Gen. Diaz Captured; Likely To Be Shot.

New York Times 100 years ago today, October 24, 1912:
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, Oct. 23.— The first official intelligence of the capture of Gen. Diaz and the retaking of Vera Cruz by Madero's troops came in a dispatch from United States Consul General Canada at Vera Cruz. The dispatch was filed at Vera Cruz at 11 o'clock this morning and reached Washington at 3 o'clock P.M. Mr. Canada said the fighting was then raging all around the City of Vera Cruz and that Diaz and his staff were reported captured and disarmed, but he had no details as to casualties or the number of troops engaged.
    Late in the afternoon a dispatch from Commander Hughes of the United States cruiser Des Moines came through to the Navy Department, confirming Mr. Canada's announcement of the downfall of the rebel leader. Commander Hughes said that the fighting was stubborn and that it continued in the streets of the city for a long time
    Gen. Diaz was captured at 12:30, together with his staff, including former officers of the Mexican Regular Army. American citizens and other foreigners took refuge on the Des Moines and on other foreign vessels in the harbor. In all there were 1,500 foreigners in the city, none of whom was injured. It was believed that all of them were able to return to their homes at once in safety.
    Gen. Diaz's failure was due to the refusal of regular troops whom he counted on to join his standard. He had in all not more than 900 men.
    The Mexican Government has been able to keep railroad trains moving between Mexico City and points not far out of Vera Cruz, and it is expected that communication between the two cities will be resumed to-morrow.
    The Government does not apprehend trouble from the malcontents outside Vera Cruz. The failure of the army to join Diaz is said to be want of confidence in his ability as a soldier. He could have obtained money enough, but according to what is said here he lacked the ability and shrewdness to conduct a successful revolution.
    In official circles in Washington the news of the result at Vera Cruz was received with undisguised pleasure. The Madero Government is popular here. President Taft is reported to approve the efforts of Madero to support constitutional standards and believes that Madero is patriotically endeavoring to lead his people into an era of peace, order and enlightenment.
    The result of the battle, it was said, demonstrated that the Madero Government has the Mexican Army in good discipline and that the latter can be relied on to put down any ordinary uprising.
    The downfall of the Diaz movement leaves three rebellions in operation in Mexico, headed, respectively, by Zapata, Aguilar, and Orozco. It is presumed that the Government forces employed against Gen. Diaz will be concentrated upon Aguilar. who is likely to be driven back into the mountains; that the pursuit of the small bands into which Orozco's force has broken up will be resumed, and that the only really serious undertaking confronting the Federal Army will be in connection with the Zapata rebellion. The Navy Department is much pleased with the manner in which Capt. Hughes of the Des Moines has handled the situation at Vera Cruz. He will be relieved shortly by Commander A. T. Long, who is about to leave Washington for Vera Cruz for that purpose.

WILSON HERE; WON'T TALK.
Our Ambassador Turns Inquiries to Discussion of Mexican Prosperity.
    For a man who had been enjoying the pleasant, and somewhat easy existence of Brussels for five years, Henry Lane Wilson, the American Ambassador to Mexico, who has arrived at the Waldorf, has been leading a strenuous life for the greater part of the two years and a half he has been accredited to the republic to the south. Revolution broke ont within seven months after he got there, and has continued with variations ever since — first, under Madero, then under Reyes, next under Orozco and Zapata, and now under Felix Diaz, and so Mr. Wilson is getting what is his first real holiday since he went to Mexico.
    It would have been interesting to get Mr. Wilson to tell what he really knows about things down there, but an interview with him started like this:
    "Do you think the movement headed by Felix Diaz is really formidable?"
    "The climate of Mexico," replied the Ambassador, "Is one of the most delightful I have ever known."
    "But what do you think of the new revolution?"
    "Mexico," went on Mr. Wilson," is one of the richest mineral countries in the world. The mineral resources of a great many sections have as yet not been developed at all. In some placés the country has hardly been scratched?"
    "But do you think Felix Diaz will win?"
    "The tramway service of Mexico City is one of the most remarkable in the world," interrupted Mr. Wilson, "on account of the development of water power, which supplies the electricity. It is not generally known that it was really started by Cecil Rhodes, and finally turned over to the Belts, and then fell into the hands of Dr. Pierson, of Chicago, who organized his company as a Canadian concern. However, the manager and many of the employes are Americans, and much of the stock is held in New York, Boston and Chicago."
    "How many Americana are there in Mexico City!"
    "Now," Mr. Wilson said, smiling, "you have got to where I can answer questions. I cannot discuss the situation down there. But normally, there are 10,000 in the City of Mexico and about 75,000 in the country altogether. The number is now somewhat reduced, but there is no way of taking a census. The Americans in Mexico are employed principally in mining, but they are also in banking, and in pretty nearly every line of business in the country. There are many sugar and coffee and rubber plantations which are owned by Americans. The Continental Rubber Company of New York has, at Los Cedros, probably the largest rubber plantation in the world. It is as big as the State of Connecticut. In the State of Durango is the biggest cotton plantation in the world. It is owned by American and British interests, the former being represented by James Brown Potter.
    "In the oil interests in the State of Tampico, $80,000,000 of American money has been invested during the last two or three years. Tampico is growing at a tremendous rate. At present it is perhaps the most prosperous part of Mexico. The oil wells and prospects are almost entirely owned by Americans, and what they haven't got the British have.
    "The growing of tropical fruits for the American market has lately assumed very large proportions. The State of Tamaulipas is almost covered with fruit plantations owned by Americans. Take the line of the railway from San Luis Potosi down and you pass American farms almost the whole ride. Take a steamer up any of the rivers at Tampico and for sixty or seventy miles the banks are lined with American fruit plantations. And that," added Mr. Wilson, with, another smile, "is about all I know just now."