“Bout time,” he muttered. He grabbed his suitcase and charged down the slick steps into the rain toward where the cab had splashed to a stop.
The white coated dining car waiter poured him his third cup of coffee, and with a disapproving shake of his head, removed the plate of half eaten red snapper and untouched green vegetables. Seth, oblivious to the disapproval, stared unseeing out of the window as the yellow electric lights of some small rain drenched Texas town slipped back into the night. His goodbye to Hand had been hard. Given the feverish state of his friend, he doubted Hand actually comprehended his leaving. Seth had resolved to come back to Texas to see him, just as soon as he could get free of this job in Washington.
So much had happened since his last July trip back to this state of his birth. Many miles to the west, on a scrub hill of his father-in-law’s ranch, Elizabeth was laid in her grave. It had been raining that day too. Now the initial hurt of the year long betrayal of their marriage no longer burned as bright. All that was important was his daughter’s welfare and future. Since his job with the State Department would probably be over after making his report to the President and Bryan, he needed to find something else that would provide for them. As for that obsession about Annaliese, he thought now it must have been an illusion which she apparently was doing her best to dispel. Then there was Molly, the too young, too beautiful and too eager, Molly Langdon. What did he feel about her?
His musing was abruptly invaded by, “May I get you anything else, sir?” The waiter was back at his table.
“What? No, I reckon not. Thank you” he said.
The waiter smiled apologetically. “If there is nothing else, sir, we’d like to close the dining car now”
“Close the dining car?” He looked around to find he was the only customer left. “Oh, yes. I’m sorry, of course. You are right.” He looked at his bill and laid five dollars on the small plate to pay for his meal and tip.
“Thank you, sir,” the waiter said. “And have a good night.”
Seth nodded, “Yes, I think I just might,” he said as he pushed back his chair and stood up. He was at the exit to the car when the waiter called out, “Pardon me, sir, would you like to have this copy of today’s New Orleans newspaper that some diner left in the car?”
Seth’s first impulse was to reject this offer, but then realizing he wasn’t really sleepy, accepted the paper with thanks.
Back in his compartment, he had read most of the articles on the first two pages of the New Orleans paper, and was about to lay it aside, when his attention was caught by a small story repeated from the New York Times, datelined Washington, two days before.
REPORT ON ENVOY IS IGNORED
At the end of a long conference between the President and
Secretary of State Bryan late this afternoon, Mr. Bryan gave out a statement in which he denied that the State Department was conducting an official investigation of Henry Lane Wilson, the American Ambassador to Mexico. Mr. Bryan declined to state where the report of such an investigation by the Department originated in this country. In his statement, Secretary Bryan said he understood the report first appeared in the Mexican papers and was without foundation and he could not understand such newspapers publishing it, as it would embarrass a representative of the United States Government in the performance of official duty while he is dealing with a difficult situation.
Seth read the article a second time, shaking his head with each sentence. Laying the paper aside, he looked out of the compartment window into the night. Now, I have a clue why WJB wants me back in Washington so quickly. They need a scapegoat to blame.
69
HE CAME STRAIGHT FROM THE Union Station to the State Department. Bryan was in his office and rose to greet him with a smile. “Good to see you back, Seth,” he said, rendering a hearty handshake. “We have been concerned about what you and Hand were going through down there.”
“Not so much me, but Hand was a different matter.”
Bryan gestured him to a chair, and moved behind his desk. “Yes, indeed. From your telegrams, we have a pretty good idea what that poor man must have gone through. I will want a detailed report about that. So will the President. How did you leave him?”
“Not good. He has picked up a serious infection in his stump. Running a high fever. Even if they can get it under control, he must stay in the hospital at least two weeks.”
“That is a shame. I am sorry we had to call you back so soon. I know you felt an obligation to stay there with him.”
“I feel that I should be there now. He took that horrible beating because the secret police initially took him for me.”
“How awful! For that I am indeed sorry. As I said, we regret we had to pull you away, but the President felt he needed to talk with you. Something has come up.”
“It wouldn’t have something to do with that story in the New York Times, would it?”
“Ah, you have read it. I was hoping to talk with you before it came out.”
“Mr. Secretary, you and the President must have had an important reason to deny there was an investigation of Ambassador Wilson, before you even heard the results of our ‘non-investigation”
Bryan looked uncomfortable. “I think you are allowing your worry or guilt over Hand Comfort’s injury and treatment by those people to cause you to question our motives in sending you to Mexico.”
“Oh please, Will, if this thing balloons out of control, the only card you and the President have left to play, after your denial to the newspapers, is to blame your two bumbling agents for initiating an investigation of the Ambassador on their own motivation, whatever that could be”
“Just one minute, Seth” Bryan said firmly. “I believe the President mentioned in his initial briefing that such was a possibility.”
“You are right, but from the beginning, it was more than a possibility that our true mission could be discovered. It was a distinct probability that it would be. I think you and the President must have realized that. To do our job, we had to talk to people. There is no documentation, so far as we could determine. When you ask questions on a matter as sensitive as the collusion of our Ambassador in two murders, it becomes impossible to mask what we were about. Henry Lane Wilson knew from the beginning what we were up to. But, the strange thing is, others, like the German Ambassador, knew before we arrived. You can tell the President that. Forgive me, Will, but was it his intention all along that our mission become known perhaps in order to light some kind of a fire under the Ambassador?”
Bryan’s eyes hardened and his jaw thrust out on the verge of anger. “Because of our long friendship, Seth Cane, I am going to forget you said that.”
“I am sorry, Will, maybe I am out of line, but it does feel like this mission of ours was bizarre. And on top of everything else was the fact that in order to get Hand free from that prison, I had to agree to Huerta’s demand. You might please inform the President that I have an oral personal message for him from his Majesty, Victoriano Huerta.”
“You can tell him yourself. I am expecting a call from the White House momentarily for us to come over. And, Seth, my friend, be patient and listen to what he has to say.”
70
WOODROW WILSON WAS STANDING AT the window with his back to them looking across the south lawn toward the towering Washington Monument. For an awkward moment Bryan and Seth stood just inside his office door in respectful silence until Bryan coughed discreetly behind the back of his hand.
The President turned away from the window and nodded to the two men. “Mr. Secretary, Mr. Cane, please be seated.” He took his place behind the large square desk and looked at Seth, unsmiling. “Mr. Cane, what do you have for us?”
“First in order of importance, sir, I have an oral personal message from General Huerta for your ears only.”
“Really? You have an oral personal message
to me from that fellow?” He looked at Secretary Bryan with a raised eyebrow. “Well, you can forget that business for my ears only. Go ahead and tell us what it concerns.”
“Quite briefly, sir, it is this. In exchange for his immediate recognition as the legitimate President of Mexico, Huerta would guarantee preferred status to the United States as to treatment and concessions in the specific economic areas of transportation, mining , oil production and similar investments, such as that enjoyed by interests in this country under President Diaz.”
“Incredible! Is there more?”
“If you do not agree to recognize him as the legitimate president of Mexico, he would be unable to regard with favor the continued presence of Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson as the representative of the United States, even though he was esteemed a close friend who would always be viewed with the highest respect.”
The President again exchanged glances with Bryan and then turned back to Seth,
“Mr. Cane, I am somewhat at a loss to understand how and why you were in contact with General Huerta in the first place, and why he selected you to carry this personal message to me.”
“Mr. President, when Mr. Comfort and I first arrived in Mexico City, General Huerta called Ambassador Wilson and demanded to know why two representatives of our State Department had arrived in his country, without paying a courtesy call upon him. In spite of Ambassador Wilson’s explanation that we were not on a diplomatic mission, he insisted we come and pay our respects. So, accompanied by the Ambassador, we paid a courtesy call upon him. We had a second meeting with him after Mr. Comfort had been kidnapped by his secret police and imprisoned. He promised to review the charges against Hand. After several days had passed, he summoned me and made my carrying this message to you as a condition for freeing Hand. He said he did not trust the regular diplomatic channels and insisted I carry the message.”
“Extraordinary! Don’t you think so, Mr Bryan?”
“Yes, sir, I do indeed,” Bryan replied.
“Mr. Cane, you knew this was unusual, why didn’t you refuse?”
“The reason I agreed was that it was essential. It was his only condition for the release of Mr. Comfort from thatterrible prison. Under the circumstances, sir, I would have agreed to do most anything to save my friend’s life.”
“It is fortunate then, that his condition for that release didn’t include you shooting me.”
“I said most anything, sir.”
“In any event, it all seems rather bizarre and unorthodox.”
“He told me that he didn’t trust the usual diplomatic channels, sir.”
“Yes, you said that. All right, let’s get back to that man’s message.”
Seth said, “I asked him if that meant he would break off diplomatic relations with the United States, and he replied that it meant just what it says.”
The President looked at his Secretary of State. “Your comment, Mr. Bryan?”
Bryan placed the fingertips of his hands together and looked thoughtful. “I do not see him as breaking off diplomatic relations with us. Such a break in relations is a more effective option in our hands than in his.”
The President looked grim. He said after a moment, “In addition, if Ambassador Wilson is no longer recognized as our ambassador to Mexico, do you think I would, in order to maintain good relations with that murderer’s unconstitutional government, be forced to name a new ambassador? I think not. Naming a new ambassador would be tantamount to recognizing the legitimacy of that man.”
“I think,” Bryan observed, “he is trying to be very clever. He is depending upon certain interests in this country, hungry for his concessions, to put pressure on you and, despite this ‘for your ears’ only message condition, it will somehow get it leaked to the American press.”
The President sat silent for several minutes, thinking, while Bryan and Seth stared at him. “Well, it won’t work!” he finally said. “I don’t care if these interests learn of his proposition. I won’t change my mind. That man usurped the position of president by violence, violating his allegiance to Madero.
Now he thinks he can buy legitimacy with this under the table concession offer. I have publicly said more than once, that I will never condone accession to power by treachery and murder, notwithstanding loss of lucrative oil and mining concessions. I categorically dismiss his offer, with no more attention than it deserves.”
Bryan asked, “Do you want me to draft a note to him on your decision?”
“No answer is needed, Mr. Bryan.”
“What action do we take if Mr. Henry Lane Wilson is sent packing?”
“My position, as you know Mr. Secretary, is watchful waiting. However, I just might recall him for a consultation only. The Charge’D’Affaires can serve us admirably during any absence of an ambassador down there. Furthermore, the threat of such dismissal of the Ambassador by Huerta, if indeed carried out, may prove most fortuitous. Now enough of this digression, Mr. Cane, we come to the matter of your inquiry. Please note, that I do not use the word, investigation, in reference to your examination of Ambassador Wilson’s alleged complicity in the deposition and murder of President Madero and Vice President Suarez.”
Seth succinctly recounted the results of his meetings with the German Ambassador, Admiral Hintz, Artimus Seyquirt, the First Secretary of the Embassy, the ill fated Senator Ernesto Gomez, various American citizens down there, and last of all Ambassador Wilson, himself. He emphasized that most of the American citizens resident down there had nothing but the highest praise for the Ambassador. However, he said the closest description of the events pertaining to the deposing of Madero and those leading up to and including the actual murders, came from the German Ambassador, Senator Gomez and the First Secretary, Artimus Seyquirt. He then related their stories and Ambassador Wilson’s statement that he had nothing to add to the official report on file in the State Department.
When he had finished his oral report, the President leaned forward with a penetrating stare. “What conclusions did you arrive at after all these interviews?”
“With respect to Ambassador Wilson’s overt support of President Madero’s overthrow, the evidence is strong as to his involvement, with, I think, some clear indication of tacit approval from our own State Department and even from President Taft”
The President looked down at his desk and shook his head. “Yes, well, sadly, I am not prepared to go into the position of the preceding administration with respect to Madero, with the possible exception to any official position supporting or endorsing the murders.”
He looked up at Seth, “Did you find any evidence as to President Taft or Secretary Knox that would suggest any such collusion in the killing of Madero or on the part of Ambassador Wilson?”
“Quite the contrary as for President or Secretary Knox. There is documentary evidence Secretary Knox expressly asked Ambassador Wilson, because of his special relationship with Huerta, to urge that Madero be dealt with in a manner consistent with peace and humanity”
“Well, I would certainly hope so. Now, as to that reason for your and Mr. Comfort’s trip to Mexico. In regard to the murders of Mr. Madero and Mr. Suarez, do you have any evidence of the collusion of Ambassador Wilson? From what you told us, it is mostly circumstantial evidence, that he could have had influence on General Huerta’s decision as to their treatment. To what degree, we do not know. There is no doubt as to Huerta’s responsibility for their murders, is there?”
“No sir. Everything points to the fact that it was upon his order, they were killed.
“And from your report, when General Huerta asked what should be done with President Madero and Vice President Suarez, our Ambassador replied that he should do what is best for the peace of the country. How do you interpret that, Mr. Cane?”
“I don’t pretend to always understand diplomatic innuendo, sir, but as an ord
inary country lawyer, I think he was telling Huerta he could do whatever he wanted, and the United States wouldn’t care.”
“As an ordinary country lawyer what evidence do you have regarding our Ambassador and those murders? Without reference to any considerations of national policy, would you elect to prosecute, or to defend, Mr. Wilson in a court of law on that evidence as to collusion in those murders?”
“With no probative evidence at hand I would be more comfortable on the side of the defense.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cane. Now, you will remember that I asked, if the opportunity presented itself to meet with Huerta, and it obviously did, not once but three times, for your evaluation of that man. “
“Yes, sir.”
“Well?”
“Despite his seeming irrationality when intoxicated, he is intelligent, cunning, tough and ruthless in the exercise of power.”
“And immoral, I would add,” Bryan said.
“I would prefer to characterize it as an amoral indifference to political murder,” Seth replied. “I think Victoriano Huerta sees himself as a new Porfiro Diaz with hope of an equally long tenure as president.”
“There are three powerful revolutionary armies that might have something to say about that,” the President said. “I appreciate your evaluation, Mr. Cane. Now, I would like to—”
“If I may, Mr. President?’
“Yes.”
“I was speaking of a judicial proceeding, in which the evidence would only be circumstantial. If you were to askme about an administrative action based on what we have learned—”
“Go on.”
“I would have to say there is more than sufficient grounds for recalling the Ambassador.”
“Please explain.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that Ambassador Wilson acted on his own in the matter of the fate of Madero and Suarez in opposition to Secretary of State Knox’s suggestion that he urge General Huerta to deal with Madero in a humane manner. If our Ambassador had followed this suggestion, he would have given a different answer when his friend Huerta asked what he should do. There is considerable evidence to show Huerta’s esteem for Henry Lane Wilson and that he would have followed his plea to save Madero and Suarez, especially since he believed that Henry Lane Wilson was speaking in that instance for the United States Government. There is also evidence that Ambassador Wilson has equally high esteem for General Huerta and supported his action in the seizure of the power of government. He is reported to have declared Huerta that night of the murders to be the George Washington of Mexico. “
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