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Show mm hers SIXTEEN MEN TAKEN FROM TRAIN, STRIPPED OF CLOTHING AND SHOT TO DEATH. J f One Member of Party Escapes From ,' Firing Squad and Reports De tails of Tragic Fate of His Countrymen. El Paso, Texas. Sixteen mining men, most of them Americans, en route from Chihuahua City to Cusl-huiriachlc, Cusl-huiriachlc, western Chihuahua, on Tuesday were taken from a train, about fifty miles from Chihuahua City, stripped of their clothing and shot by Mexican handits. Confirmation Confirma-tion of news of the tragedy we made by officials here of the Carranza de facto government. One of the men lived In San Francisco, Fran-cisco, another in Los Angeles, while the others are all believed to have been residents of El Paso. First reports of the tragedy were received here in a message from Thomas M. Holmes, the only survivor, to Mrs. Holmes, advising her of his safe arrival at Chihuahua. Inquiries instituted .by officials of the American Ameri-can Smelting & Refining company developed de-veloped the details. The ill-fated party boarded a train at Chihuahua City, intending to reopen re-open at Cusihuiriachic properties of the smelting company, officials of which had been given assurance of protection by the de facto government. govern-ment. According to one account, bandits stopped the train early Tuesday morning and ordered the party to descend. Holmes, however, slipped into the lavatory, and from his hiding hid-ing place witnessed the stripping of the prisoners of their clothing. The party then was marshaled down the track, escorted by a firing squad. As Holmes slipped from the car and ran in the direction of Chihuahua City, he declared he heard shrieks, followed fol-lowed .by a volley of rifle shots. A .protest addressed to President Wilson Tuesday night was signed by several hundred mining men in hotel lobbies here. Advices also were received re-ceived that numerous expeditions which recently left to reopen properties proper-ties made idle by the Mexican revo-lution revo-lution were returning to the border. |