Sunday, December 4, 1910. Contesting forces in Mexico negotiate.

A peace commission in  Chihuahua, Mexico attempted to broker a truce between the Diaz government and the "Maderistas" who supported Francisco I. Madero.

Cynthia Ann Parker, captured by the Comanche as a child and then recaptured by the Texas Rangers unwillingly as an adult, was reinterred in Oklahoma.  She had passed away in 1870.

She was the mother of Quanah Parker.

Last edition:

Saturday, December 3, 1910. Neon.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, Art, Automobiles, Christmas, J. C. Leyendecker, Posters, technology

Wednesday, November 23, 1910. Provisional President of Mexico.

Undeterred by an unimpressive start to his attempt to overthrow the Mexican government three days prior, Francisco Madero proclaimed himself, with some justification, as "President of the provisional government of Mexico".

President Taft returned to the United States after visiting Panama and Cuba.

Visitor II, a yacht owned by Commodore W. Harry Brown, became the first vessel to travel the Panama Canal, which was completed as far as the Gatún lock.

The Army and Navy Academy, a prep school, opened in Carlsbad California.  I've never heard of it, but it's still in operation, and has beachfront property.

It's interesting how many of these there were at one time, or for that matter, still are.

Last edition:

Sunday, November 20, 1910. Madero crosses. . . and then returns.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, Francisco I. Madero, Leo Tolstoy, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Personalities, Porfirio Díaz, Russia, Texas, Texas (Eagle Pass), Texas (Laredo), The written word

Sunday, November 20, 1910. Madero crosses. . . and then returns.

Modero in San Antonio.

Francisco I. Madero crossed into Mexico from Texas somewhere between Laredo and Eagle Pass at 6:00 p.m. with ten men and 100 rifles in order to start an armed insurrection against the sitting Mexican government.  

Upon crossing, he found only ten additional men, and then returned to Texas to regroup.  

It was, nonetheless, the beginning of the Mexican Revolution and it is celebrated today as Revolution Day in Mexico.

We have said elsewhere:

1910  Francisco Madero declares a revolution in Mexico.  Madero's revolution was a success in that Diaz fled the country in 1911. He died in France in 1915, but Madero died well before him, as he was assassinated by those loyal to Gen. Huerta, who had no sympathy with Madero's views.

 

Diaz's long life was one that featured many interesting turns. He joined the Mexican army in the first instance in order to fight against the United States in the Mexican War. He lead guerrillas against Santa Ana upon his return to Mexico. He fought the French with Juarez but was an opponent, sometimes a revolutionary, against Juarez thereafter. He came to rule Mexico in 1877 by popular election, and ironically stepped down after one term having run on that platform. He ran again in 1884 and remained in power until the revolution. While he ultimately was toppled in a revolution, his authoritarian rule of Mexico was the first real period of peace in Mexico since the revolution against Spain, and the country generally prospered. Had he stepped down, as he had indicated he was willing to do, he would be well remembered today.

 

Heurta would die in El Paso Texas, in exile, in 1916, where he was under house arrest after having been detected negotiating with the Germans for arms in violation of the Neutrality Act.

 

Of note here, the involvement in the US in the Mexican Revolution proved to be almost inevitable. The border region was chosen by participants in both sides as a place of refuge, to include both the humble and the conspiratory. Madero, Villa, and Huerta all chose the US as a place of refuge, and a place to base themselves in the hope to return to Mexico and achieve power. Tensions on the US border started with the revolution being declared in 1910, and as early as the first day of the revolution Mexican authorities were assuring the US not to have worries. Tensions would last long after World War One, and the cross border action that started before the war would continue on briefly after the war.

The Wyoming National Guard, like that of every other state, would see border service in this period, first being mustered to serve on the border in 1915.  National Guard service involved nearly constant active duty from March 1915 through World War One.

Leo Tolstoy, age 82, died.

A great novelist, he was also an oddball in more than one way.

Last edition:

Friday, November 18, 1910. Riots. Suffrage Black Friday

Labels: 1910, 1910s, Aquiles Serdán, Black Friday (British Suffrage), Francisco I. Madero, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Mexico (Puebla), suffrage, The roles of men and women, Women

Friday, November 18, 1910. Riots. Suffrage Black Friday

Riots in Puebla Mexico resulted in the death of more than 100 people, including Aquiles Serdán, a politician and a supporter of Madero, who was killed defending his home in hopes of a general local insurrection.

A huge British Suffrage march turned violent, resulting in what was termed Black Friday. 

Last edition:

Thursday, November 17, 1910. First annual conference of Wyoming clergy.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, Blog Mirror, religion, This Day In Wyoming's History, Wyoming

OROZCO by SK GUNS and Pascual Orozco himself.

Wow, that's a wild commemorative.

Pascual Orozco was a Mexican Revolutionary who originally supported Madero before falling out with him.  He was of immediate Basque descent, something we tend not to think about in regard to Mexico, which is in fact more ethnically diverse than we commonly imagine.  He was an early recruit to Madero's 1910 revolution, and was a natural military leader, and could be rather morbid.  After his January 2, 1911, victory at Cañón del Mal Paso he ordered the dead Federal soldiers stripped and sent the uniforms to Presidente Díaz with a note that read, "Ahí te van las hojas, mándame más tamales" ("Here are the wrappers, send me more tamales.").

On May 10, 1911 Orozco and Pancho Villa seized Ciudad Juárez, against Madero's orders, a victory which caused Díaz to briefly resign the presidency.  Madero would naively choose to negotiate with the regime, which resulted in The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez allowing for the resignations of Díaz and his vice president, allowing them to go into exile, establishing an Interim Presidency under Francisco León de la Barra, and keeping the Federal Army intact.

Like Zapata, he went into rebellion against the Madero government, which he felt had betrayed the revolution.  He openly declared revolt on March 3, 1912, financing it with his own money and confiscated livestock sold in Texas.  His forces were known as the Orozquistas and the Colorados (the Reds). They defeated Federal troops in Chihuahua under José González Salas. Madero in turn sent Victoriano Huerta against him, who in turn were more successful.  A wounded Orozco fled to the US. After Madero was assassinated and Huerta installed, Orozco promised to support him if reforms were made, and he was installed as the Supreme Commander of the Mexican Federal forces.  As such he defeated the Constitutionalist at Ciudad Camargo, Mapula, Santa Rosalía, Zacatecas, and Torreón, causing his former revolutionary confederates to regard him, not without justification, as a traitor.

He refused to recognize the government of Carvajal after Huerta's fall and was driven into exile again.  He traveled in the US in opposition to Carranza along with Huerta.  In 1915, he was arrested in the US, but escaped.  An unclear incident at the Dick Love ranch in Texas led to claims that he and other like-minded combatants had stolen horses from the ranch, which in turn resulted in a small party of the 13th Cavalry, Texas Rangers, and local deputies pursing the supposed horse thieve with Orozco being killed once the party was holed up.  What exactly occured is not clear.

His body interred in the Masonic Holding Vault at the Concordia Cemetery in El Paso by his wife, dressed in the uniform of a Mexican general, at a service attended by a very larger gathering of admirers.  In 1925 his remains were retuned to Chihuahua.

Why the commemorative?  I have no idea.  He is not an obscure figure in the Mexican Revolution, but not a well known one like Villa or Zapata.  I can't see where he's associated with the M1911 either, a weapon that was brand new at the time the Revolution broken out.  The .38 Super, which is apparently popular in Mexico, wasn't intruduced by Colt until 1929.

Revolution Day

Today is Revolution Day in Mexico, commemorating the overthrow of Porfirio Díaz.

Diaz had ruled for thirty five years.  He was a dictator, but as dictators go, he was relatively benevolent.  His overthrow was bizarrely brought about by an interview he gave to an American magazine suggesting that if the Mexican people were ready for democracy, so was he.  This was picked up by Francisco Modero, who took him at his word, challenging him for the office, which was not really ready to give up. This ultimately lead to the Mexican Revolution.

The revolution, unfortunately, did not bring about democracy but instead the leadership of a series of leaders from the Institutional Revolutionary Party to the exclusion of other parties.  Only within the last couple of decades has Mexico transitioned into a democracy.

Monday, August 30, 1915. Pascual Orozco killed.

Mexican revolutionary Pascual Orozco was killed along with four others in a controversial gun battle against Texas Rangers and soldiers of the 13th Cavalry Regiment near the U.S-Mexican border. The pursuers had not realized they were chasing Orozco, but rather reported horse thieves. Whether or not they were stolen horses is unclear, and they may just have been set up.

He'd plotted against Díaz, Madero and Carranza, the latter of which lead to his house arrest at 1315 Wyoming Avenue El Paso, Texas, his family home, from which he'd escaped.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 28, 1915. The aftermath of tragedy.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, ANZAC, Battle of Hill 60, Disaster, Gallipoli, John J. Pershing, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Venustiano Carranza, World War One

Wednesday, October 5, 1910. Madero begins his escape.

Francisco I. Madero started his escape to Texas, resting in this day in San Luis Potosi, which would later be the name of the plan he developed for Mexico, the Plan de San Luis Potosí.

The plan in fact wasn't finished on this date.

Last edition:

Monday, October 3, 1910. The Prince Regent.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, 1911, 1950s, 1951, China, Personalities, Qing Dynasty, Xinhai Revolution

Sunday, June 26, 1910. The ballots that would lead to bullets. Election in Mexico.

Liberal Mexican general and long time President Porfirio Diaz was re-elected President of Mexico for the eighth time, defeating the jailed liberal politician Francisco I. Madero.

The election had been sparked by Diaz's interview in the journal Pearson's, as he'd had little opposition prior to that.  In the article, he commented:

It is true there is no opposition party. I have so many friends in the republic that my enemies seem unwilling to identify themselves with so small a minority. I appreciate the kindness of my friends and the confidence of my country; but such absolute confidence imposes responsibilities and duties that tire me more and more. No matter what my friends and supporters say, I retire when my present term of office ends, and I shall not serve again. I shall be eighty years old then. My country has relied on me and it has been kind to me. My friends have praised my merits and overlooked my faults. But they may not be willing to deal so generously with my successor and he may need my advice and support; therefore I desire to be alive when he assumes office so that I may help him. I welcome an opposition party in the Mexican Republic. If it appears, I will regard it as a blessing, not as an evil. And if it can develop power, not to exploit but to govern, I will stand by it, support it, advise it and forget myself in the successful inauguration of complete democratic government in the country. It is enough for me that I have seen Mexico rise among the peaceful and useful nations. I have no desire to continue in the Presidency. This nation is ready for her ultimate life of freedom. At the age of seventy-seven years, I am satisfied with robust health. That is one thing which neither law nor force can create. I would not exchange it for all the millions of your American oil king.

Last edition:

Saturday, June 25, 1910. The Mann Act.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, 61st Congress, Art, law, Public Land, Sex, Women

Monday, February 2, 1909. Modero sends his book.

Francisco I. Madero challenged Porfirio Diaz, Mexico's president since 1884, to allow a real presidential election by sending his best selling 1908 book La sucesión presidencial to the dictator.