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Show SPANISH ARRIVE FROM TORREON Eight Hundred Men, Women Wom-en and Children Wait for Dawn in Cars. to AWAITING fcAROTHERS Flag Carrariza's Attitude Unchanged "Against Alfonso's Al-fonso's Subjects. El Paso, Texas April 8. Eight hundred members of the Spanish colony col-ony of Torreon, expelled from that town after having .passed through the recent great battleT in fear and trembling trem-bling and afterward facing the wrath of General Villa, stood today beneath the stars and stripes. ' They were refflgees truly, stripped strip-ped of their property for the time being ut Ieas?t butsupplied with temporary tem-porary funds anjl expressions of great relief came from them as they crossed the ugly jrooden bridge un der which the muddy little stream known as the Rib Grande (Great River) flows, andf-found themselves on American soil a last. Await American Consul. How desperately; they clung to the fact that Spain had left their interests inter-ests in the hands of the United States was shown by the-fact that although the train Into which they and their baggage had been crowded for thirty-six hours, arrived hours before dawn, they resolutely declined to leave it until George C. Carothers, special agent of Qie department ot state arrived. j A newspaper reporter was the I first visible evidence of the proximity of the land of safety to dawn on them, and to himjfthey appealed to notify Carothers at once of their arrival. ar-rival. J "We are under American protection," protec-tion," they explained eagerly and the reporter promptly notified the American Amer-ican representative', who at once deserted de-serted his half-finished breakfast and sped to their relie. Carothers Unable .to Comfort Them. Carothers was unable to comfort them with any assurances that they would be restored to their homes, his Interviews with jGe.neral Carranza yesterday haying. .et-jwith the flat sta'tement'thatcxfjulsion of Spaniards from Mexico was a settled policy of the rebel program which would be modified only in the cases of individuals indivi-duals who might upon investigation by a commission be found innocent of having mixed in politics. "We have money enough for tho present," Joaquin Fernandez, one of tho colony said. "Some of us will return to Spain; many will go to the City of Mexico, and others will visit friends and relatives rela-tives in the- United Stites and Europe. Eu-rope. For myself, I will make a visit to my daughter in Alabama and then return to El Paso." Property to Be Confiscated. "Did Villa notify you specifically that Spanish property would be confiscated?" con-fiscated?" he was asked. "I don't know; certainly not specifically, spec-ifically, but that sort of thing is pretty pret-ty well taken for granted In Mexico. I can state that I have personal knowledge, however, that no one in this party did anything inimical to the rebel cause. We arc not rebels nor Huertalstas either just farmers and business men. Mexico is our home and we cannot but hope that some day wo will be left to dwell In peace and security there." All sorts of vehicles, wagons, donkey don-key carts, automobiles, sightseeing cars, burros, wheelbarrows and toy wagons were called Into service to transport the refugees and their belongings. be-longings. Into these were piled trunks, wash boilers stuffed with bedding bed-ding and clothes, clocks, a profane parrot In a cage, cooking utensils and what not, all showing the haste with which they were gotten together after the order of expulsion. Household Goods Examined. The goods were taken uptown for examination, while the immigration officials, deeply sympathetic, made tholr examinations as quickly and considerately as possible. It has been said by some observers that the hotel business is tho principal princi-pal Industry of El Paso, which, 11 true, was fortunate in this case, for the sudden Influx of visitors found the city well able to provide food and shelter. AVith a natural suspicion, the men generally declined to answer questions ques-tions about their trip and' their plans for tho future. Finally a demand for the '"jefe" or leader of the parly brought forth a venerable, bearded man, with a shawl around his shoulders, shoul-ders, who consented to speak for his companions. "The journey from Torreon. '' he said, "wtnle lacking In the most ordinary ordi-nary conveniences, was not particularly particu-larly bard. Nobody died en route from hardship or exposure, or any other cause. "We left Torreon day before yesterday. yester-day. General Villa issued the order expelling us from Torreon and the foroLcn consuls brought the notice to us in the Banco de la Laguna building build-ing and other places where we were. None of us have taken the least part In the war between the federals and Constitutionalists. We have been strictly neutral and have attended to our own affairs. "Most of the people you sec hero arc cither superintendents or employes em-ployes in the cotton plantations of the Laguna district. There are a few merchants among them. As a rule, they are from northern Spain, from the provinces of Asturia and Santan-der. Santan-der. All arc hard working men. As most of us have been cultivating cotton cot-ton for years. It might be best to go. somewhere and continue to raise that But everything depends on circum-stances. circum-stances. The order for our expulsion expul-sion came only four clays ago. Na.-turaliy Na.-turaliy we have no definite plans for the future." "Did many Spaniards leave Torreon with General Velasco?"' "Sonor, I can't say. We were most of us hidden and didn't know a great deal of what was passing. Some may have gone with him and some more may have left bofore the attack on the city. In our hiding places did come a rumor that two Spaniards had been shot. 1 can't say whether by the federals 6r the others, but that is about ail the outside news we got about our country,, men.'' Juarez, Mox., April 8. Eight hundred men, women and children of the Spanish colony expelled from Torreon by General Villa arrived here before daybreak today. Huddled in the passenger cars, they waited for dawn and the arrival of George C. Carothers, special agent of the department of state. "Mr. Carothers came up a day ahead of us to see what he could do with General Carranza," said Joaquin Joa-quin Fernandez, a prominent member mem-ber of the colony. "We are under protection of the American flag and we decided not to leave the cars until Carothers comes." It was breakfast time in the cars. Everywhere lunch baskets "were open and coffee cooked over an alcohol stove. The refugees left Torreon yesterday yes-terday morning. Every seat in the coaches was occupied, but Fernandez said that there had been neither sickness sick-ness nor death on tho trip. Carothers had another interview with General Carranza last night but it is learned that the general's attitude agar.st the Spaniards remained re-mained unchanged. Grave Problem for' U. S. The status of American efforts to prevent expulsion of Spaniards from Mexico was set forth in this statement state-ment given out by the state department: depart-ment: "Unofficial representations made to General Carranza by the represents tlves of the department of state have developed that General Carranza Is not disposed to interfere with orders given by General Villa as to the deportation de-portation of Spanish subjects in territory ter-ritory occupied by the constitutionalists." constitutional-ists." It was 'said that the terms of the decree of expulsion have not yet been received. Most officials take the view that there is no alternative for the United States, except to receive and care for the exiles as international law provides. pro-vides. Spaniards driven out of Chihuahua Chi-huahua have declined offers of assistance as-sistance In El Paso and set about maintaining themselves by every means at hand. The ultimate disposition of the xefu-gees, xefu-gees, as well as the hundreds of others, oth-ers, who, in all probability will cross Into the United States, will furnish a grave problem for the state department depart-ment and Immigration authorities. |