Madero A Prisoner In Mexican Palace.

New York Times 100 years ago today, February 10, 1913:
MADERO REASSURES.
Tells Juarez Commander That the Government Triumphed.
Special to The New York Times.
    EL PASO, Texas, Feb. 9.— President Madero sent a reassuring message tonight to Col. Francisco Vasquez, Commander of the Juarez garrison. The loyal Federal troops had restored order, he said, and the Government had triumphed. The message urged Col. Vasquez to keep the Juarez garrison loyal to the constituted Government. Madero, in his dispatch, told Col. Vasquez that the artillery in Mexico City had revolted with the sunrise gun. Gen. Reyes had been killed leading an attack on Chapultepec, and Felix Diaz had been made a prisoner after he and Gen. Bernardo Reyes had been released from Balem Prison. The message said that 150 men had been killed among the mutineers.
    Pascual Orozco has again taken the field with a force of 300 men, according to a letter received by his mining and ranch partner who is a member of the refugee colony here. He is said to be near Palomas, Sonora, opposite Columbus, N. M. and to be preparing to join Salazar and move on Juarez.
    The conditions in Juarez are ominous. The patrols are out, the stores and residences are closed and barred, and only the gambling houses are open. Few of the Mexican soldiers can read at all, and none reads English. For this reason they have not learned of the day's occurrences, and until they know what has happened in Mexico City, it is thought there will be no revolt here. The money in the gambling houses and at the Juarez race track, it is believed, will cause the looters a little later to start another mutiny like that of last year.

REYES ONCE THE ARMY'S IDOL.
Became So Popular Porfirio Diaz Banished Him, Only to Regret It.
    Gen. Bernardo Reyes, who was 62 years old, was one of the strong men of Porfirio Diaz's régime. In the days when the dictator ruled Mexico with a hand of iron, and it seemed as if only death itself could end his control, Reyes was the Minister of War. He made himself the idol of the army by increasing the pay of and otherwise improving the lot of the Mexican regular.
    So great did the popularity of Reyes become that Gen. Diaz is said to have become jealous of him. The final rupture between the two came about through the attitude of a newspaper owned by Rodolfo Reyes, a nephew of the War Minister. Criticisms that appeared in this paper angered President Diaz, and the suppression of the paper followed. Then Diaz made Reyes Governor of Nuevo Leon, one of the States bordering the Rio Grande.
    Reyes went to Nuevo Leon, but his popularity continued to grow, the result being that President Diaz finally decided that he was too much liked. Consequently Reyes ceased to be Governor of Nuevo Leon, and a few days later started for Europe to take a long rest, according to the orders of the dictator.
    It is now known that when the Madero insurrection assumed formidable proportions Diaz bitterly regretted the exile of Reyes, who, it was admitted, would have been in a position to handle the military operations against Madero and his insurrecto bands.
    Finally, when the Diaz régime was tottering, the President sent for Reyes, but it was too late, and when Reyes reached
    Mexican soil Madero had named De la Barra provisional President and was on his way to Mexico City to help De la Barra carry out his (Madero's) policies.
    The vessel on which Diaz was going into exile and that on which Reyes was returning from exile passed each other in the Caribbean. Reyes landed at Vera Cruz in June, 1911, and, realizing that Madero was the idol of Mexico, Reyes came out for him. Since the revolution had been placed on a legal footing, Reyes said, in explaining his action, he was prepared to take the view of the people and do what was in his power to enable Mexico to become free, orderly, and prosperous.
    The Maderistas welcomed the ex-War Minister with open arms, and it was announced that Madero, when he succeeded De la Barra, would make Reyes his Minister of War, Reyes issued a manifesto urging the election of Madero to the Presidency, saying that if there were several candidates and the election was contested, it would be detrimental to the best interests of the country.
    All was peaceful for a while; then came the end of the Reyes-Madero alliance. The General refused to take office under Madero Reyes, who had been asserting that a closely contested election would be a detriment to Mexican interests, came out for the Presidency against Madero, explaining that the reason of his decision not to be a Minister under Madero was because of the opposition to him by many persons prominent in the Maderista movement.
    But just as suddenly he withdrew his Presidential candidacy, and on Sept. 29, 1911, he left Mexico disguised as an invalid, and a crowd stood on the piers at Vera Cruz and hooted and jeered when his vessel sailed for Havana. Reyes arrived at New Orleans from Havana on Oct. 4, and immediately left for San Antonio, where, the Madero supporters allege, he opened headquarters for starting a revolutionary campaign. Reyes denied that such was his intention, but said he went to San Antonio because he was safer there than in Mexico.
    Nevertheless, on Christmas day one year ago Reyes attempted to carry out his plans to overthrow Madero, but was quickly subdued, captured, and thrown into jail.
    There he had remained for more than a year. He had never been tried, and as late as last month it was reported that the Government was in a quandary as to what should be done with him. Reyes had freely admitted his guilt, but it was asserted that the Government was afraid to punish him, believing that to do so would cause him to be regarded as a martyr, while to give him a light sentence would make it impossible to impose heavy terms on other offenders, and to exile him would be dangerous. It was generally thought in the Mexican capital that finally he would be released under an amnesty decree.
    He was liberated yesterday, only to go to his death.

DIAZ NEPHEW OF DICTATOR.
Pushed Ahead by Long-Time President in Preference to His Son.
    Felix Diaz, who heads the revolt that has apparently endangered Madero's power, is a nephew of Porfirio Diaz, the iron man of Mexico, who was overthrown by Madero and forced to seek an asylum in Europe. During the Presidency of Gen. Diaz his nephew was often spoken of as his successor, and the impression throughout Mexico in those days was that the nephew was being groomed, so to speak, to step into his uncle's shoes on the death of the latter.
    Months ago it became known that Felix Diaz, who so far as outward appearances went was an upholder of the Madero régime, was planning a revolt, the chief object of which was the overthrow of President Madero. This fact leaked out in Paris last Summer, and it was understood then that the uprising would probably take place early this Winter. But for some reason or other the plans miscarried, and when in October Diaz began his revolution with an attack upon Vera Cruz, the revolt was short lived. His army was quickly crushed, and he himself was taken prisoner and locked up in a jail in the City of Mexico.
    For weeks after his capture it was reported that Madero would make an example of him, and have him executed after a court-martial. But Madero did nothing of the kind, and allowed the nephew of his great predecessor to remain comfortably in prison, where he continued his revolutionary plotting.
    At the time of Corral's second nomination for the Vice Presidency with President Diaz in 1910 Felix Diaz was also named by the Liberal Party, the two tickets in the field being "Porfirio Dias y Ramon Corral" and "Porfirio Diaz y Felix Diaz."
    It was not stubbornness, as many believed, which was behind the "Old Man's" refusal to withdraw Corral's name, but in reality a rupture which had arisen between nephew and uncle. Porfirio brooked no disobedience of any command he might see fit to give, but Felix thought herself strong enough to refuse autocratic orders when his judgment urged him to do otherwise
    Porfirio carried the day. Corral remained on the ticket, and Felix was told to go back to life duties and behave himself.
    A story is current in Mexico that Felix Diaz is the illegitimate son of the dictator, but if he is the son of Porfirio's brother his affection for him is easily explained. Felix Diaz the older was Porfirio's only brother and the baby of the family. He was many years the junior, and Porfirio had always been as a father to him. When their father died Porfirio and Felix were young, and it fell to the lot of the older boy to become the support of his widowed mother and her young family.
    As Porfirio advanced he carried Felix with him. Many times in his Mémoires he speaks of his brother's wonderful feats on horseback, of sending him on important secret missions, of MacMahon's efforts to seduce Felix to Maximilian's cause, all in vain, which clearly shows the adoration of the elder brother for the younger. Felix married a wealthy Mexican woman, a native of Oaxaca. He died before he reached 49.
    The President adopted "young Felix," and spared no money on his education. He entered him as a cadet at Chapultepec, and upon his graduation appointed him an officer of one of the crack regiments of the city. While Felix Diaz has never seen much active service, he has won a great reputation as an organizer.
    One reason, perhaps, for the gossip which has credited him with being Porfirio's son has been the fact that the President always pushed Felix to the front in preference to his own son. The latter, Porfirio Diaz, Jr., was educated as a civil engineer in the United States, and has been connected with many engineering enterprises carried out by his father. He was seen riding, driving and walking with his father, but was never heard of in any prominent way, while Felix Diaz was always in the eyes of the public. He held many positions in the municipal Government, including that of Chief of Police of Mexico City.
    When President Diaz fled from Mexico Felix Diaz was greatly criticised for his apparent espousal of the Madero cause, but those who knew him shook their heads and queried:
    "What has he up his sleeve now?"
    What he had up his sleeve was really a waiting game, and to be on the spot to take advantage of the right moment to strike while the iron was hot, as events have proved.