The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-06-09

he then stated that he would take
me to Progresso anO took five of my
crew of of the schooner, permitting
me to return thereto with one officer
and several men from the Vera
Cruz; he then ordered me to take III
the sa115 and haul in two dOries
which l had out; l complied and we
were then tOwed to PrOgressO; at the
time of the seizure my vessel was in
thirty-seven fathOms of water and
not less than twelve miles from Ala
cranz Reef, being west southwest
from that point; as will be seen by
an examination of a chart, this shows
that my vessel was not even in the
vicinity of any other reef; it was
nearer to Alacranz Reef than to any
other reef, but, as above stated,
was at least twelve miles from that
reef: | have never carried dynamite
on any vessel and have never used
il in catching fish; l have fshed on
Campeche Banks for the past eigh-
teen years, but have never fished
within ten miles of any reef, it being
impossible to catch sufficient fish
for commercial purposes that near to
a reef or to shore; we arrived at
PrOgressO on the evening of the
twenty-frst Of April. 1906, and went
ashore on the morning Of the twenty
second; my crew and myself were
taken to the custom house and
placed in a room, where We were
detained until Tuesday, the twenty
fourth the crew being released in
the forenoon and I in the afternoon;
on Sunday. the 22nd, while detained
in the custom house, each member
of my crew and myself were taken
separately before an officer to make d
statement: we made this statement
through an interpreter. who. though
being a Mexican, spoke English; |
was asked when l left Mobile, what
were MY intentions, and where / was
al the time of the seizure; l replied
that l left Mobile on April 2 for fhe|
purpose of fishing on Campeche|
Banks, and / estimated that l was
about fifteen miles from AlaCranz
Reef mot having a chart before me,
at that moment) when we were seiZ-
ed; my statement was written down
in Spanish. and then the interpreter
IGdu IL W AllE. llduoluAAAlE IL AnAO
lsh as he read, and then l signed
the statement at the request Of the
Officer: I can neither speak nor read
the Spanish language; when my YES
sci was seized, we had on board
about $500 red snappers Of the value
in Mobile. Ala, Of about $500; these
fish were permitted to spoil and were
then thrown into the harbOr of Pro-
gressO; on Tuesday. the oath Of April
Edward Thompson, the American
consul at ProgressO, came TO the
room where we were confined, and
consulted with me about the matter,
ana after we were released, he pro-.
vided for myself and my crew; the
American consul had us to remain
at PrOgresso until the 29th day of
May thinking that he would get the
vessel released and that we could
take charge of her; he failei to get
the vessel released, and on the 29th /
day Of May we left PTogresso and /
came TO Galveston, Texas, on The |
steamer Galveston, and from Calves
ton we came to Mobile. Ala, by |
rail; my crew consisted of seven /
men besides myself, as follows: /
Gust. Svenson, R VI. Bridges, Rich
ard Rice, Off Thompson, Jack
johnson. Alex Hansen ana John Han
sen; John Hansen was sick when we
left Progresso, and we left him there |
and / have not seen him since; |
while my vessel was in the posses
sion Of the Mexican government and /
being held in Progresso harbor. aud
before left PrOgressO, the anchor /
chain parted and one anchor was lost /
entirely and the other was broken; |
this was caused by choppy seas in |
the harbor; lost all my clothes ex-
cept those which / was wearing; l i
went to the vessel just before l left |
and all of my clothes were
gone and could not be found; / also
had on board the vessel a lot of navi-
gable instruments and charts; these
we're all my own property and were
all taken by the Mexican govern
ment; these instruments and charts
together with the clothes were worth |
about SIS; q number Of small items /
Of. property belonging TO different
members of the crew were also lost:
ana l owned a large lot of fishing
tackle. which was taken by the Next I
can government
ALEX Lundberg.
Sworn to and subscribed before
me. this 9TH day of June. 1906.
&C. T. McCorvey. h
Notary Public. Mobile County, Ala
bama."