“PLAIN OF DEATH.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, 1 August 1912, Page 2

“PLAIN OF DEATH.”

MEXICAN DESERT DOITED WITH BODIES OF SIX HUNDRED REBELS.

A painful account of GOO rebels, part of General Orozco’s army, dying in the desert after a recent battle is given in despatches voiioivod by mail in New York from Mexico.

The rebels were flying before the victorious Federals and were divided into parties. They should have taken the road to Escalon, but in their confusion they headed directly for the Mapimi. In the hurry they abandoned their provisions, and a few days later the vanguard found itself in the centre of desolate sand-hills. The men were “dropping like flies’’ when the leaders came upon an old well., After satisfying, their thirst they decided that the Federals 'were pursuing, and they destroyed the pump, so that the regulars could not use the well. Six hours later a second division of rebels following the tracks of the first staggered to tho wells. Then followed a terrific, appalling scene, as the thirst-crazed rebels fought each other for the privilege of jumping into the gaping shaft, utterly disregarding the orders of their officers. In five minutes the well was filled with struggling' men, all of whom succumbed before their comrades could reach them to drag them outDelirium seized the remaining members of the army, and the disheartened soldiers fled across the desert sands, only to find death under the burning sun. Of 1,100 men in tho second division only a few more than 400 resumed their sorrowful march. A few days later scouting parties found the desert dotted with the dead, and it is said that tho valley henceforth will be known in Mexican history as tho “Plain of Death.”