The victims were accused of collusion with Porfirio Díaz were killed by a local mob and the revolutionary forces of Francisco I. Madero.

When the government forces withdrew, the rebels entered the city early in the morning and, along with the local population, began a ten-hour massacre of the Chinese community.

At one point, it was rumored that Qing China had even dispatched a warship to Mexican waters (the cruiser Hai Chi, which was anchored in Cuba at the time).

Immigration increased when Mexican president Porfirio Díaz attempted to encourage foreign investment and tourism to boost the country's economy.

The two countries signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1899;[1][2] over time, the Chinese expatriates began to establish profitable businesses such as wholesale and retail groceries.

[9] This investment spurred Kang to have the Association establish a bank in Torreón, which began selling stock and real estate to Chinese businessmen.

[8][9] It has been suggested that the city served as a test case for Chinese immigration to Mexico and Brazil, which Kang believed might solve overpopulation problems in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong.

The sad and lamentable fact is that the prostration of our national commerce has created a situation in which Mexicans are replaced by foreign individuals and companies, which monopolize our commerce and behave in the manner of conquerors in a conquered land.Tensions and resentment of the Chinese ran high among the Mexican populace of Torreón, stemming from the immigrants' prosperity and monopoly over the grocery trade.

On 5 May 1911 (Cinco de Mayo), a revolutionary leader,[13] a bricklayer[14] or stonemason[13][15] named Jesús C. Flores, made a public speech in nearby Gómez Palacio, Durango, in which he claimed that the Chinese were putting Mexican women out of jobs, had monopolized the gardening and grocery businesses, were accumulating vast amounts of money to send back to China, and were "vying for the affection and companionship of local women."

"[17] The branch of the reform association in Torreón heard of Flores' speech, and on 12 May the society's secretary, Woo Lam Po (also the manager of the bank) circulated a letter in Chinese among the leaders of the community warning that there could be violence: Brothers, attention!

For this reason, we advise all our people, when the crowds assemble, to close your door and hide yourself and under no circumstances open your places for business or go outside to see the fighting.

[18][19] Its railroads made it a key strategic point necessary to seizing complete control of the surrounding region:[20] it was also the last major city to be targeted by the rebels.

Lojero ordered a retreat, and his forces abandoned the city under cover of darkness between two and four in the morning on Monday, 15 May, during a heavy rainstorm.

[24] Before the rebels entered the city, witnesses reported that xenophobic speeches had been made to incense the accompanying mob against foreigners.

Eleven were saved by Hermina Almaráz, the daughter of a Maderista leader, who told soldiers who wanted to take them from her home "that they could only enter the house over her dead body."

[30] Ten hours after the massacre had begun, at around four o'clock, Emilio Madero arrived in Torreón on horseback and issued a proclamation decreeing the death penalty for anyone who killed a Chinese.

The tribunal came to the conclusion that the Maderistas had "committed atrocities", but the soldiers defended themselves by asserting that the Chinese had been armed and the massacre was an act of self-defense.

After the massacre, large numbers of Chinese fled Torreón, with El Imparcial, a daily newspaper in Mexico City, reporting that over 1,000 people were on the move.

The Chinese Bank, which had been moved into this building a few months before, was demolished, safes blown open and contents taken, furniture destroyed, all papers and valuables stolen.

Wilfley owned a law firm in Mexico City, and had previously served as the Judge of the United States Court in China.

[31] The same month, Qing China demanded reparation from Mexico, seeking a payment 100,000 pesos (in 1911 money) for each Chinese killed during the massacre, a total of over thirty million.

[28] This was followed by a diplomatic crisis, when a rumor began to circulate that Qing China had dispatched a warship carrying investigators to Mexican waters.

In the event, the Hai Chi docked in Cuba after visiting the United States and halted there while the diplomatic crisis played out, and did not go on to Mexico.

[41] In July, U.S. consul George Carothers reported that a number of foreigners in Torreón had received letters telling them to leave the city.

[42] Madero had ordered that the soldiers culpable for the killings be arrested and put on trial, and by 9 July, 20 of the 35 under suspicion of connection with the massacre had been captured.

He also dismissed the claim that the immigrants had been armed by General Lojero and his retreating Federales, pointing out that the reason for the evacuation was a dearth of ammunition.

In his report, he called the incident "an unprovoked massacre... conceived in malice and race hatred" and concluded that it was a clear violation of the 1899 treaty between the two countries.

The report concluded: The contention that the Chinese offered resistance is pure fabrication, invented by the officers of the revolutionary army for the sole purpose of escaping the punishment which the commission of such a heinous crime would naturally entail upon them.

However, it continued to demand an official apology, a guarantee of the safety of Chinese citizens in Mexico, and the punishment of the soldiers responsible for the massacre.

[43] As the 1911 Mexican Independence Day approached, the foreign community in Torreón became restless, remembering the violence that had broken out at that time the previous year.