Executions

In Mexico City the U. S. Embassy made formal protest last week to the Mexican Government at the murder in Mexico during the past month of three U. S. citizens: George Holmes, slain in the state of Chihuahua; Edgar M. Wilkins, killed in Jalisco; and Frederick C. Combs who was done to death in Sonora.

Since these were by way of being "routine assassinations," and since so many other U. S. citizens slain in Mexico are unavenged, it was especially notable that the police of Guadalajara, Jalisco, seized seven Indians last week and executed them as the slayers of Edgar Wilkins.

The police called attention to the fact that Mr. Wilkins had been killed by seven knife wounds, each of which has now been avenged by the execution of a Mexican Indian. Further, the police explained that when a gang of Indians sets out to commit murder each must strike a blow, by custom, that all may be equally guilty and none tempted to betray the others.