight and the captain has given j bis word that he will not go out beyond hailing distance tomorrow. . BISBEE, Ariz., April 21 J. Perez, constitutionalist agent here,, said tonight: " "Huerta is trying to involve the whole Mexican nation, but h under no circumstances will the constitutionalists unite with his party." VERA ORUZ, April 21. Government troops are abandoning Puerto Mexico to the rebels. The British consul called on British admiral for aid. VEKA CKL'Z, April 21. Vera Cruz tonight is in the bauds of forces from t he United States warships, but the occupation of thc port was not accomplished accom-plished without loss of American Jives. Four Americans, bluejackets and marines, ma-rines, were killed by tho lire of the Mexican soldiers, and twenty fell wounded. Thc Mexican loss is not known, but it is believed to have been heavy. Tin; water front, the customs house nnd all important piers, including those under the tcrminnl works from which extend the railroads tolho capital, havo been occupied. All the territory arouud thc American consulate is strongly patrolled, pa-trolled, and detachments hold other sections sec-tions of the city. General M aas Offers Stubborn Resistance. The Mexican commander, General Gustavo Maas, offered a stubborn resistance re-sistance and for mauy hours there was fighting in the streets. Toward nightfall night-fall it wns reported that the main body of tho federal garrison was in rot rent to tho westward. Rear Admiral Fletcher, in- commuud of the United Slates warships, prefaced his occupation of the port by a de-maud, de-maud, through tho American consul, W. W. Canada, for its surrender. General Maas promptly declined to accede to this demand, anil shortly afterward ten whale-boats were sent off from tho sidp of tho transport Prairie, loaded with marines. Theso boats effected n landing land-ing in tho neighborhood of the customs house before noon, nud a fow minutes lator Captain William J?. Rush 'of tho battleship Florida, who was in com-mand com-mand of the operations ashore, brought his flag in. Mexicans Open Fire; Tben Comet a Lull. Captain Push's men had already taken up thoir positions. They num- H bored ISO bluejackets from tho Florida, 'H 300 marines from tho Prairie and sixty- jH five marines from the Florida. Lator theso wero nugmonted by a detachment jH from the. Utah. Tho coming of the American forces was not heralded by any great excite-meat, excite-meat, hut small crowd gathered to watch thc landing. Soon the blue jack-els jack-els and marines marched through tho jH streets leading from the water front and along tho railroad yards. Others proceeded to the American consulate, while still others were deployed along thc approaches to Central plaza, in which General Maas had concentrated Fight Becomes General Near Central Plaza. These maneuvers wore effocted with-out with-out opposition, but suddenly General Maas challenged thc advance with the first phots a volley fired from a point three blocks from thc marines and two J blocks south of the main plaza. Tho marines replied immediately, but the action ceased in a moment. There was a lull for ten minutos and then another . brief exchange front the west end of Montesinos street, where a federal out-ost out-ost was stationed. 'At 12:30 thc firing became general and nt J o'clock the- guns' of the trans- 4 port Prairio wdnt into action. v Prior to this a detachment of blue- (Continued on Page Twai f II U. S. MINES I HOLD VERA CRUZ AFTERJATTLE I. All Day and Night Fighting; I: General Maas Beaten; I Civilians Help Him Hi Ij From Housetops. Ij (Continued from Pago One.) I jackets from the Utah, holding the I ground between the consulate and the I water front, opened lire with two of I their three-inch guns. The first shots I' from rheso pieces were directed against I an ancient tower which once served ns I a lighthouse. ThiB was occupied by I Mexican sharpshooters. I UtaVa banners Wreck I Tower Held ty roe. I Lieutenant Commander Buchanan of I the Florida ordered that it bo destroyed. I Five shots brought the old Benito Jua-I Jua-I rez tower down. 4 I The women of tho American colony I in Vera Cruz had already been placed I' aboard the chartered steamers Espcr-I Espcr-I anza and Mexico, but tho foreign, nolo-I nolo-I ny, especially tho American scction,'was I greatly augmented this morning,-.wbcn I thrco trainlonds arrived from tho capi-I capi-I tal. Some of .these remained ashore, I but many wore taken aboard tho-steam-I' era. So far as can be, Innrncd, nono I of the refugees was injured I Tho postofiico, government, telegraph I oflico and tho cabio office were the first I buildings occupied after tho customs house. A squad of mnrinesiiwas placed in charge ot the cable office. The tele-'graph tele-'graph wires were foundi intact, and enough Mexican operators wore rotaincd to man the lines to Mexico' City, i Vera Cruz Civilians"..' Snoot From Roofs. ! After General Maas bad been driven .from his position in Cjentral plaza, the I Americans found' themselves tho object I of fusillades from thV tops of houses, i where small groups. of soldiers and citizens citi-zens had taken up' positions. It was learned only tonight that tho greater jtirt of those engaged in thiB resistance j were civiliaus, who , refused to accept I tho Americau occupation passively. I Thcv obtained guns and stationed thorn-selves thorn-selves at points of vantage and did i much to prolong the action. 1 LiciitciiantjpcJonol Wendell C. Xc- , iille commanded the marines from the i Prairie anflVMaiors Rcid andr Berkeley and Captain Hughes, Hill and Dyer along tbeHno. Every precaution' is being taken to prevont a Mexican nt-nck. nt-nck. aol Jlte'Iiues have been reinforced bv a detachment whirh was originally in position,-bpyonil the terminal works. Prairie s Shells Stop a Flanlrinrf Movement. Toicjrd the middle of the afternoon ; ''''v 01 '-'xiea!is evacuated Hj their jios'.won and are now somewhere HL ,a. JV Mils back in tho interior, wlieje it is reported from Mexican hourcrt they are expecting to bo joined by Toinforcemouts from the capital. -This withdrawal, however, was not nfirely premeditated. Those watching 'on the ihtps observed through their glasses a large force of Mexicans mov-j mov-j ; rrt over the hills in the western out-l out-l 7 ( irf? of tho city, apparentlv with the . iniont ot) of fianhing a battalion of marines in the railway vards and ulong L ' Moulcsiuos street, which runs east aud y wct not far from the Amcricnn con- t Instantly the five-inch gnnf. of the I , Praitin ?t go. breaking the Mexican! 1 formation and causing a hasty retreat. - This ended Ihe flanking movement. Only a few minutes before the three-nch three-nch gtir.s of the Prairie were used 1 eftVtivclv near shore. A tmall detach-J detach-J mont of Mexicans had gained positions j near the customs house and their cou-J cou-J . lealH marksmen were causing some J tr uble. A few shots from the Prai- J, ne s guns served to silence that po-J po-J 1 itin. From time to time t he same Hj guns played their shells aJong the line j ot the shore, keeping that territory J comparatively free from sharpshooters. J In tho action about the customs house J two of the bluejackets in a launch ( carrying a rapid firer wcro wounded. 10,000 Men to Rust the Mexicans Today. With all tho eastern side of the citv HI occupied and also tho tracks of the 1 railwav as far west as the roadhouso H near Iho western edgp on the northern J sioe. and with the Mexicans unable to J do more than Itcoji up an annoving but J jnonective lire trom housetops, Cap- H tain Hush, at 4:20 o'clock Una aftor- J noon, sent undor n fine of truce' a mes-senger mes-senger chosen from among the natives j to General Maas to ask if ho was not i ready to surrender. Hi It was learned that unices the Mexi- Hj rans yielded. Captain Rush had his HB choice of continuing the fighting under the tactics ho was using, or of charg- ing all positions or of calling on tho warships for a bombardment. Captain Rush wiih loth to resort to a bom- bardment, and. on the other hand, did not desire to lose any more of his men bv charges. He recognized that the j taetiea of tho Moxicans might leave the l housetop fighters in their position in- definitely, aud that it' was not impossi. ble that tboso who wnro sniping from . the Toofs might be reinforced bv othors durinc the night. The messenger wa told to remind General Maas that while there woro ashora at that time only a few more , than 1000 men, there would be avail- able for the Amorican forces by mom. ing Eomc 10,000. It was left to General Maas to draw his own inference from this message. There was no cannon firing from the Mexican sido, and it is supposed their ft artillery .pieces were taken from the ftSftr city early in tho dn With tho excep- ftVB Don of a few shots from the light fiefi' ftVftT pieces of thpT bluejackets and a few from the Prairie, it was a contest of ftVB ftVfl Braveiy wn shown everywhere ftVAj among the Americans. The youiigiteri K wearing the blue jackets of their vessels ves-sels bchavod as well under fire as the marines, who along the lines comported themselves like veterans. Some of the marines had seen service before in Central America and other places. In tho other part of the engagement some detachments of the Americans who were guarding the approaches to the central, part of tho city, stood without with-out flinching while bullets from the rifles of the Mexicans sang about their cars. Captain Rush supplemented his wigwag wig-wag system of communication with Rear Admiral Fletcher as soon as he lauded by radio operated from tho roof of the terminal hotel. Admiral Fletcher was kept constantly advised of tho operatiqug and in turn reported to Rear Admiral Badger, who was offshore. off-shore. and whose reinrorcemcnts would bring the available number of men up to 10.000. Captain TJush was reluctant to take action, which he kuew would result in loss of life to his men and possible noncombatants. While the mnchine cuns played their music, and iho rifle fire added to the iin. he remarked to tho newspaper men his deep regret at the resistance of the Mexicans and expressed ex-pressed the hope that they would not persist until he had to call on the ships' gnns tor a bombardment. "It would bo too bad," he said, (Continued on Pago Tarce.) t IU. S. MARINES HOLD VERA GRUZ AFTER BUTTLE (Continued from Page Two.) "to shoot up this town. 1 hope I will not have to do it." Lieutenant Commander Buchanan, second in command, was close to Captain Cap-tain Rush the greater part of the engagement en-gagement and tlie two, with other officers of-ficers conferred constantly. Not at any time did Captain Ttush appear worried regarding the final result, but j always ho was perturbed at tho thought of using the big guns. The fiercest "fighting occurred an hour or two after thy opening shots. Por a time the rifle and machine-gun firo gave the people of Vera Cruz and the foreign refugees aboard the steamers in ' tho harbor more thrills than most of them had over had. There was no changing of forces to add to the dramatic action, but tho spirited manner in which the marines and bluejackets held their ground and, firing at will, cracked back at tho eno-mj'j eno-mj'j gave thrill enough. A large percentage per-centage of tho marines wore across their shirts ono or all three bars indicating marksmanship, and they were practicing, practic-ing, many of them, for the first time at living targets. Liko the Mexicans, the Americans also took advantage of the roofs. The top of the terminal station afforded an excellent position for sharpshooters. These naturally drew a return fire, and it was thero that two men were wounded. wound-ed. Both of them had been detailed on signal work The liveliest separate action of tho day was at the custom houso and the water front adjacent. Mexicans had been sending across from the the buildings build-ings near by an ugly and scattering firo, and the American riflemen ashore had great difficulty in dislodging them. A littlo flotilla of launches, each car rying a ouo-pounder in the stern, advanced ad-vanced under cover of the Prairi.e's three-inch guns. The one-pounders dug viciously into the positions, and shells from the three-inch guns finished tho work lively. There was no more trouble from that quarter. . Less than half an hour after leaving the side of tho United States transport Prairio the marines had landed, and tho absence of resistance at the water front and failure of the Mexicans to contest tho taking of a position near tho water front, caused tlie curious spectators spec-tators in tho street to laugh, and when one Mexican peon ran for cover, having hav-ing had the temerity to shout at the top of his voice, "Viva Mexico!" loud guffaws came from the onlookers. Hour After Hour the Fighting Continues. But the lull was not indicative of compliance A few shots came within a few minutes, and later a brief exchange, ex-change, and the spectators, whose curiosity cur-iosity alone had brought them into tho streotF, lingered, thinking it was only a show of resistance. -But after au-othcr au-othcr brief interval, fighting in earnest began, and hour at tor hour the Mexicans Mexi-cans continued to oppose the Americans fiercely in somo quarters, although tho mam body apparently socmen roaoy to f"it- The demand for the surrender of Vera Cruz whs made by Rear Admiral1 Fletcher through. Consul Canada at 0 o'clock in tho morning. Tho consul called General Gustavo Maas, commandant com-mandant of Vera Cruz, by tele-phone and presented tho domands, saying that the United States forces wore about to occupy and hold the town. Ho called upon 1 1 1 to surrender in the name of humanity and assist the Americans in restoring order. Geueral Maas replied that compliance with tho demand was impossible, and asked the consul for a personal parley. par-ley. The consul informed General Maas that he had no instructions to grant a parley and ended tho convocation, lie then called the jefo politico and the customs collector by telephone and informed them of the prospective landing land-ing and asked for their co-oporation in the maintenance of peace. Tho customs collector requested time, in order to attend to certain duties, and neither could promise any assistance. assist-ance. TJear Admiral Fletcher, aboard tho flagship Florida, by this timo was in communication with" TCcnr Admiral Badger, Bad-ger, commander-in-chief of the Atlantic fleet, who to speeding toward this port with five warships. Admiral Fletcher decided to take action, ac-tion, and marines began lenving the side of the transport Prairio shortly before 11 o'clock. Tlicy entered ten whnlcboats and effected a landing within with-in half an hour at the customs house and No. -t pier, which extends almost from the center of the shore line into the port and terminal works. Information that President Uucrla was counting on receiving from the steamer Ypiranga. of tho ITamburg-Amcrican ITamburg-Amcrican line, which was due to ar-rive( ar-rive( today. -n big consignment of ammunition, am-munition, rifles and. machine guns, was responsible for the occupation oC the customs house somewhat earlier than might otherwise have been tho case. The Vniranga is still outside the harbor. har-bor. She has on board among other supplies 10,000 rifles and .15,000,000 cartridges. car-tridges. President lluorta ha been making cv-cry cv-cry effort to safeguard this consignment and had given orders that it be unloaded un-loaded immediately, placed on a special train drawn by two locomotives, and rushed to the capital. REAR ADMIRAL CLIF-I VORD BOUSII, com-manding com-manding the second division of the United States fleet, who is now proceeding southward south-ward on his flagship, the Louisiana, from the Brooklyn Brook-lyn navy yard. |