Evening star., 1919-08-19

wild dash for the border and made II.
They called for Us to halt, but /
said Go to h. and crossed
Lieut.. Peterson crossed the border
to the American side at 1:15 am. and
! Capt. Matlack brought back Lieut.
Davis forty-flve minutes later.
win Reimburse cattlemen.
Ell PAso. Tex. August 1s.--As the
payment Of tina S1SaQA ransosa has
/ been -onicially authorized by the
Southern ,aas Z, Department the s mossy
Bend district at the cowboy camp
meeting Will be returned. It was an
nounced. The money. which was ar
ranged for here Sunday night ana
was to have been sent yesterday In
gold. was not sent. as the money
raised by the cattlemen was used In
stead. A message was also received
at Maria atating' the parents of the
two aviators had offered to send the
ransom money, but. in view Of the Of
ficial authorization. this was not com
sidered necessary.
The ransom money was taken to
Candelaria yesterday by H. NJ. Fem
nell. vice president OF the Marta
Bank. under a United States Army
military guard.
Lieut.. Peterson's Statement.
Lieut.. Peterson. first to cross the
border from Mexico. today made the
following statement:
I'VE fell about noon Sunday. We
thought we were about two miles
from Candelaria. We walked all Sum
day afternoon and Sunday night un-
til about 2:30 o'clock Monday morn
ing. when we came to q ranch, where
n
lish. He told US Pilares was three
miles south. We, asked him to take
US there, but he told US the Mexicans
would kill us IL we went there. So
we got him to take us to a road down
which we walked about an hour.
six o'clock Monday morning we
headed down what We thought was
over the hills, following the course OF
the river. Then we walked all day
Monday, walking sn hour and resting
half an hour. Monday night we
walked by moonlight until 1890.
when we went to sleep and slept until
am. Tuesday.
Tuesday we walked until $3.50 am.
when we took to the river and SWAN
for five hours downstream, taking ten
minutes rest four different times.
When we came to the rapids we de-
cided we must land and walk.
I'VE landed. dried our clothes and
started over the mountains.
Il had a little fever. We lay down
on mountain path and slept until 8
am. Wednesday. We saw smoke from
a village and headed in that direction.
We thought the village was just
around the corner from Candelaria-
We reached the village and got lots OF
food.
Then we hired Mexican with three
burros to take us to Candelaria- We
were ready to start when an armed
Mexican came and addressed the Mexf-
can we had employed. The armed man
spoke in Spanish. Then he left hur-
riedly.
Soon overtaken.
I'VE began our journey on burros
with our Mexican guide. We soon
were overtaken by six armed bandits
and many townspeople. All but two OF
the bandits left us. but these two con-
to follow US. After going about
us and told the Mexican owner of The
burros to return to his home. The
Mexican objected. as we We're riding
his burros. The bandits then headed
us up the valley to village whers
they made the Mexican drink.
II gave the one-armed bandit leader
two dollars and he arranged for food
for us and liquor for himself. The
bandits took US on to a ranc> There
they got a horse and a mule for US
to ride. This was about Pm. We'd
nesday. We rode until midnight.
Then we slept until 1880 O'Clock
morning. Resuming Cur
journey. we continued in the noun
tains all day Thursday and slept in
the mountains at night.
Friday afternoon about $50 the
bandits stopped the horses and said
they wanted to have a little chat
with u.s. The bandits told us to write
the messages saying ransoms must be
paid for our release. The bandit
leader spoke English very well. He
had worked on the railroads in Kan
sas and had lost an arm and leg In
an accident, he said.
I'VE stayed overnight In the noun
tains Saturday night. when the lead
er returned from sending the m69-
sage. The bandits foraged for fooG
and we had plenty to eat. Wa
camped all day Sunday. The lead1f
!eft Sunday night and returned ~