Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-14
REFUGEE TELLS Of LOSS
NFL|GHT FROM MEXICO
DR.. G. E. Purnell Forced to Leave
All He Had Accumulated in
twenty-five Years.
Storm of Indignation Against
"Gringoes' Broke Immediately
After Invasion of Vera Cruz.

How he had to abandon and lose all
that he had accumulated by twenty-five
years Of labor in Mexico, In hurried flight,
is told by DIR. G. E. Purnell well known
in Washington who has just reached
Baltimore. For some time DR.. Purnelrs
wife feared that he had lost his life
and an appeal was made to the State
Department to learn his fate and facili-
tate his fight from the strife-torn repub-
lie.
Dr. Purnell is a native of Baltimore
and went to Guadalajara to practice dem
tistry, built his home there. invested his
money and expected to stay there for the
rest Of his life. He sent his wife and his
two children to Baltimore about two
years ago to stay here until political
squalls grew less frequent, but he didn't
expect to have to quit himself. The
doctor is an uncle of DR.. G. E. Purnell
Truitt, 1878 North Charles street, Balti-
more.
.sWhen the storm which drove me away
from my home did finally break" he said
Yesterday, 'it came like a rush of rain
after sharp thunderclap right after the
ATTACK on Vera Cruz. l went one morn
ing from my house. in which l had been
living alone since my family had gone
to Baltimore. to my office. l had ap-
pointments for every hour Of the day
An elderly Mexican woman wept and
told me that the streets were full of
Mexicans who we're shouting Kill the
Gringoes!
Revolver in Pocket.
'I supposed she was merely excited.
and after had soothed her and sent
her home I went down town. first put
ting a revolver and about $1,000 in my
pocket. AS went through the streets
I encountered crowds shouting XIII
the gringoesv and winking at me as
they shouted. 1 continued to the Cos
mopolite Hotel. There I found the
greater part Of the American colony
gathered, all their effects. even bedding
in some cases, dumped on the floor of
the hotel corridor. They said that the
governor of the state would permit the
Americans to take a special train out
for Manzanillo, about 200 miles to the
southwest on the coast
I'VE soon learned that the governor
had refused to permit any one to leave,
and then 1t was decided that the wom-
en- should go to shirt factory owned
by the French colony, and the men to
the house of Percy Holmes, American
consul The French wouldn't give the
women refuge, and both men and wom-
en- went to the American consurs
home. The women slept in the house
and the men in the courtyard, and be-
fore dawn that morning We heard that
a train was going out. told DR.. George
r. Gleason, who came to Baltimore with
me, and he said that he wouldn't
travel on that train for all Mexico. DR..
Gleason's wife is Mexican. He said
that two army officers had told her the
night before that the Mexicans were
going to dynamite the train before it
reached ManZanillo.
Demanded All Weapons.
I'VE went, however, and the worst that
happened to US came at Colima. half way
stopped the train and made all the refu-
most eloquent and the most polite speech
you could imagine. demanding that we
surrender all arms.
"At Manzanillo there was a steamer.
the Maria, with a German captain. Ger
man officers and a German crew, which
| had been chartered by a Chinese COM
pany to carry Chinese coolies from Hong
kong to Manzanillo. They didn't let the
| Chinese land and the American consul
| seized the boat for us. We thought one
| of the Americans would lose his life
right on the edge of liberty. The Next
| cans didn't like him.
They tricked him off the boat. saying
| that his sister had sent him $500 When
| they got him ashore they said they were
going to shoot him as a spy. The purser
of the Maria saved him. He said tina,
| he, the purser, was German consul He
gave the American German flag, told
| him to wrap it about him and demanded
| that he, the purser, be allowed to wire
his chief in Mexico City. The American
| was released"