Americans Killed In Nicaragua Fight.

New York Times 100 years ago today, August 23, 1912:
Two Named Phillips and Dodd Reported Slain Seeking Hospital Refuge.
SITUATION GROWING WORSE
Government Forces Shot Down Without Quarter at Leon — State Department Ignores Criticisms.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON. Aug. 22.— Admiral W. H. H. Southerland has been designated to command the United States Marines and bluejackets in Nicaragua, and it is the expectation here that he will arrive with his flagship, the California, at Corinto, by Aug. 28, with the entire force of over 2,000 men ready to take decisive measures to protect Americans and their property. Whether reprisals will be undertaken for damages already done is still undecided.
    All advices received from Minister Weitzel to-day at the State Department confirm the worst reports that have come from Nicaragua in the last twenty-four hours. Mr. Weitzel states in a delayed dispatch which left Managua on Tuesday afternoon that the Government force at Leon, numbering 500 men under Gen. Duron, was surrounded and shot down without quarter. Duron himself was killed, and only a few men escaped by wearing the revolutionists' colors.
    Two men in the regular force, said to be Americans named Phillips and Harvey Dodd, the latter from Kosciusko, Miss., are reported to have been killed while seeking refuge in a hospital. The report is being thoroughly investigated by the State Department. Dodd was well known to Representative Sisson of Mississippi, who said to-night that both Dodd and his father were lawyers in his Congressional district.
    The reported killing of Dodd and Phillips, though not entirely a parallel, recalls 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 Europe an exile.
    Mr. Weitzel's advices are that the rebels kept up the fighting at Leon all day and during Monday night. In consequence the people at Managua and other points are demoralized and panicstricken, fearing that the rebels will push their operations against the capital and all the larger towns.
    Mr. Weitzel made no mention of the capture of Gen. Mena, which, if it occurred, must have happened subsequent to the date of his dispatch received here to-day. He states that dissensions among the revolutionists as to who is to be President are adding to the confusion. Marcos Nairena, Paulino Codoy, Zeledon, and Francisco Baca are being urged for the Presidency by their respective adherents.
    Consul Johnson at Corinto reports to the department that the rebel forces have taken towns and estates lying between Leon and Chinandega, among which are located a large sugar estate and the central distillery, containing 5,000,000 pesos worth of alcohol. The Consul has received requests for aid from the American and foreign interests in these localities.
    Consul Johnson cables that telegraphic communication with Chinandega has been restored, and that that town on Aug. 20 was then under Government control. At the request of the Nicaraguan authorities men were landed from the Annapolis at Corinto and from the Justin at San Juan del Sur to protect lives and property of Americans and other foreigners. Twenty-five American and other foreign women and children, he states, were taken aboard the Justin on the nights of Aug. 18 and 19, and fifteen American citizens passed the nights of Aug. 19 and 20 at the Consulate.
    The State Department is determined to extend the fullest possible measure of protection to American life and property in Nicaragua. It was announced to-day that if the naval forces now in that country, even when heavily reinforced, are not sufficient to assure that protection, more forces will be rushed forward until that end has been secured.
    The State Department is still unmoved by utterances in Congress, relying implicitly and confidently upon the long line of precedents, where American military and naval forces have been employed without Congressional direction in cases where American life and property were in jeopardy. The officials declare that that is the sole purpose of the landing of the marines and bluejackets in Nicaragua. It has not been found necessary to send any special instructions to American Minister Weitzel or to Capt. Terhune of the Annapolis.