The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-05-08
SCARE STORIES OF REFUGEES
SEVENTY GLAD TO WAKE T.. y.
SOIL TELL or ANARCHI.
women Ride Hundreds Of Miles m Mule.
hack ana Reach san Antonio with
only Their Clothes Reign Of Pillakc
and Murtier.-Dread Of lntcrventiO

only Their Clothes -ReiGn Of PillaEc
and Mursier-Dread Of 1ntcrventiO Ion.
SAN ANTONIO May Nineteen refu-
gee babies from Mexico came into San
Antonio this afternoon on the first train
that has passed the barriers of trouble
south of the Rio Grande In two days
With the babies were mothers and fathers
and bundles and news. or the latter the
most varied assortment came. bnt all
telling of times Of stress and limiting at
hours of terror where the fighting Is in
progress
Yesterday and the dav before the
trains on the single aven,ie open ont of
Mexico via Laredo were blocked by
bridges blown out and the mouth Of a
tunnel caved in by dynamite south Of
Monterey The train arriving to-day
direct Srom Mexico city came through
without mishap. 1t was not held up
once. Not an insurrecto was seen.
though traces Of insurrecto activity were
everywhere visible. In Saltillo troops
were patrolling the streets. and the people
there did not know the hour when the
rebels massed on the hills outside the town
were going TO strike.
There were about seventy refugees
on this afternoon train. most Of them
Americans Among the women were
five who wore divided skirts They had
all made a hurried day and night journey
on muleback from the mines in the noun
tains to the railroad. and they had with
them nothing that they did not wear
Even so. they counted themselves fortu-
nate to be on American soil.
Il rode two days and one night in the
saddle without taking time to sleep" said
one of these women. who is the wife Of an
American mining superintendent IN the
State Of Guiana juato. My husband came
with me as far ~ tho railroad at San Luis
Potosi; then he went back TO guard the
mining property. He has fifty Americana
here with him and they have rifles and
ammunition; they believe that IL attacked
they can hold out for three months.
Every American down there fears that
IN" United States will decide on interven-
,ion. This is the reason why most Of
I he women are trying TO get out. All
Americans know that II Intervention
comes there will he some terrible days
for Americans in the country killings
and sieces of mines. Intervention would
be responsible for some heavy killings"
One man who came up on the train
Franklin W. smith. who is a mining en-
gnoer in charge Of properties at Parral
in the state of Chihuahua, had travelled
i,?jo miles in an effort TO bridge a gap
IN he railroads of 1870 miles and he had
been az il since April % He had gone
down from the United States after a
brief trip north to return to Parral and
had found that he could go no further
than Monterey in his journey to the west
ward All three lines between Monterey
and Saltllo to the eastward and Torreon
/ l. Il ,t,x,. .xx.l
to pieces.
Mr.. Smith then went down to San Luis
Potosi and tried his mck on tho line
! running north through Zacatecas. He
got no further than the latter point.
BEYOND that the rebels had cit the line.
| tributary to it on the railroads.
just the day before got to Zacatecas.
said Mr., Smith in relating his strenuous
endeavor to make Parral. bridges had
been repaired on the line beyond there
and a train full Of passengers had started
cut and the railroad north Of Zacatecas
was GU, in dozen different places. When
| gave it up and started away from Iaca-
tccas two days later nobody knew what
had become OF that train that had ventured
northward.'
r. NJ Fairbairn. " no came from Torreon
after making his way along the line OF
the disabled railroad to Saltillo by. auto
mobile and horseback. said that he was
the manager Of large ranch in Chihuahua.
bu, that no had thought II time to get out
when the rebels suddenly descended one
day and cleaned ont the whole ranch.
I hey took money. arms and horses and
they were not at all delicate in their
manner either
r.. =. Belden. a mining engineer from
| the State of GUIANA uato. said that two
DAYS before he left his mines back OF the
| - tnl e tk,.,a N
had ridden in from mine and told him
that crowd OF bandits had swooped down
| on the place during the night. When an
, American bvthe name of Rice. who was
managing the property. refused to give
| the bandits all his money they shot him
dead and rode away with arms and horses.
shortly before | started north" said
Mr. Belden. Il went through the State of
Morelos and l arrived in Cuernavaca
| lust before the rebels laid siege to il.
Everywhere went heard the same story
| Of pillage and rapne by the unrestrained
r,iftians on both sides. Federals and in
surrectos alike. One little town in More
los had been sacked by irslirrectos and
according To one American whom found
| there. the only foreigner who had re-
| manned in the town when the Felerals
| afterward descended on 10 and had
| combatants indiscriminat ely and counted
| these dead in with the number Of ins,ir-
rectos they reported ss having slain"
Another refugee accounted for the
| reign of terror in the vicinity Of Torreon
| 10y citing the fact that after capturing
! Lerdo and Gomez PalacO the ins,irrectos
had turned loose between POO and 300
prisoners in the jails OF these two towns
Some of these prisoners had thrown in
their fortunes with the insuTrectos but
ot hers, who were bandits had taken
advantage Of their liberty and the utter
lack of order in the district to ply their
trade openly. Most Of the damage that
was done in the fighting at Parras, this
man said was at the hands of a rabble
| of jailbird- suddenly turned loose
iuis Moya the commanding general
over the insurrectos now either in DOS
session of or investing Torreon il from
all accounts fairly respectable sort
of person and not one to tolerate banditti
il he can help it. but from the reports
that came with the train load of refugees
to-day it appears that the whole country
from rorreon to Saltillo is in thorough
state of anarchy. No trains have passed
between those two points for over a week
and there has been no telegraphic com
munication with the big manufacturing
city for the past five days.
Not only il TOrreon completely iso.
lated and without law but, with the tying
up of all the railroads Of northern Mexico
passing through that centre there has
come paralysis of business radiatinv
to every point IN the territory. Though
| through Eagle Pass. which was put out
L..