Evening star., 1915-01-15
interest by those who have u kno~l-
edge of Mexican affairs, is as follows:
Statement of Gen. p:lafox.

1T having been brought to my
knowledge that the declarations madr
by me to the American press through
reporter about the delicate lturbide M
cident, declarations which affect
Messrs. Silliman and Canova. have been
interpreted as offensive to then.
want now to clear. once for all. ana
with the purpose OF not having Y"
deal with this subject any longer, the
utterances that I wished then TO "N-
press, which certainly do not aEre"
either with my Intentions nor with tn"
complete truth OF tho case. tn" reason
being that. occupied as | WAS With ,cri-
Gus matters. | was called upon hN re-
porter who told me. in general man
ner, the contents OF some writing in
his notebook. which I signed without
having sufficient attention paid to its
wording.
IT did not want to affirm that MesSrs.
Silliman and Cauova had received amy
amount OF money to take Iturhide out
of the country. but to say thai 10"
facts appeared TO me 80 abnormal
and saw so much hurry aud ;" Gr ~
mystery surrounding tn" matter. iilni
I believed that unless il We're or s"-
count of some material interest. 10 one
would employ so great zeal to deliver
an accused man from the action OF m"
Justice about to he applied tn lIm.
AS had heard some rumors rcfri
ring 70 money. and ahonf which
spoke with said reporter, the wording
relating to this point III th" reporter
hook did not attract nav attention aud
so ! signed it Therefore. have no IN
convenience in making this cNpl'tna
tion and in Withdraw wing all that could
he considered a. an accusation IN my
first said statement to the press.
The escape OF Gen. Iturhid". SO clthlv
chara cterized by Gen. PalafoN "a
delicate incident" WAS in reality =
thrilling man hunt, with Gen. lturhid"
winning out on safe conduct" which
a
be anything of safety to him. AS soon
az II had been issued orders were given
to secret service agents to pick him
of any train he might use after lie
got away from Mexico City and the
protection of the diplomatic corps aud
these agents were even stationed at
tho border to catch him in case he
slipped through as far as one OF tn"
international bridges.
II knew what was up. however" Gen.
Iturhide said, "and ] left the tram
south of Chihuahua and rode nearly
500 miles through deserts and noun
tains to the border. and even did not
try to cross by one of the bridges.
instead swimming the river. 7 rode on
that train just one day. for ! realized
that the secret service men were trail
ing me. Mr.. Canova started out Of Mex
leo City with me to see by his official
position that my 'salvo conducto' WAS
honored, Then | wrote my VIII and
gave il to Mr.. Canova and slipped OF
the train just outside of Aguascalien-
tes I walked without direction for six
ty miles, and finally at ranch | got
a horse For fifteen days. disguised as
rancher. after having shaved off my
mustache, l rode toward the border.
eluding troops and police agents by
travelling at night and sleeping by day.
| had left all my baggage on the train,
and when / finally got to the ltio
Grande / was practically destitute. An
Enelishman gave me some clothes and
some money and thus | got to WASH
ingtOn''