The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-05-20
AMERICANS HAVE
TOUGH TIME IN
MEXICAN JOURNEY
License to Live and Travel
Tolls Are High in Land of
Aztec Wonders Is Report to
New York by Adventurer.

ALNh A0EhhB MAY GVs-AkEnuTA VI I
ericans being held for ransom In
leo are common But here is the
OF such an adventure related
sy@@n American mining man Of Som
brerete, Zacatecas, in a letter to a
friend In his country. The letter fol-
we had another shake-up on the
18th about seven o'clock. We only rave
about nineteen men under arms. and
Is they all belong here and live at
home, they could not get together very
promptly and the town was filled with
Nillistas before we knew II. | think
I wal the first victim they caught;
they came knocking on the door and
marched me off under guard TO the
soledad church, where they had their
horses, Ny wife went with me |
could not get her to go back, When
we arrived there Gen. Angel Mende
informed us that II we did not got
$1,000 ! would be killed,
We tried to explain to him that we
had no money, n ] did not take IL
very seriously at the time. as / knew
the men knew me very well and knew
that ! had no money, and I told him
that money was out of the question,
My wife than went and looked up the
priest, who came at once, and after "A
lot OF talking he got the ransom down
10 $4,000.
In the meantime they had brought
up several more persons, among them
Don Ramiro Mier. Don Antonio luchini
and some passengers. including the
trainmen. During all this time the
bandits were sacking the stores and
~houses-they got four blankets out Of
our house.
One Man Is Killed.
About. this time some Of the home
guards got together and commenced
firing on the bandits. We were told
10 'vamos, ! made a move at the first
order, but the rest tried to argue
further with them, The general took
a shot at the bunch md killed Don
Ilamiro Mier. Poor fellow, he vas
hit in the lungs with a soft pointed
bullet and was dead when he hit the
ground. In the confusion Of the shoot
ing OF Don Ramtro and the priest
throwing himself In front of MendeE,
they all made a break and ran. l was
then marched off, my wife following
part OF the way, as far as FL Cristo;
there. Il would not allow her to go
n further.
MY wife then went back to town
n looked up r. @. Dufourcq, who
promptly ordered the timekeeper to
take 1000 pesos and a moZo and try
and catch the Villistas, The timekeep-
or and mozo could not travel fast
enough for my wife. so she took the
money, and with her brother, came on.
She soon gave out, however. so then
my brother-in- LAW took the money and
with the mozo made good time getting
back to town,
During all this time / was kept NOV
ing. We arrived on top OF the mesa
n / was all In / told the guard
that ] would not walk any further and
he told me that II l did not move on
he would shoot me; l told him he could
do so Just as soon rs he liked. He
one OF his mon to unload n mule that
was lightly packed, and they divided
the pack up among the rest OF them
tell YOU / was pretty glad to crawl
up on that old mule, ! found the sad
die a very easy n
Mule Affords Diversion.
by the time we reached the La
Jolla mine the home guard had caught
the rear guard OF the Yillistas, and
they sent a shower Of bullets after us.
About this nmo the packs commenced
TO work loose, and such swearing !
never heard In all my life | was kept
busy lodging the trees, as my mule
insisted on running under all Of them
me Of. How my guard ala lay It int
that mule Those OF the Villistas ma
did not have heavy packs stayed be
hind 70 fight off the home guards while
the pack train got out OF the way,
by this time my brother-in.law hac
caught us. He came right through al
the firing. Tho home guard tried Il
cali him back, but he kept on coming
saying that the VillistAs would not pay
any attention to him, l was pretty glad
TO see him, He told me that every
thing had been arranged, but my guard
would not let me go until he had seer
the general. The home guard did not
follow us very far, as the guard from
Chalchihuites had been fighting and
was played out, and they could not &c
very far, We then crossed the In Nor,
IA road to San Martin ard followed
the trail to La Palma; after passing
a Agustin. about a mile further on
we caught Gen, Mendex, Gen, Fell,
Dia and Gen. Carton, / was told tina
l could so. Gen, Mendex told me tina
would remember the revolution
long time, md l told him that ! haC
many other occasions for rememberlnl
MY brother in law and / started t,
walk back IL milos, ! n made vi
my mind to walk slowly and not stcl
and get cold after my experience. Whei
we had gone about two miles m,
brother IN law complained Of a head
ache and cramps in his stomach, II
lay down under a tree, and ] told hin
] would push on and send a coach hacl
for him, Two miles further on / cam
across three men, who told me tina
Mr.. Dufourcq had sent them out I
look for me. l then told them TO &
back as fast as thev could and sen
a coach for my brother-in law.
u got home about one o'clock tina
evening | then learned that Mr.. Held
had Just crawled out OF his hole.
was probably a good thing the Villista
did not get him, or he might hay
Jared worse than ! did, | might men
ton here that Mr.. nufourcq came her
fron, New York TO see about startiu
up the mines, ! don't know what HI
report will be.
'"rhe merchants lost about 40. 0C
pesos, Not more than one-third OF thi
was taken by the V~illistas-the res
by the working class. A lot Of loo
has been recovered, and some OF III
citizens have been shot where the good
were found"