Diaz Scored On Monday.

New York Times 100 years ago today, February 19, 1913:
Advanced His Positions and Silenced Government's Big Guns.
    MEXICO CITY, Feb. 17, (By Courier to Vera Cruz, Feb. 18.)—Neither the forces of President Francisco Madero nor of Felix Diaz way at the showed close of any sign of giving fighting in the centre of Mexico City on Monday night. The streets were practically deserted by all but the military.
    The Government late in the afternoon placed at the southeastern corner of the city two big guns which had been intended for the fortifications of Salina Cruz, the Pacific terminus of the Tehuantepec Railroad. Even these heavy pieces were of little avail. Shot for shot the rebel artillery replied, at times silencing temporarily the Government’s guns.
    Diaz at the end of the day had succeeding in holding all his central positions and had even advanced his lines in several directions, especially toward the west. Besides the heavier artillery, he brought into action some small bomb-throwing pompoms whose peculiar roar added materially to the noise.
    Many shells burst over the central part of the city. On the line of fire from the rebel centre at the arsenal toward the Federal headquarters at the National Palace the destruction of private and public buildings was augmented considerably.

Try to Safeguard Foreigners.
    About all the American residents took advantage of the Sunday truce before it was broken in order to seek places where they would be exposed to less danger. Most of them retired to houses in the vicinity of the United States Embassy, but long before Monday night it became evident that the safety to be found there was more fancied than real. Bullets came into the district, one entering the kitchen of the embassy.
    The Government, however, was apparently honest in its efforts not to involve foreigners. Gen. Huerta, the federal commander, did not place any of his batteries in such positions as would draw the fire of the rebel artillery in the direction of the foreigners. He issued orders to Col. Rubio Navarrete, his chief of artillery, under no circumstances to use his cannon to rid the district of rebel sharpshooters or small groups, but to serve their fire for attacking the rebel fortified positions or to resist an assault. He was actuated in this by the desire to spare the city and its inhabitants as much danger as possible.
    Terrified by the battle which they had been witnessing for many days, the lower classes were in a more or less stupefied condition and exhibited no signs of indulging in mob activity. All, too, seemed keenly alive to the imminence of foreign intervention.
    A protest was lodged by Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson with President Madero to-day against the alleged act of the Chief Executive in telegraphing broadcast throughout the republic a statement that American marines were marching on Mexico City. Convinced that intervention was a certainty, hundreds of American citizens fled from the capital, most of them to Vera Cruz, to seek the protection of the United States battleships there or to secure passage on outgoing steamers. The trains over the Mexican railroad were crowded to excess.

Casualties Run High in Thousands.
    How many have been killed or wounded in the fighting is a question which none can really answer. From a source usually considered careful and conservative it has been stated that the number of dead is not less than 2,000, while the total of the wounded amounts to from 8,000 to 10,000. The great majority of these are not soldiers, but men, women, and children unable to escape the line of fire. This estimate was made after hearing the reports of scores of officers of the White and Red Cross Societies and of the hospitals.
    It is a well-known fact that detachments of 50 and 100 men have been slaughtered here and there at various times when caught in the streets, and mowed down by machine guns. Carts piled high with corpses have been seen driven to a spot in the outskirts of the city, where the bodies have been burned. It is impossible to tell how many dead and wounded are in houses into which nobody has penetrated since the beginning of the bombardment.
    In the basement of an apartment house a few blocks from the arsenal is the grave of Mrs. E.W. Holmes, one of the two American women killed early in the fighting by the entrance into her home of a shell. For three days her husband stayed alone there with the body unable to remove it and unwilling to leave it, perhaps to suffer further mutilation. Soldiers entered the apartment where he kept vigil, and robbed the place. He managed to find board, and carpenter’s tools and nails in the building, and constructed a coffin, into which he laid the body of his wife. He carried it to the basement, and there made her grave.
    The absolute cessation of all industrial and business activity is fast reducing an enormous number of non-combatant to a state bordering on starvation. The more fortunate are in many eases able to take care of themselves, but the closing of the banks has made precautious the condition even of some of these.
    The provisional banking institution established for American residents who find themselves in difficulties has been meeting their demands with currency. Aside from the question of money, however, the situation has been rendered more difficult by the failure of vegetables and other farm produce to reach the city for some days.
    What has been occurring throughout the republic during the last week still remains a mystery to the inhabitants of the capital. It is known that Laredo and Chihuahua are in the hands of the rebels, and it is strongly suspected that Monterey has been added to the list of anti-Maderist points. The states of Puebla and Tlaxcala are supposed to have gone over to the rebel side, and a number of small towns here and there are reported to have pronounced for Diaz.
    The fact that Emilio Vasques Gomez has again become a big figure by virtue of his crossing the line and proclaiming himself Provisional President is something known to perhaps not more than 1 per cent of the public; since the censorship on incoming news is no less rigid than that in outgoing dispatches.