STRATEGIC POINT ON VERA CRUZ RAILWAY
•* ••• •< th* two bridges on the line of the railway from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, the control of which
’’’ ■ - ' ’t.e American troops. The bridges are only a few miles from Vera Cruz, and their
de»r—.rt)or eeriooaly hamper the movement towa'd the capital.
FIFTH BRIGADE EMBARKS AT GALVESTON
i .. • t s A . under command of Lirig (ien Fred Funstoa.
’ran* port* ai the (imveston docks, a here it embarked for
•••■»■ r_: : -Hade are about 4.700 officers and men, comprising the
Feartfe. Bee—rti. XI— tb and Twenty-eighth infantry, the Sixth cavalry,
a: e - • • L >,r’i. f*ld art_’I!ery. a company of engineers, a company
< .♦ signal corps and an amhuiance corps
BORDER COMMANDERS AND TROOPS
C.otaaH Lou*aborough 'left) and Colonel Perkins (right), of the Twen
tieth c-:*-c f *t( » iniantry. now on the Mexican border, and some of their
troop* la ictie*.
GENERAL FRED FUNSTON
Brig. Gen. Fred Funston is in com
mand of the Fifth brigade. United
States army, which went from Galves
ton to Vera Cruz to carry on the work
begun by the men of the fleet.
FIRE CONTROL MAST
The lattice work mast of an Ameri
can battleship, from the top of which
the fire of the guns is controlled.
MESSAGE FROM THE BRIDGE
_ I
These sailors are sending a mes
sage from the bridge of a battleship
by what is known as the Ardois sys
tem of signaling.
MAP OF MEXICO CITY
SHOT WHILE RAISING FLAG !
_
When George 1>. Poinsett, able sea
man from the United States battle
; ship Florida, went down beneath fed
eral rifles at Vera Cruz, the first
American killed fighting for his coun
try in the present trouble with Mexi
co, his name went into historic rec
ords which will liye when most of
us are forgotten. He was shot and
killed while he was raising the flag,
for which he gave his young life, over
the customs house at Vera Cruz.
COL C. M. O’CONNOR
'News service
Col. Charles M. O'Connor of the Sec
ond division, U. S. A., who has been
stationed at Texas City.
MEXICAN FOREIGN MINISTER
Senor Lopez Portillo y Rojas, the
minister of foreign affairs in the cabi
net of General Huerta.
WHAT OUR GUNS DID TO VERA CRUZ
Because scattered bands and individuals would not cease firing at the
Americans in Vera Cruz, Admiral Fletcher was compelled to order that the
city be shelled by the warships. This photograph shows how the buildings
were battered by the naval guns.
ALONG THE ROUTE OF INVADERS
This bit of scenery along the route from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, is
a fair sample of the kind of mountainous country through which an inrading
army must make its way from the coast to the capital.
MEXICAN “SNIPERS” IN VERA CRUZ STREETS
r".^4 t
i
"Snipers” picking off American bluejackets and marines after the land- j
ing at % era Cruz. It was the activity of these marksmen, behind walls and !
on housetops, that made necessary the shelling of the city.
ROAD TO MEXICO CITY WILD AND PERILOUS
American soldier* marching U> Mex
ico < fty from Verm Crux along the
Mexican railway mould pass through
a country ©f eser varying topography
Moan tains, ravines, level acres on
vshtch haciendas stretch their fertile
breadth—ah are found
Tbs hag. fever-Mied sultry tropics
give may to cooler, fremh sired table
t»sA oa the great Mexican plateau.
Old and Quaint ciuea. resembling
I the homes of Seville and ancient
Spain, come at frequent intervals
, along the railroad in the higher alti
, tudes. where the heat of the sun is
tempered by rartfied air.
The haciendas or ranches are owned
1 chiefly by wealthy Mexicans in this
part of Mexico. Some of them cover
hundreds of productive acres, which
in the temperate altitudes bear abun
dant crops of wheat, corn, tobacco and
beans, just as do the states of similar
climate in the United States. Rubber
plantations stretch along the lower
tropical regions.
Vast unexploited forests of pine and
oak clothe the mountain sides in un
changing green. Beneath the ribbed
hills run rich veins of valuable min
erals.
Along easy slopes through the
heart of the tropics the railroad runs
in a great arc to Cordoba, seventy
miles west of Vera Crus. Then it
winds up through rugged foothills to
Esperanza, on the eastern brow of
the great central table land.
There, 108 miles from Vera Crux, It
reaches an altitude of 7,970 feet. It
has passed over great ravines and
deep gullies which are spanned by
steel bridges, which often give way
at once to dark tunnels through the
mountain ranges.
One of the largest cities through
which the soldiers would pass is Cor
doba, in the state of Vera Crus. It
lies like a variegated flower in the
heart of a rich tropical country. Sur
rounding it are wide coffee and sugar
plantations, cocoanut groves, banana,
lemon and orange orchards and pine
apple fields.
The city is quaint, and every public
square, every century-old house, every
narrow calle breathes romance. Roofs
extend over sidewalks. Parks and
gardens fill the city. Not far away is
gleaming, vari-colored Mount Orizaba.
Women and girls are not conspicu
ous The Spanish procedure of court
ship impedes the easy way of Cupid.
The pror l sweetheart in gaudy garb
parades beneath the window of the
girl whom he would wed while she
passes judgment fnftn behind a lat
ticed casement.
The advance to Mexico City could
be made most difficult and hazardous
by the natives, and with a meager
force. Bridges blown up. showers of
rocks from hillsides, as in the days
of Hannibal and Caesar, and tunnels
planted with mines would work havoc
unless the whole territory were;
guarded through the mountain
reaches.
River Senne Shown on Maps Is
Covered Up.
Now Flows Literally Under Belgium’s
Capital, the Great Boulevard of the
City Covering It—Metropolis
Has Many Winding Streets.
Erussels.—It is related in the guide
bocks that ''Brussels" means the “city
on the marsh." Nowadays visitors
wiir look in vain for a marsh, or, in
fact, for any sign of a river, although
the maps show that the Belgian capita.
lies on the Senne, a tributary of th •
Schelde. Many years ago the stream
was not merely put in harness, but put
out of sight. It now flows literally
under Brussels, the great boulevards
covering it. Here and there a basin
has been left for lighters to carry
goods to the seaport, but the aspect of
the city in chief is that of a strictly
dry town.
Whatever may have been the orig
inal character of the soil on which
Brussels was established, centuries
ago, its marshy nature has been com
pletely altered. The precipitous hills
flanking the old town were early oc
cupied as the community grew, and
the streets were carried up their sides
in the easiest possible curves. Thus
the Brussels of t *ay is a city chiefly
of narrow, crocked ways, with no
perspectives suve in the newer por
tions. Indeed, so accustomed have
the people become to the curving
streets that they insist upon following
the same plan in laying out new
streets, and so some of the fine mod
ern thoroughfares are bent hither and
thither, preserving the old-time sys
tem. which is utterly destructive of
one's sense of location.
In old Brussels little space was
wasted in street making, and less in
sidewalks. There is room in some of
the busiest downtown streets for two
vehicles to pass, and at the same time
two reasonably 6lender people can
Ct-urch of Middle Age Architecture.
wtlk on either side of the traffic. But
most of the sidewalks are byilt for sin
gle occupancy and some of them tax
the balancing powers of one.
In consequence of these conditions
the majority of the Belgians walk in
the streets, and ever since my arrival
I have been marveling at their free
dom from accidents. My first impulse
was to propose the immediate forma
tion of a Street Safety association, hut
now it is evident that the whole popu
lation is already enrolled in one of the
oldest organizations of that kind. They
take very good care of themselves, and
the drivers and chauffeurs are excep
tionally watchful and considerate. A
street accident is a rarity, for the
retson that even though every one
goes across the thoroughfare at all
points vehicles are kept at all times
strictly under control. The noise of
ths gongs of trams and horns of mo
tors and the sharp cries of carters,
whose “Attention" serves quite as well
as an electric signal, make the streets
ncisy, but it is good noise, for it means
security.
There is no rule of the road for
pedestrians, although vehicles follow
the right-hand rule prevalent in the
United States. It would be impossible
to maintain a fixed passing rule for
foot traffic, for the sidewalks are not
wide enough to permit regularity. You
simply do the best thing under the cir
cumstances. and if a collision results
ask pardon and pass on. No one is
ever annoyed at being bumped, and it
is quite common for a couple walking
together to be separated by a passing
pedestrian. Nor is there any sort of
precedence for women. A man natur
aLy gives way, but it is common to
see a handsomely dressed woman step
from the sidewalk to give the wall to
a passing man, who takes his way
without question.
HIS FINGER PRINTS BLANK
Noted New York Criminal Nearly Suo
ceeds in “Beating” Modern Po
lice System.
New York.—The infallibility of the
finger-print test hung in the balance
for two weeks, until the police discov
ered a way to bring out the character
is.ic whirls and loops erased from the
digits of an aged criminal. The man.
w jo, for a time seemed to have found
hc'W to beat the system without actu
ally mutilating himself, is dead, and
the police are still trying to learn his
method.
He was picked up in the street, un
conscious. two weeks ago, and he died
in the hospital without revealing his
identity. In an effort to learn who he
was, the police took an Impression of
the finger tips, only to find they were
smooth as paper.
When chemists of the detective bu
reau finally brought out faint lines up
on the hitherto blank surface, they
compared them with their records and
discovered that the dead man was Pat
rick WiJker, alias Napoleon Green,
once a famous burglar.
Sentences Millionaire to Rock Pile.
Portland, Ore.—W. C. Barker, a mil
lionaire clubman, pleaded guilty to a
charge of speeding expecting Judge
Stevenson to assess a small fine. The
judge sentenced him to five days on
the city’s rock pile.
J