Arizona republican., 1911-05-29
THREE DAYS
Of FIGHTING
Former Phoenix People in
Siege Of Torreon
ALL ESCAPED INJURY
Their Home Was Trans
formed Into a Revolution
airy Fort and Riddled
with Bullets, But They
Were Protected.

Mrs. c. NJ. Sturges of this city
has received a very interesting letter
| from Mrs. Will 5. Pender who is in
Torreon, Mexico, and who with other
missionaries of the ReorganiZed
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, has been in the southern re-
| public since last October Previous
to going 10 Mexico they were in this
city for two years and have many
! friends here who will be pleased to
hear from them and know of their
safety and viii be much interested
in their recent adventures They were
in the very heart of the fighting dur
| ing the siege of Torreon. their house
in fact being temporarily the head
quarters of the revOlutionsts. Elm
mating the personal matters, the let
ter is as follows:
Torreon. Mexico, May %, 1911.
My dear Sister:
You no doubt have heard through
the papers of the battle in our city.
The city was taken one week ago
this morning by the Maderists. They
began fighting Saturday morning out
of the CITY about three miles and
fought all day. and then they sur
rounded the city on all sides. The
soldiers retreated for the city so that
brought the fighting right in town.
They came in about five o'clock and
it surely sounded terrible. We had
To- flee from our rooms for down
stairs for when | tell you there were
forty-two bullet holes in our front
room you won't wonder at our leav-
ing the room. / tell you the bullets
flew thick and fast We all went
to one room in the house where there
were four thick walls and as all fam
lilies in the house are religious peo-
PIE we had prayer together. The
shooting was terrible at times as we
were having prayer. one of the num-
Der tainted and we had to work with
her for quite a little bit to bring her
to for she was so frightened. and
indeed it was a frightening time.
After they drove the soldiers in
town the Maderists came i'm the
house and ran up stairs and the
fighting on this side was done right
from our house which was their fort,
so you may know we were i'm a pref
" bad place for bullets. They were
very nice to us and we had no fears
of them as we made friends among
them and they seemed to think a
great deal OF US. We helped get sup
per for them right away as they had
fought all day with not a thing to-
eat.
They fought all night. all day Sun
day, and Sunday night and for three
days and nights we were under those
flying bullets / tell YOU it was q
strain no one knows but those vino
have been there. l hope we viii
never have TO see it again. We did
not have our flag up so We had to
make one and we worked on that
till twelve o'clock, put one on the
house and had another in the room
where we stayed for if the fedsrals
had come in 1T would have been bad
thing for us and for those other men
here in the house. But that was i'm
possible for there were so many of
the Mederistas and not enough of the
federals still they made a hard fight
but finally fled for their lives. We
don't know how many We're killed |
and never will. Many We're crippled. |
sister Of St. Sandervols was shot |
N the leg but has never been very |
bad. The poor thing has two chill
dren to support as her husband left |
her some time ago with the two chill |
dren She was on her way to the |
hospital to get work when she was
shot. She started out amidst the
bullets to get work for her children.
1t surely was a pity for she is very
poor, as so many are here, and had
to get shot.
You can't blame those poor people
for fighting for things have been in
4 bad condition, so many poor it
makes one sick of heart. with such
wages as they get they simply could
not live. just exist was all, but oh,
why did not Diaz resign before so
many people had to be killed. He
finally was compelled to it after the
battle here so now they expect in a
short time thing will be much diff
srent The Maderistas surely were
lighters and took many cities and
we're around the City of Mexico when
DiaZ sent in his resignation. The tel
gram says the people are to choose
who they want for their president
md not be as in the past when they
lad nothing to say about it. IT seem
ID nearly all here were for MaderO
md most Of the towns seem the
same They think lots of MaderO,
md he will go in as president with
'ut many dissenting votes for he was
/ wealthy man and he gave il all up
md said he would give all his for
une and his life for his people. He
vas working for these people and
ell you he had many followers. He
lad son born to him short time
gO while he was out fighting for
lis country. the first child they have
rad / understand and have been mar
led six years. He must be a good
nan to leave all. his beautiful home
- rr-nnItI, md ,.icl- IL. f,r lnie. (