Where Shells Fall In Mexico's Capital.

New York Times 100 years ago today, February 14, 1913:
Best Part of the City Is Raked by the Big Guns in the Continued Fighting.
BULLETS AT OUR EMBASSY
Y.M.C.A. Building the Key to the Situation, as It Dominates the Battle Zone.
    The boundaries of the damage of buildings in Mexico City reported yesterday are marked by the National Palace on the east, and the reported destruction of the Colonia Railroad Station on the west. Between these two points stretches a mile and a half of the very best part of the capital. With the Colonia Station, hit by shells, the British Legation was in immediate danger. The American Embassy was more fortunately situated, being to the south. While stray bullets fell within the embassy grounds, the position was not so far in immediate danger from the fire between the two forces.
    Diaz, at the arsenal and the Y.M.C.A. Building, trained his fire in a great arc of a circle. Almost in front of him d six blocks away was the force of President Madero in the large park of the Alameda. To the east and a little to the north of him, stretching out more than a mile, was the main business section of the city, terminated by the National Palace, the seat of the Government. To the west and also a little to the north lay the railroad station, reported destroyed; the Legislative Palace, the Foreign Relations Building, the St. Francis Hotel, and the British Legation. Behind Diaz, to the southwest, was the American Embassy, in a corner of the Colonia Roma, the site of the great part of the homes of Americans and people of other foreign nations.
    The Colonia Station, which Laredo dispatches reported as burned, was the finest terminal in the capital, and the most important gateway to the north. The line from the City of Mexico to Laredo, Texas, runs out of the station, offering the most direct route to the United States, Colonia Station was a large, modern terminal of steel and stone, set back a little way from the Paseo de la Reforma, and flanked by fine residences and important buildings. The British Legation in De Lerma Street is only a few blocks from it, and a little further removed from the arsenal and the centre of the attack on the revolutionists.

Y.M.C.A. Building Dominates.
    Much of the success of the Diaz forces has undoubtedly been due to the splendid position held by them. The Y. M. C.A. Building is the highest structure in that section of the city, and from the top of it the commander of the revolutionists could command almost the whole range of the fighting reported yesterday. This building is only three short blocks north of his main base in the arsenal, which, while a strong defense, is not suited for an attacking fire. He would have an unbroken view north up Balderas Street, a wide, roughly paved thoroughfare, to the part with the American Consulate at the head of it. To the east and the commercial section of the city he would have a good view over the tops of the one and two story buildings, and down Victoria Street to the position of one of the federal flanking forces. To the northwest he could see the railway station, and a wide expanse of the best residence section of the city.
    Dispatches from the city, while for the most part in general terms, told clearly of the death and destruction wrought by the steady fire across this part of the city.
    To compare the situation to New York City would be difficult, and must necessarily fall short. But if Central Park were taken as the Alameda and the centre of the federal force, the Columbus Circle end would correspond to the position of the American Consulate. The position of Gen. Diaz in the Y. M. C. A. Building would then fall about the upper end of Times Square, at Forty-seventh Street, although in Mexico City the distance is a little less, while the lower Times Square would represent the arsenal. The fire of the federals would be directed against Times Square from the whole Fifty-ninth Street side of the park, while at the east end there would be great destruction from the shells of the revolutionists replying.
    The Plaza Hotel would correspond to the National Theatre, which has been partly destroyed, and the hotels to the east correspond in position to the Post Office, the Mutual Life Building, the railway offices, and the telegraph headquarters. East of the Plaza Fifty-ninth Street would represent San Francisco Street, the main business street of the city, extending nearly as far as the bridge. One can imagine the destruction in this city if cannonading were to be started between Times Square and these other points.
    The American Club, which was riddled by bullets yesterday, is near the eastern end of the Alameda, in Sixteenth of September Street. Just around the corner from it, on San Juan de Latren Street, is Porter's Hotel, which was partly destroyed the day before. Across the street from it is the Jardin Hotel, which was hit yesterday.

Guns May Turn on Our Embassy.
    The American Embassy, where as many as 600 American-men, women, and children were reported to have taken refuge, lies just outside the border of the zone of the combat. Bullets fell in the grounds. The Americans who have been in the greatest danger are not those of the Colonia Roma, but of the Colonia Juarez, which lies a few blocks west or the arsenal and south of the railway station, which suffered severely yesterday. Residents in this section are, as a whole, the wealthiest of the foreigners, and the district is the most desirable and sought after for homes in all the city. Shots fired at the railway station would pass directly over the Colonia Juarez, and the terror of those families is easily understood. Automobiles used in this section by the American Ambassador to rescue the women and children from the rain of bullets would be in constant danger from both sides, and would certainly have come close to the outposts of the warring factions.
    The embassy itself is a large and strong building, at 24 Vera Cruz Street. If an attempt to attack the arsenal from the rear were made the building and the refugees would be in great danger. The disregard of the rules of warfare by the factions so far leaves it quite possible that such a rear attack may be made, and the embassy's fate would then be almost certain destruction.
    The flight to the suburbs, which is reported to have been made by many Americans, removes them from the danger of the fighting in the city, but the outlying troops, which are reporting to be coming up to join one of the other of the two sides, might easily engage in a battle in some one of the suburbs, and cause loss of life to refugees. The way to the more important suburbs lies open and away from the fighting zone.
    But it is the Mexicans themselves that have suffered far more than the foreign residents. The sections of the city to the east of the arsenal are closely built up with Mexican shops and houses. The narrow streets are usually filled at all hours of the day and night with a silent, moving throng of Mexicans, who find their living working in the city streets. The thousands of those who go about as peddlers, carriers, drivers, and small merchants make up the greater part of the non-combatants who have been killed. In the city, which is usually very quiet, the rattle of musketry and the roar of cannon have struck terror into thousands of them. The electric lights are useless, and the water in many places is cut off. Famine threatens and is certainly very near for many. In the darkness sharpshooters on housetops have been picking off stray soldiers, and the search for the dead has been a constant terror to the men of both sides.