Evening journal., 1914-06-03
BY WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD,
Tnited Press Staff Correspondent.

United Press Staff Correspondent.
VERA CRUZ, June 2-(By Mail to
New York; - Liberty Path" they call
II now. 1t is a stretch of railroad
track two and a half miles long; that
is, II was railroad track until the
Moxicans tore up the track and ties.
leaving only the grading. 1t runs
through a swamp and into tropical
forest. Two trains, under Lieutenant
Richardson, of the 18th Infantry, run
every day from Vera Cruz out to the
end of the gap in the rails to carry
American and other refugees from
Mexico into the American lines at
Vera Cruz.
It's an interesting process. The
American train consists of a Pullman
car, with four or five cars filled with
American sharpshooters, for, under a
flag of truce, the train runs a dis
tance OF two miles into the Mexican
lines. One of the cars is fitted with
wireless apparatus. AS you pass out
of the American lines you see the out
most American pickets, in the sand
nils some distance from the railroad
tracks. The train runs along for a
mile or so, and you first notice you
are inside the Mexican lines when
you sight Mexican soldiers standing
alongside the track. Finally the train
comes to stop within a few feet Of
the gap in the rails. Lieutenant Rich
ardson alights with a soldier who
carries huge Turkish towel, tied in
flag fashion to a piece of bamboo. This
IS the flag of truce. 1t will be a
historic old bit of flag some day. this
white Turkish towel, for under its
heavy folds no less than 1000 Amer
leans including O'Shaughnessy him
self have completed the last stage of
their flight from Mexico City. Ameri-
cans, at the Mexican end of the gap,
two and a half miles away, have
spotted its Wilderness through their
glasses and, knowing that it was in
the hands of the red, white and blue
flag itself, could not have cheered
them more than their first glimpse of
the white turkish towel. BY the way
the towel was taken by a man, who in
the first days fighting at Vera Cruz.
broke open box in the custom house
seeking loot, and tried to get away
with a huge bath room accessory.
Lieutenant Richardson and the sold
Ter carrying a flag of truce start up
the railroad grading and walk third
OF mile to where a wooden shanty
stands beside the track, guarded BY a
Mexican sentinel. A Mexican sold
Ter comes out of the shack with an
other white flag. The Mexican flag
of truce appears to have been made
out of bed sheet Behind Lieutenant
Richardson, Mexicans loaded down
with their personal belongings strug-
gle. They are fugitives from Vera
Cruz.
Perhaps among the Mexicans there
will be an adventuresome foreigner or
two who wants to get back to the cap
ital. The horde of travellers pass the
two white flags and the moment they
pass the Mexican flag of truce. they
are In the hands of the Mexicans. All
of the railroad telegraph lines have
been cut and so there is no way Of
knowing whether there is a Mexican
train at the other end Of the gap. The
only thing to do is to wait If ii is
here, 1t is at a standstill in the heart
of a tropical. mosquito-infested for
est; there may be Tmericans on IL,
though Lieutenant Richardson has no
way of knowing, and the only thing he
can do it to wait.
With a field glass you can look over
the heads of the Mexicans, to the path
way through the forest. If the Mexi-
can train is there. you couldn't see
it anyway for it stops at a curve, out
of sight at the top of grade: The
heat rising from the hot rails SHIN
mers and makes it difficult to see what
is happening at the distant end of the
gap. But suddenly, someone makes
out a group of persons, like tiny dots
soon you can see the dust they are
stirring. as they move along the road
bed They have a long, hot walk be-
fore them; two and a half miles; in a
broiling sun. loaded down with as
many of their belongings as they car
carry; they have deserted their homes
and farms and mines in Mexico and
what they'rs struggling under now is
all they have to show, just at pres.
ent for their toll in Mexico.
In the meantime, while the refugees
are tramping toward the train, the
soldiers on the American train are
taking all the precautions necessary
in warfare. They are in the enemy's
country, under a flag of truce. Next
can soldiers are hidden in the hills