The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-06-29
HAD THRILLING EXPERIENCE
American Who was COMPELLED to
Look Down Winchesters.

VI 1OOhluS uOWQ the muZZleS OF 20
different Winchester rifles, one at a
time. Every time he took look
into gun he was forced to shout
viva Francisco Madero." But he
wasn't alone in that achievement.
All of the other passengers on a
Mexican railroad had to do the same
thing.
It is a thrilling story that Wir-
shing relates in letter to lis
father at Sterling, Kan. The young
man was on his way to Monterey to
build big electric power plant for
an American syndicate, when the
train was held up by squad of
revolutionists. He tells the story in
this entertaining manner:
Dear Father: Were you ever
forced to look down the muzzles of
rs Winchester rifles?
There is a sensation connected
with it that I can't fully explain, al
though I have realized it. The first
thing that dawns upon you is the
question, what to do? Should you
pray, sing, dance, or beg; but before
you have time to decide, you find
yourself responding to the commands
of the voices behind the cannons
and shouting, viva Francisco Ma
dero."
I secured contract in Monterey
on Wednesday,, and that evening
bought ticket to Torreon. The In
ternational and Central lines run al
most parallel from Monterey to Tor
reon, and owing to bridges being
dynamited and burned on the In
ternational, I took the Central, it
being the only line out of six in
operation. Knowing that we would
be late in getting into Torreon, l
decided to sleep as late as I could,
and that sleep was not interrupted
until $50 the next morning, when
I was awakened by the firing of
shots and shouts from outside and
the screams of women in the car.
The train was slowing down. The
little nerve that had left prompted
me to sit up in my berth and raise
the curtain. Upon looking out l
saw mounted "revolutos" dashing
from every direction. 1t did not
take them long to form line as
long as our train, and upon a signal
from their "Jefe" they let out
tsGrito," ':Viva Madero!" The en-
gineer and fireman were ordered to
dismount and join the file of the
s'revolutos. The conductor, lit
tie Irishman of about IS years, rush
ed out and gave the captain a Meth
odist handshake and told him in his
crude Spanish that the train was at
his disposal, even to the passengers.
The captain pointed toward the
burning bridge ahead of us, to which
the conductor nodded approval, stat
ing that he did just right, that we
did not want to go to Torreon any
way, and pleaded that he allow us to
turn back. His request was disre-
garded and the soldiers given orders
to come forward.
Every tenth man dismounted and
drew a long saber, which to me
looked longer than the Pullman car,
and proceeded to cut the fence down.
Then they formed in Indian tile and
marched around the train, each
pointing his gun into the windows
and asking each passenger "Quin
viye?" to which each had to reply
viva Francisco Madero." AS the
rebels passed from one window to
the other each individual had to
respond, and when the Is had passed
we had answered "Viva Francisco
MaQoCO 20 Ll1uCS. ~ "~o SSAAo~A
but hardly the place to laugh. Can
you imagine me sitting up in my
night shirt saluting Is rebels lndl-
vidually and shouting Is times
ssViva Francisco Madero?" The
women certainly were brave, Tor
after he had pushed them all into a
stuffy drawing room we never heard
a sound from them. Did you ever
feel that you were about ready to
salute St. Peter? Well, that's the
way we all felt for while, but we
were all quite constrained and just
stood waiting developments and per-
haps waiting to pick holes out or
one another. A young American IN
the car who had just come down
from East Orange, N. j., didn't real
ize our predicament, and started to
talk about the ''Gringos' and Uncle