Americans Reach Safety.

New York Times 100 years ago today, August 8, 1913:
Prisoners Fired On as They Fled — Rebels Routed in Battle.
Special to The New York Times.
    EL PASO, Texas, Aug. 7.— After being arrested and imprisoned, their guide shot, and their lives threatened, Charles Biesel, Bernard McDonald, and Ray Harrell, three Americans, were liberated at Chihuahua City only to be fired upon by Federals from the troop trains at Villa Ahumada on Wednesday when they were returning to El Paso by automobile.
    They reached here late to-night, after having as harrowing an experience on the return trip as they did when they were arrested en route to Santa Barbara.
    Harrell, the American automobile owner, who lost his car at Chihuahua, said of the experience:
    "We were into Santa Rosali and in the hands of the Federal outposts before we knew it. We were arrested and taken to Chihuahua City by the Federals. The first stop they made they shot our guide, Salvador Gonzales, a ranchman. They threatened us next. We were placed in prison in Chihuahua as soon as we reached the State capital.
    "The jail was dirty, as all Mexican jails are, and we did not know when we were to be tried or put to death. American Consul Letcher did everything possible for us, and finally obtained our liberty after the State Department had demanded our release. They kept my car, but we rented one in Chihuahua and started back to the States. On the way from Chihuahua the Federals opened fire on us, and the bullets struck all around us. We were again arrested by the Federals, but showed our passports and were released.
    "Our experience was one we do not care to repeat, for we fully expected to be executed at the time our guide was. Our treatment from the Federals was fair, but nothing to brag about, as they did not show any love for us."
    Covered with dust from the Chihuahua Desert, two train loads of Mexican rebel wounded arrived here to-day from the front at Rancheria, where the first defeat was administered to the rebel arms by the Federals in command of Col. Enrique Mancilla on Tuesday and Wednesday. The men had been on the road two days, and had suffered untold tortures. Two men died from their wounds on the way to Guadalupe, and another is expected to die to-night.
    Another, a mere boy, was hit by a Federal Mauser bullet, which exploded and tore his face away. That the battle was a victory for the Federal arms was conceded by the wounded men and verified by telegraphic dispatches from Chihuahua. Pancho Villa, for some reason, failed to join Ortega and the little band of 900 had to withstand the artillery and machine gun assault of 2,000 Federals.
    The first battle lasted throughout Tuesday, the wounded leaving the battlefield at noon. The troop trains arrived at Chihuahua on Wednesday night after fighting their way through the rebel lines. One troop train returned to Juarez to-night with wounded Federals on board. There were twenty of these wounded men. The rebels have brought in thirty wounded and more are expected to-night. The total loss in dead and wounded is estimated to be 325 evenly divided between Federal and rebel forces.
    The rebels who arrived here tell of treachery of the Federals, who marched toward them with a white flag as if to bury their dead and care for their wounded. Instead, the Federals opened fire on the rebel wounded as they lay on the ground, and then engaged the rebels at close range, much of the fighting being done with pistols at hand-to-hand range. After the Federals had shot several prisoners, the rebels put six Federal prisoners to death.