THREE KILLED IN MEXICAN RAID

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1935, Page 15 (Supplement)

THREE KILLED IN MEXICAN RAID

Sleeping Town Terrorised By Horsemen ATTACK ATTRIBUTED TO A RELIGIOUS GROUP 'THREE persons were killed in a raid by a band of 10 to 15 men upon the town of Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico, reports reaching the Mexican border said. The dead included Francisco Coronado, night captain

of police. The names of the others slain were not learned. The raid was attributed by Navojoa authorities to a group known as Cristeros, or “Followers of the Cross,” one of the elements in Mexico’s religious disturbances. _ Report said that four of the raiders had been apprehended and lodged in the Navojoa gaol. The band swept into the sleeping town with a burst of rifle and pistol fire and for nearly 30 minutes ruled the place with a grip of terror. Pausing in front of the police station, the raiders poured a torrent of lead into the building, killing Captain Coron- ■■ ado. ‘ . X'; Before the panic-stricken residents could offer resistance the band put spurs to its horses and galloped away into the hills, but under the direction of the mayor a posse was organised and it was reported to have ■been successful in capturing four of the marauders. Governor Rodolfo Calles, said reports received by the Nogales “Herald,” has ordered all police officials in Southern Sonora to be especially vigilant to prevent a repetition of the raid. A company of Federal troops also was reported en route to Navojoa. Novajoa,. centre of a rich agricultural belt, is approximately 300 miles south of Nogales. It has a population of more than 3000.