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Show I IIMIS BUI SALTILLO Al ; TAKEFLJGHT j; ' Federals Evacuate Important j j Stronghold in the North I ' and Flee From Ap- ( ' proaching Rebels. i !. WILL MAKE STAND ; AT SAN LUIS POTOSI ' Garrison Is Said' to Have f ' Made Retreat Under the ' Direct Orders of Huerta. i ( I j EL PASO, Tex., May 3. Saltillo, , principal city of the state of Coahuila, 1 where the remnants of various federal I forces rallied after their defeats at ' ,, Torreon, Monterey and other lesser .) strongholds, was reported today to have , been evacuated April 27, the troops re- to San Luis Potosi, in the state j of that name, about 300 miles Eouth. v, The information was received horo in a letter Mgncd bv Miguel Avila. Avila said that ho left the city ou the 27th when the federals, numbering 10,000 or 12,000, acting on direct orders lrom Huerta. sot nro to the place and abandoned aban-doned it, entraining for San Luis Potosi. Po-tosi. Report Is Confirmed. The letter was mailed by Avila from San Antonio, Tor., last Wednesday, to the rebel junta here. As elaborate preparations for a campaign 3gainst saltillo are being made, tne. information caused a sensation and the junta at San Antonio was telegraphed for confirmation. con-firmation. A reply was received saying that Avila was perfectly trustworthy. This was followed by a second telegram reading: "Telegram from Parras confirmed?' con-firmed?' Parras is 100 miles west of Saltillo and is occupied by a rebel garrison. gar-rison. The progress of the rebel campaign mav make it advisable to movo tne hea'dquarters of the local junta, with its confidential agents, consuls, information informa-tion agents and secretaries to San Antonio. An-tonio. The situation will be taken ta-ken up at Chihuahua tomorrow or next day at a conference at which George O. 'Carothers, special agent of the state department; Roberto "V. Pesqueira, Carranza Car-ranza 's confidential agent here, and many others will be present. The El Paso partv expects to leave during the night. The change of base along the border is thought to be convenient for the reason rea-son that the Tampico and San Luis Potosi Po-tosi campaigns will be directed by General Gen-eral Carranza from Monterey. At this point ho will be in direct tolegraphic and railroad communication with both armies. Thus the whole scene of activities activi-ties will be moved far to the cast of Torreon and El Paso, of which Tor-reon Tor-reon is the gateway into the United States. Monteroy is connected through railway to this country, through Eagle Pass and Brownsville and Laredo, Tox., while El Paso can be reached telegraphically telegraph-ically only through a long and circuitous circuit-ous route and the railroad is not yet repaired re-paired between that city and Torreon, which cuts off traffic between it and El Paso. To facilitate tho exchanges of notes between Washington and the El Paso headquarters and the conference bo' tween Cn.rr.inza and his agents in the United States, it will bo proposed ut the Chihuahua conference that tho junta, jun-ta, tho confidential agents of both gov. cruineuts and others at interest remove to San Antonio, If tho plan succeeds tho rebel telegraph lino will be connected connect-ed with an American lino direct into San Antonio from Monterey. Whether Saltillo has really been evacuated or remains re-mains to bo taken by storm will not affect these plans, as Monterey is also the natural base for a campaign against San Luis Potosi. It developed today that General Carranza Car-ranza is not lively "to rocoive a direct request from tho South American mediators that ho agree to an armistice with Huerta, He was merely sounded on tho point and the result was a positive posi-tive negative. 33 reflected in tho .statement .state-ment of Mr. Pesqueira last night-While night-While tho supremo chief of the revolution revo-lution is said to bo most anxious to afford af-ford foreigners and foreign proportj- at Tampico all consistent protection, ho is ; said to be unablo to promiso that he will establish neutral zones- wherever foreign property is in danger. Thero is eo much of this property in and about Tampico that if all of it was declared neutral, the rebel army would bo unable un-able to make an advantageous attack on the city. |