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Show 16 big lumberyard which they had improvised into shelter for the refugees. There were already hundreds there before us, and when they dumped us into this huge corral with dust a foot deep, flies swarming, and the sights and smells of that mob of humanity, it was enough to make the stoutest heart sink. They tried to arrange a stall for each family, and we piled in for the night, hanging up blankets in an attempt at some privacy. Mother had a little money and so the next day she scurried around to find us a lodging a little more private. She took one room in a small hotel for the thirteen of us. It was an inside room at that; no outside ventilation and July weather. There was just room to spread quilts all over the floor and manage to be one deep at least until we were asleep. In this room we ate our meals as well as sleeping. We expected father would be out anytime so we stayed here about a week, then we moved to a tenement house way down on Talles street near the Rio Grande River. Here we had two rooms and at least fresh air and a place to get outdoors. There were six or eight apartments and one kitchen for the whole group, so the women took turns cooking for the crowd. The government came around every morning and brought daily rations. They brought white bakers bread, puffed wheat and rice, milk and canned salmon. I suppose there were other things, but that is the diet I remember best. There was no furniture in the tenement. Fortunately our one trunk had a flat top so we used it for a table, all sitting on the floor around it. During the day the bedding was rolleggup around the sides of the room and we sat on the rolls. Almost before the exodus was finished, the Mexican rebels began looting the Mormon Colonies. The men who had remained could see that their presence would not stop the looting so it was fight or leave. Within the next ten days the Mormon men were together and on their way to El Paso. Looting and destruction after their departure became extensive in the unguarded colonies. Another near tragedy almost occurred at the border as the Mormon men approached El Paso. American soldiers, seeing dust from the horses, thought that a Mexican Army was on its way to steal horses and supplies from a ranch near Dog Springs. |
