The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1917-01-11
OF CHAOS
ACROSS BORDER
Hexican Merchant Flees to the
United States, After Excit-
ing Experiences.
DEATH MANY TIMES
Turned Over to Firing Squad Because
of Inability to Repair Automo-
bile Without TooIs-AH q
Matter Of "Drap."

matter OF Drag"
Los Angeles.-A graphic story, illus
trating the chaotic conditions prevail
ing in Mexico, Is told by Senior Au-
gustin Morales, formerly a prosperous
manufacturer Of vegetable oils at
Morelia, M%ichoacan, which adjoins
Mexico province. Morales has just
joined the Mexican refugee colony in
Los Angeles with his wife and two
children.
There can be no hope Of peace in
Mexico until n strong hand seizes the
reins of government and suppresses
a multitude of great and petty chief
tains who are spreading ruin and de-
vastation, numbering and torturing a
helpless people with no other object
than self-aggrandizement and self en-
richnent," said Morales.
The oil business that I had In Mo-
relia was handed down to me by my
father. 1t had been in u family for
generations. But there came the rev.
olution. 1 was neither a Maderista,
a Villista, q Zapatista nor d Carran-
vista. l was, and am, q paciist. And
so l vas made to face death again
and again.
Protests, Is Jailed.
My native state of Michoacan is
one of the districts which have suf-
fered most by the revolutions. One
day there came marching into Pan
toja with>an armed force of men a
leader who called himself General
Pantoja. He Communicated every au-
tomobile in the city. I ventured to
protest humbly that my machine was
needed in my business and that, ow-
ing to the condition of the country, I
could scarcely procure another. Pan
toja ordered me thrown into Jail i'm
mediately, and I was forthwith SEN
fenced to be hanged. But l had with
me an old schoolmate, Domingo Sa-
mano, and he and Pantoja happened
to be friendly. Samano obtained my
release, but he dared not ask the res
titutiOn Of the automobile. I was be-
ing led out to be executed when the
order to set me free arrived.
"One of the conditions of my liber.
alton was that / order a number Of
tires for the machine. I did so, but
traffic on the railways was interrupt
cd at times and always uncertain.
p~antoja wearied of waiting for the
tires and, in order to expedite their
lrriyal, he had me thrown into iail
cain, and once more sentenced to be
s.tnged. l managed to send word Of
NY n1jri,t to Co,,oro w Iso -
umandiro, and once more his inter-
,ssion saved me. You see, senior, it
5 all a matter of drag with those
ecple, but there are so many of them
nat n cannot have friends who
now them all, and in the end comes
ne who brings ruin and death.
Execution Ordered.
General Pantoja was killed in a
little shortly after that, but my trou-
'cs were not yet over. There came
General Sanchez n afternoon. He
lied the 500 members Of the cham
@r of commerce of Morelia together
nd ordered us to give him 10000
lasos before shutdown. The banks had
3ean looted and we found it impos-
lille to raise such a large sum in so
tort a time. Sanchez ordered the ar
!est and execution by a firing squad
Of the last man of lis. But another
band of revolutionists was approach
'ng and Sanchez needed all his ammu-
milton. He left in such a hurry that
we were forgotten and managed to
ret out Of Jail.
I was resting in my home one v e
ming when some revolutionists called
me out and showed me my old auto
mobile in front of the door. 1t was a
wreck. They ordered me to repair
The mechanism Immediately. r looked
in the tool box and found it empty. I
Explained to them that the trouble
might easily be righted with the nee
cssary tools, but that / could not do it
with my bare hands. Less than an
hour later I was standing with nv
back against q blank wall and before
me We're a squad of soldiers with rifles
and a man with a sword about to give
the order to fire, when friends ran IN
with a pardon they had obtained by
providing the needed wrenches and
tightening a few loose bolts.
Sanchez. too, has been killed, but
there are others-these generals are
now all ignorant men, like the poll
ticians, seeing only money and power,
and the people are those who suffer-"