File No. 812.00/11988.
Admiral Fletcher to the Secretary of the Navy.
Vera Cruz , April 16, 1914, 3 p.m.
About 10 a.m. on April 11, while in the post office at Vera Cruz, a mail orderly from the Minnesota got into a discussion with a Mexican mail orderly of the 18th battalion. They could not understand each other and the policeman, in order to avoid a possible disturbance, directed them both to come with him to the station. The police judge, upon hearing the statement of the police officer, at once told our mail orderly he was not at fault and would not be detained. The Mexican mail orderly was found at fault by the judge and was detained and turned over to the military authorities and was given proper punishment. The attitude of the Mexican authorities was correct; there is no cause for complaint against them and the incident is without significance.