El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-03-02
By Geo. H. Clements

under the coffee urn and We had a
choice of beer, booze or ginger ale
as a tooth wash. We chose GIN
ger ale and as luck would have II, hao
10 bolt it in order to enable the keep
er of the joint TO obey an order from
the commander of the civil guards 10
put up his shutters
Having breakfasted thus sumptuous-
". the next thing to do was to esJap-
Iish communication with me 1eraIu
office Not a store, railroad o1Ilce or
other place having phone was open
Mr.. Morrow, Of the Aztec euro store
was found and he consented 10 open
m The Aituation was explained 70
the city and news editors ana We III
turn were told of the report that Sala-
zar's men were coming in from the
northwest over the route lol aYe+ -
OrOzco in Nay a year ago Almost a.
the same moment we were lolo Dy
somebody in Juarez that tram from ON
Bauche had but few minutes 2SLOle
ern yards and that they were advane-
Reportinc- ssFhe Battle"
Mr.. Brann went west to the JeiaIuIe
to apprise the eommanoer o. ~ -
guards Of the approach OF the
rebels from the nortnWssI
while I, in company with MT
Hamilton. of the North western rali-
way. started for the yards to see what
the rebels reported there were doing.
Just as we reached pubic scnool no.
% the defenders barricaded on the roof
became very active and shltteo the
machine hin sun side from 0f th Ias building Sh
and we rushed TO the old station 70
get a telephone message through 70
The Herald Just as the connection
was made firing was heard 10 the
westward and I reported that the
battle had begun. Mr. Brann' az the
same moment had secured another OF
the trunk telephone lines from the
office of the communicable ana Haue
when I had finished my report OF
the beginning OF the battle, with Mr..
Hamilton. Mr. Lyon and others Of the
North western staff, went OUT on the
platform to see what we could see
We heard a man who, from the point
Of vantage of the top Of box car,
had seen the flag fall from the top
Of the water tower In the pauo OF
the jefatura, call out that the city
had surrendered This ] Immediately
telephoned to The Herald telling the
desk editor receiving the story my
authority and asking him to get veri-
ficatiOn from Mr. Brann, VINO was
nearer the city hall"
In Front Of Machine Gun
Thinking there was nothing more 70
be done there, started for the center
OF the city TO meet and work with
Mr.. Brann on the story Of the attack.
the reasons for the failure to defend,
etc. Just as got into the street the
QeLenQerS on the ROOF OF the sCuOoA
house began to display more activity
than they had shown during the few
minutes the firing was going on IN
the western part Of the city and
moved the machine gun to the south
side Of the building again and made
a noise as though they were going
into action. At the same time bunch
of cavalry come tearing up the street
from the south demanding the surren-
der OF the gun. They got it. At the
same time got a fright that win lin
ger with me. thought for a minute
I would catch bullets coming and go
ing, but I couldn't run Luckily for
me the surrender came promptly on
demand and 1 got away with whole
skin.
Rebels in Command.
Salazar. after taking possession OF
the city in the name OF the Army OF
Liberty" ascended the throne in the
hall Of justice in the jefatura. and
while his private secretary issued
passes to those who wished to get
people through The Herald why he IS
at war and what he hoped to accom-
plish all Of which was told in The
Herald Of Tuesday.
At o'clock Tuesday afternoon we
were called home. We walked, be-
cause there was no means OF coming
home any other way. The stars and
stripes look good even from Juarez
after night and day like those Mr..
Brann and I spent in expectation OF
getting a story Of a battle from the
battlefield. That the story didn't de-
Yelop was our misfortune, not our
fault I don't believe We were afraid.
but speaking for myself, I don't care
10 put In just such another A hours
at a stretch. Had the expected battle
been fought, it would have been cas-
Ter on US It would have relaxed the
tension and relieved the strain.