Imperial Valley Press

DESERT TRAGEDY TAKES LIVES OF FOUR MEXICANS

Victims Enroute To Mexicali Succumb To Heat On Sonora Desert.

NOGALES, Sonora, Mex., July 29. (U.P.)—The blistering rays of a Mexican desert sun claimed the lives of four persons 10 days ago as they journeyed in a stage to Mexicali from Nogales, it was revealed here today.

The victims, including a mother and her 45-day-old baby, were buried in the desert wastes, 250 miles west of here, where their bodies were found.

The dead, all of Nogales, Son.: Mrs. Rugina M. de Ojeda, 16; Consuela, 45-day-old daughter of Mrs. Ojeda; Jesus Orantes; Ramon Orantes.

The story of suffering and slow deaths of the victims was brought here by Rafael Bracamontes, Mexican immigration officer at Sonoita, Sonora, where three survivors are near death in a hospital.

Augestin Pinto of Mexicali, journeying from the Lower California city to Sonoita, discovered the desert tragedy, and, buried the victims beside the crude desert highway.

The body of Mrs. Ojeda, almost nude, with her child pressed to her breast, was found first. Along the road a few miles further, the bodies of the Orantes brothers, were discovered.

Near Sonoita, the three survivors Vincente Gutierrez of Nogales, Sonora, driver of the stage; Vicente, Jr., and Juan Ojeda, husband of the dead woman and father of the child were found, almost dead.

They were in a critical condition, and hospital attendants said they were partially insane from the constant beating of the desert sun on their foreheads.

From them however, was gained the short, tragic story—a drama enacted on the desert against certain death,

Leaving Nogales, Monday, July 20, the stage set out for Mexicali About 150 miles west of Sonoita, the automobile broke down

Efforts to repair it were vain, and the passengers and driver started to walk back to Sonoita. They had no water, nor food. The sun was terrific—forcing the mercury around 120 to 125. It is not known how long they trekked over the sun-baked desert sands.

The mother collapsed with her baby. She was left to die. Later the two brothers dropped along the road, exhausted, and pleading, begging for water and food. They died without advancing a step farther.