The Mena weekly star., 1912-04-25
MEXICAN BANDITS
 KILL AMERICANS
Murder, Rob and Torture Men and Women Without Mercy-No Pro- lection to Any Outside Largest
 Cities-RaiIrOad Mems Offer.


 Galveston, April 23.--Forty-seven passengers, all but one citizens of the United States. who arrived this morning from Vera Cruz on the steamer Texas, tell of alleged tor ture and assassination of Americans in Mexico. All of the refugees left their lands, homes, furniture and everything they possessed except enough money for passage and the clothes on their backs. Among the | entire number there were only four or five trunks
 NJ. H. Ish tells of the murder of an American citizen named Wait.
 MT. Wait was a neighbor to me, said Mir. Ish. He had sold several head of cattle and hidden the mon- ey. A band of desperadoes came to his hacienda and demanded money. Failing to get it they deliberately beheaded him with their machetes, herded his cattle together and drove them off. There are many instances like this.
 We lived i'll a little settlement where colony of fl American families had founded the town of | Sandburn. Of these ii loft because we were afraid to remain longer, | knowing we would all be killed or tortured. am 6i years old. l went to Mexico one year ago, put all I had, $i,650, in land and lm- provements there, and today l have
 only this Showing his two hands,
 and the clothes on my back.
 | Before leaving we filed our claims for damages with the Ameri- can consul in Mexico City"
 John T. McGee, wealthy planter
 when lie went to Mexico two years ago. returned to America minus | more than S2o000, and left behind land, cattle and live stock. MT. Me-
 Gee tells of cruelties practiced on
 an American woman now in the | hospital at Mexico City.
 The bandits visited the home of
 Mr. Shay, one of my neighbors,
 about week before l left the set
 clement" said Mr. MeGee, "and de- manded money and guns. He gave
 them about SIP and one gun, saying
 that was all he had on the place. Beat American Woman. "The band then left, but returned
 to Shays place and demanded more
 money and arms. Not being given
 the money and guns, they took Mrs.
 Shay. tied her down and began beating her feet. Mr. Shay and his
 sons tried to stop the torture, and
 gave them four guns and $500 to
 stop the desperadoes.
 Mrs. Shay was badly injured and she had to be carried to the hos pital at Mexico City, where it was found that nearly every bone in her
 feet had been broken. She is in a
 serious condition.
 No Protection Given.
 What has been true of the Shay
 family has been likewise true of
 scores of other Americans and, by
 staying there, we took our lives in
 our hands. The bandits are every where. The Mexican government is not able to quiet these bandits and many Americans believe that the Madero forces so dislike the Ameri- : cans that the would rather permit the brigandage than try to stop it. : Whenever Iurales are near, the bandits disperse, but there is rarely ' a shot fred
 ] Practically every man on board the Texas has a like tale to tell of experience there. Two men who rode horseback into Vera Cruz af- ) ter abandoning everything they possessed, excepting the horses and l their guns, tell of meeting bandits f in a narrow pass en route. "The } only reason we are here. said one : of the men, lis because we were lucky enough to beat them to it." , Everywhere you go except right : in the largest cities you will see
 deserted farms, the houses burned, ' their livestock stolen and in many 5 instances the r0tting and headless l bodies of their owners are left lying 3 about. The bandits Gra in such I large numbers and 80 scattered oy- 5 CT the entire interior that to resist r them IS useless. The Americans ] just have to give up everything to
 them when they come to the set
 dement's. no matter how well
 armed they may be"