Send Gunboat To Mexico.

New York Times 100 years ago today, January 22, 1913:
The Wheeling Dispatched to Protect American Interests in Vera Cruz.
    WASHINGTON, Jan. 21.— Alarmed for the safety of Americans, whose lives are in jeopardy because of widespread lawlessness of Mexican rebels in Vera Cruz and throughout Southern Mexico, the State Department again has called upon the navy to protect American interests in the republic.
    To-night the gunboat Wheeling is steaming from Tampa, Fla., for Vera Cruz, where Americans are said to face a graver crisis than that relieved by the cruiser Des Moines during the Diaz uprising last October.
    The request from the State Department to the navy came after the receipt of a long series of official reports from Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson and Consuls in Southern Mexican cities, all reflecting a condition of anarchy, especially in the State of Vera Cruz, where Federal authorities face the problem of restoring civil order with a disorganized and divided army.
    Guerrilla warfare, brigandage, sacking of ranches and villages, and other desperate crimes place Americans and other foreign residents in a state of constant danger, and the latest advices to the State Department express fear of an even worse outbreak.