Rebels Crushed, Our Marines Die.

New York Times 100 years ago today, October 6, 1912:
Nicaraguan Revolutionaries Are Driven from Masaya in Costly Battle — 4 Americans Killed.
GEN. ZELEDON AMONG SLAIN
Admiral Southerland Will Now Send 1,200 Men to the Relief of Foreigners at Leon.
WILSON DEFENDS HIS COURSE
State Department Has Many Precedents for Sending American Forces to Fight on Foreign Soil.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, Oct. 5.— With American marines and bluejackets assisting the Government troops in the actual fighting, a crushing blow has been dealt to the revolution in Nicaragua. The rebel force outside Masaya was routed yesterday, and that place was taken. Gen. Zeledon, the rebel leader, and many of his men were killed. The Government forces lost 100 killed and 200 wounded. Four American marines were killed, and an officer and six men were wounded. The American forces will now advance on Leon, the remaining rebel stronghold.

The Dead.
    Here is a list of the dead:
    BOBBETTS, RALPH VICTOR, private; enlisted June 12, 1912, at St. Louis. His father, William H. Bobbetts, resides in Nevada. Mo.
    DURHAM, CHARLES HAYS, private; enlisted Dec. 26, 1911, at Indianapolis. His mother, Mrs. Lee Durham, resides at Junction City, Ky.
    McGILL, CLARENCE HENRY, private; enlisted Dec. 31, 1911, at Boston. His aunt, Mary Herbert, resides at 20 Hancock Street, Portland. Me.
    POLLARD, HARRY, private; enlisted Sept. 20, 1911, at Rochester, N. Y. His mother, Mrs. Eliza Pollard, resides at Medway, Mass.

The Wounded.
    Here is a list of the wounded:
    MARTIN, GEORGE W., Second Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps; born Aug. 24, 1884, at Olean, N.Y.; commissioned June 18, 1910. His wife, Mrs. Stephanie B. Martin, lives with her mother-in-law in Washington.
    LUNDER, ALFRED, private; enlisted in the Marine Corps Sept. 27, 1911, at Fargo, N.D. His brother, David Lunder, lives at Baker, Mont.
    HARVEY, WILLIAM, private; enlisted in the Marine Corps Nov. 28, 1910. No next of kin known.
    SHERBURNE, ARNOLD PLAYFAIR, sergeant; enlisted in the Marine Corps Jan. 5, 1909, at Boston; qualified as a sharpshooter July 21, 1911. His mother, Frances L. Rherburne, lives at Georgetown, Mass.
    CAPTAIN, T. P., ordinary seaman, of the California. This name cannot be identified from the Navy Department's records.

Admiral Tells of Fight.
    Four dispatches telling of the engagement were received by the Navy Department to-day from Rear Admiral W. H. H. Southerland, commanding the American expeditionary force. His first one, which was delayed in transmission, read:

            Managua, Oct. 4.
    The Barranca and Second Hill were taken by marines and bluejackets at daybreak this morning after a most gallant assault lasting thirty-seven minutes. Masaya was later taken by the Government forces, and the railroad between Managua and Granada is now absolutely safe, and the starving inhabitants of Masaya will be relieved. The insurrectionist casualties were very heavy. It is with heartfelt sorrow that I have to announce the following American casualties. (Here he gave the names of the dead and promised the names of the injured.) Lieut. Col. Long will now be given a force of 1,200 men at Leon consisting of the First and Second Battalions of Marines and the entire bluejacket companies of the California and the Colorado. Complete details later.
            SOUTHERLAND.

    Prior to the receipt or this telegram, the Nicaraguan Legation got official news of the defeat of the revolutionists and gave it to the State Department. Its telegram said:

    Masaya taken to-day by assault. We had 100 dead and 200 wounded. Americans early took Coyotepe, with 4 killed and 6 wounded. Correa simultaneously took Barranca. Zeledon fled with followers, and was captured eight leagues from Masaya, wounded, and died later. To-day I visited the American Legation to express deepest sympathy for marines' death. Granada muncipality requested marines' bodies for burial at that city. I beg you express Department of State my deepest sympathy.
                CHAMORO,
            Minister of Affairs.

Praise for American Forces.
    The other dispatches from Admiral Southerland were withheld, but the substance of the message giving the list of wounded was furnished to the press. In it the Admiral said, in addition to the assurance that all the wounded would recover and that several others whose names were not reported had very slight wounds, that "the department and the country have every reason to be proud of the officers, marines, and bluejackets who were engaged in this action to-day."
    Lieut. Martin, the only officer wounded, is a graduate of the Marine Officers' School of Instruction at Port Royal, S, C., and the Training School for Marine Officers at Norfolk. He was sent to Guantanamo, Cuba, last May. He served in Cuba until the insurrection in the eastern end of the island was suppressed, when he was ordered with his company to Boston. The command had hardly settled down there before it was ordered to Nicaragua.
    It is understood that the entire First Regiment of Marines was in the fight. Its commissioned personnel is as follows:
    Col. Joseph H. Pendelton, Lieut. Col. Charles G. Long, Majors W. H. McKelvy and George C. Reid, Capt Charles R. Sanderson, Quartermaster; Capt. Russell B. Putnam, Paymaster; Capt. Harry Lee, Adjutant; Capts. Robert T. Rhea, E. A. Greene, Giles Bishop, D. A. Ramsey, Howard H. Kipp, E. P. Fortson. and R. O. Underwood; Surgeon Robert E. Hoyt, Passed Assistant Surgeons Paul E. McDonald, Fletcher H. Brooks, and Hariy L. Smith; First Lieuts. Henry M. Butler, W. A McNeil, Howard W. Stone, Thomas E. Thresher, R. E. Messersmith, R. H. Davis, and W. A. Williams, and Second Lieuts. R. W. Voeth, G. W. Martin, Charles A. E. King, R. S. Geiger, W. C. McCrane, and Charles G. Sinclair.

Rebels Had a Strong Position.
    The country over which the fighting took place is described as open and rolling. The revolutionists held the higher ground, where they had thrown up breastworks and had prepared for a desperate resistance. Their numbers were reported to be about 1,200, and they were well supplied with modern weapons and ammunition and abundant food resources. Their aim was to hold their ground, and if defeated to make their way thirty miles northward, where they could cross the Costa Rican boundary and make their escape. The enemy was first met at Coyotepe, an old Indian name. Members of the Nicaraguan Legation say that this is a small village or suburb of Masaya, and should not be confounded with Jinotepe, which figured in yesterday's dispatches as the place where a desperate attempt had been made by the rebels to break through and join the main force under Zeledon.
    The revolutionary General and his staff fled after the battle and succeeded in getting twenty miles away when they were overtaken by a picked detachment of Government cavalry, which quickly either killed or captured the entire body. Zeledon was a native of Honduras, and was drawn into the revolution by Gen. Mena. who was captured and is now in custody at Panama.

Marines Protecting Foreigners.
    While the United States marines took part in this decisive engagement, they were sent to Nicaragua for the purpose of protecting Americans and their property. They were carrying out this idea in yesterday's fight. There are hundreds of foreigners and many Americans at Masaya in great distress from want of food and medical attention. Appeals for help and food have been made for several days to the United States Legation. Subjects of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, and other European countries on Thursday got word through to Minister Weitzell again imploring him to have the United States forces advance and to forward supplies of food and medicines. Admiral Southerland assured the Navy Department in one of his dispatches that the railroad was open from Managua and Granada, and it would be the work of a few hours only to push through the much-needed supplies to Masaya.
    The revolution in Nicaragua has been in progress since early August, when Gen. Mena, former Secretary of War, left Manugua and placed himself at the head of a large force of partisans of former President Zelaya, who evidently had abundant money and were well prepared.
    Gen. Zeledon on Aug. 11 bombarded Managua, the capital, without giving non-combatants a chance to get out. Fighting went on for two days, sometimes in plain view of the United Status Legation. Finally the rebels were driven away. They seized several steamers belonging to an American syndicate, tore up much railroad track, and cut the telegraph wires in many places.
    The regiment of United States marines at Panama was rushed to Nicaragua. The cruisers Cleveland, Denver, Colorado, and California with Admiral Southerland in command. went to Corinto and the cruiser Tacoma to Bluefields, on the Atlantic coast. Marines at Philadelphia and other stations were started for Nicaragua by way of Panama within a few days. The marines got through to Managua Sept. 15, and Mena withdrew toward Malaya and Granada. His supplies were brought in steadily on one of the steamers seized from the American syndicate, until Admiral Southerland blockaded the coast.

Revolutionists Were Defiant.
    Minister Weitzel undertook to conduct a parley with Mena in order to protect Americans and save their property, but Mena temporized with him and in the meantime a massacre of Nicaraguans took place at Leon. It was reported that more than 300 persons were killed. Capt. Conger of the marines was sent to Gen. Zeledon to ask him to consider the women and children and non-combatants in the further conduct of the revolution. He was detained by the rebel General and an insulting message was sent to the United States Minister. Gen. Zeledon promised his men that they should have the chance to sack and pillage Managua.
    Admiral Southerland sent a strong force of marines and bluejackets promptly from Corinto, and the railroad line was repaired and telegraphic communication with Managua restored. Mena's force was gradually driven back into the interior, and finally on Sept. 24 surrendered to Admiral Southerland. Granada was garrisoned by marines, and the theatre of hostilities was reduced practically to the region around Masaya, where Zeledon had intrenched himself. The rebels were worried that they must surrender or they would be attacked, and their defiance resulted in yesterday's engagement.
    The conditions in Nicaragua have been aggravated by the failure of the proposed loan by banks in this country. It fell through because of the failure of the United Flutes Senate to ratify the treaty under which it was to be made, with a plan for taking over the Custom Houses of Nicaragua under United States officials and the guarantee of the finances of the Nicaraguan Republic and the payment of its debts. The Morgan syndicate having withdrawn from the loan negotiations, a tentative agreement was made by which the Whitney National Bank of New Orleans was to carry through the loan if the treaty should be ratified.

State Department's Position.
    The shedding of American blood in Nicaragua is expected to bring to a climax in Congress the dispute over the right of this Government to intervene in Nicaragua. Less than a month ago Acting Secretary Huntington Wilson served formal notice upon the Nicaraguan Government of the policy of the United States to "take measures for an adequate legation guard, at Managua; to keep open communication, and to protect American life and property." The Nicaraguan Government had already declared its willingness and even anxiety that the United States should act.
    State Department officials are fully prepared for any adverse criticism of the use of the American naval forces. The answer probably will be given in an elaborate memorandum to be submitted to Congress by the department at the beginning of the next session. It will be summarized thus:
    "An examination of the authorities appears quite clearly to show that one State may, without just cause for offense to another State, thus interpose in favor of its nationals resident in the other State, and there is not a little authority for the proposition that such interposition by the one State, as against the other, is a matter of right and, indeed, duty."
    In the list of authorities referred to are cases where the United States has alone and with others landed forces in times of revolution in foreign countries, to protect American interests. The citations begin with China in 1854; and continue down to the American intervention in Honduras last year. One case of particular strength, where American blood was shed, as in Nicaragua, occurred in Samoa in 1899, when American marines and bluejackets fought side by side with the British naval forces against the Samoan rebels under Chief Mataafa, with a loss of four American and three British lives. In Japan, when Commander McDougal, on the Wyoming, chastised the hostile Damio for attacking American shipping; in Formosa, in 1867, where similar action was taken against the savages; in Korea, in 1871, where the native forts were bombarded, captured and destroyed and 240 Koreans killed, and in China, during the revolutions of 1854, where again the American and British, fighting together, suffered the loss of a dozen lives, the State Department finds what it holds ample precedent for Admiral Southerland's action in Nicaragua yesterday.

Campaign to be Pressed.
    No further resistance from the rebels to the execution of Admiral Southerland's programme to keep open the railroad will be tolerated, The doubt that had existed as to the location of the rebel leader Irias, the last who commands any considerable force, now that Mena and Zeledon have been disposed of, was removed to-day when it was learned that he was at Leon. This is another important point on the railroad between Corinto and Managua.
    Señor Castrillo, the Nicaraguan Minister here, called at the State Department to-day upon explicit explanations from his Government to express the profound sympathy and sorrow of the Nicaraguan nation for the American losses suffered at Masaya.
    The wife of Lieut Martin, who was a bride of last year, is at her mother's home in Washington. The news that her husband was wounded was told her by officers on duty at the marine corps headquarters this evening. Although the assurance of Admiral Southerland that he would recover, gave her some comfort, she was prostrated by shock and worry.
    Mrs. Martin was Miss Trescot of this city. Her mother is Mrs. E. W. Trescot of 1,912 N Street, Washington.