Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-05-28
Morey Applegate' --~. ,:.1,,
Out Of Mexico

The following thrilling story of the
escape of himself and 149 other ref
ugees from Mexico is told by Morey
Applegate-brother of Mrs. Emil Peil
of Ashland. Mr. Applegate has been
manager of large banana plantation
near San Bias. When the federal
troops were routed from that region
by the rebels and things became un-
settled, with danger of losing his life,
Applegate boarded the English
steamer Cetriana on the morning of
April twenty-siXth for the United
States.
Bringing with them tales of hard
ship and atrocity, the refugees
reached San Francisco May seven
teenth and were emphatic in the
statement that had they remained in
Mexico few hours longer they would
have met death at the hands of the
Mexican soldiers and mobs that
thirsted for American blood.
The Cetriana arrived at the port
of San Bias on the morning of April
twenty-siXth. Here Lieutenant Min
lister and party of seventeen Amer
lean refugees from the inland town
of Tepic, who were being held as
prisoners subject to orders issued by
the Mexican General Domingo Servin
that they be returned with the prob
ability that they would be executed.
By the exercise of persuasion and
diplomacy, Lieutenant Minister sue
ceeded in obtaining their release. and,
taking them on board the Cetriana,
proceeded to ManZanillo.
The vessel reached the latter port
on April twenty-seventh and was al
lowed to moor alongside the wharf,
from which she took on board thirty
seven refugees who had been under
the protection of the German consul.
During the night Lieutenant Min
lister discovered that the dock had
been soaked with oil and mined with
dynamite. Upon making protest to
the Mexican authorities he was in
formed that he would be given thirty
minutes notice before the wharf was
fired. The Mexican commander said
there was no intention of harming
| the Cetriana, but the wharf was to
be burned in order to destroy its use
| fulness to the "Gringo enemy" which
he expected at any time.
Not trusting the Mexican official,
| Lieutenant Minister armed his pas
sengers and kept close watch on
those on shore. On the morning of
April twenty-eighth the Mexican
steamer Luella, loaded with inflam-
mable material steamed into the
dock and was moored with her bow
ten feet from that of the Cetriana.
The manner in which her shore
lines were run made it apparent that
she had been placed in the dock for
the specific purpose of impeding the
CetriaRa when she attempted to pull
out, AND when short time later the
Mexieaa troopships Manuel Herrerias
and General Pesqueiva took such po-
sitions in the stream as almost to
block the egress OF the Ceriana, drop
ping their anchor chains so that the
little vessel would be forced to back
over them, il was decided by Lieuten-
ant Minister and his officers that it
was the intention OF the Mexican au-
tborities to expose his command to
destruction by fire and the presum-
ably accidental loss OF lives Of all
on board.
The fact that the German consul
had reported the arrival of an addi-
tional 207 American refugees in Man
zanillo rendered it inadvisable, in the
opinion of Lieutenant Minister. to
leave the dock until the last possible
moment in order that the Mexican
authorities might not take offense at
a seeming lack of confidence in
them.
When the American cruiser Raj
eigh was finally sighted from the
port signal station the signal "ene-
my's warship sighted" was promptly
shown, the wharf being evacuated by
the Mexican authorities who had
been guarding it. Large additional
quantities of oil were poured on the
timbers and men were stationed at
the doors of cars loaded with kero-
sene to break open the cases.
At the beginning of the prapara-
tions to fire the wharf, Lieutenant
Minister, despairing of any word
from the port commander, decided
to pull out of the slip, and with a
great deal of difficulty he managed