Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1912 — TWO AMERICANS DIE IN MASSACRE [ARTICLE]

TWO AMERICANS DIE IN MASSACRE

Killed by Frenzied Nicaraguans While Helpless. J HURTS AFFORD NO SHIELD Two Men From United States Fighting With Government Forces Are Victims in Slaughter at Leon. Washington, Aug. 23. —Minister Weitzel at Managua, was instructed by the state department to investigate the deaths of two Americans, one named Phillips and the other Harvey Dodd, the latter supposedly of Kosciusko, Miss., who are reported to have been murdered by the rebels during the looting of Leon on Sunday. According to the report received at the state department, Dodd and Phillips were fighting with the government troops. In the defeat they were taken to a hospital badly wounded, where they were killed in t,he massacre which followed. Recalls Cannon-Groce Killing. The murders, though not entirely parallel, recall the killing of Cannon and Groce by Zelaya In 1909, "which resulted in an upheaval that threw the dictator out of office and sent him to European exile. The state department is pressing for more information.. ■ -

A delayed dispatch from Corinto says the rebels are taking towns between Leon and Chinandaga. They are reported to have confiscated a large plantation and a distillery containing $5,000,000 worth of alcohol. With the arrival of additional United States forces in Nicaragua, Rear Admiral Sutherland, on the cruiser California, will take full command Whole Loyal Force Wipe Out. The massacre of Nicaraguan troops sent to defend the town of Leon is fully confirmed in a belated cablegram received from the American legation at Managua, dated Augiyst 19. The affair was even more disastrous to the government forces than originally reported. The rebels refused quarter and annihilated the whole force of defenders, with the exception of three or four soldiers, who made their escape by putting on the uniforms of the rebels. Advices to the state department are that the situation is critical. Though the American marines and bluejackets are holding Managua against the would-be looters and pillagers, great danger is threatening Corinto, on the west coast. Women and children of the foreign families in the town are sleeping aboard the two United States warships there.