Bisbee daily review., 1915-07-10
SONORA MINING MAN TELLS OF EXCITING
 TIME WITH BANDITS
Ralph A. Meyer, Manager of Monte CriSto Sonora Mine, Tells of Paying Ransom TOT His Life; Denies One Story.

DOUGLAS. July 9.-Few men com ing from Sonora in recent months | have had SO narrowing a tale of per sonal danger to tell as Ralph A. Mey- l er manager of the Monte Christo Son ora Mining company, who arrived here | Wednesday night enroute to his home ! in El Paso. Held a prisoner for hours under a threat of death unless a r8n- som of S1 900 gold was paid, Meyrs | says he managed Co compromise with | the bandits for his life and that oi R. | T. Sims, El Paso banker, who is a di- i rector oS the company. for 670 Cnihua- hua pesos. worth less than SFJ Ameri- can money At 1 a. m June 2i, the five men rode into our camp I was asleep at the time on my cot and paid no atten- ! ton Co them, thinking that it was a small detachment of soldiers" said Mir
 Meyer "A short time later they woke ? me up and asked for the comisario. l I directed theme where to find him. ! Later they came back and asked me l for horse shoes and nails. l told them
 we had none Then they asked for
 food told them to take what they ! wanted
 The leader, who gave his name as
 Alfredo Duarte, then asked me to go
 to the office with him as he wanted to talk with me I was still in my pajamas. just as ! had arisen from
 bed but l complied Duarte told me
 that he had been a prisoner in Fort
 Bliss and later at Fort Wingate He
 said that he had been mistreated by
 the United States soldiers and there
 fore had a grudee against all Ameri
 cans and foreigners. He said he in
 tended Co give the foreigners in the
 territory he ranged 15 days to get out of the country after which time he intended to begin killing any he found He then demanded S1,000 gold for my
 life and that Of Mir Sims. We finally compromised for 67O pesos Chihuahua
 money. He also took all of my valu ables he could find
 "I want to deny the story that reached the border and was published
 in The Dispatch to the effect that Mrs
 Sims was threatened It is true that she was hidden in the office while the , men were in camp, but her presence , in the camp was not, am sure known to the men.
 9 "The next day ] went out with a
 detachment of Carrauza troops under ! Captain Pedro Ramos. but we found
 none of them Two members of thC
 band were captured later by Col An chita's command ] heard that they were Go be c0urtmartialed but l did not learn their fate.'
 The Monte Christo mine, which i.
 located 35 miles south of Moctezuma
 is now the only mine working south of Nacozari The company employs 3S men. A small concentration Is al work and the concentrates. which are of unusually high grade. are sent tl NaCOzaH A considerable amount is now there awaiting shipment to the
 El Paso shelter.
 On his ride between the mine and
 Nacozari, Mr. Meyer found much suf
 fering from lack of food Conditions
 around Cumpas were especially bad while in Moctezuma, Lampazos, BatuC
 and other towns in the central eastern portion of the state the suffering is
 also great Mir Meyer said that he
 knew nothing personally of any deaths
 from starvation in that section
 At the Monte Christo and sections
 immediately surrounding the property
 corn, wheat and beans are plentiful
 There i8 no coffee nor sugar, he said
 and there has been none of either tC
 be obtained for several months. Aside
 from the bandit raid, conditions in the country around the mine have been very peaceful