See History of Arizona medicine; collections of Orville Harry Brown, M.D. [AHSL Special Collections WZ 70 AA7 H673].
Naylor, Thomas H. Massacre at San Pedro de la Cueva: The Significance of Pancho Villa's Disastrous Sonora Campaign. Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr., 1977), pp. 125-150. Excerpt from pages 131-132: Villa saw an opportunity to replenish both coffer and larder at the large American-owned Cananea Consolidated Copper Company nearby. Doctors Rembert H. Thigpen and Charles H. Miller were company surgeons in the Cananea hospital. They knew Villa had sustained considerable casualties at Agua Prieta, and they gave up their sanctuary in Bisbee, Arizona, to recross the line and treat the wounded. Hardly had they opened their bags before Villa accused them of being Yankee spies.29 For the next three days the doctors were awakened at sunrise to meet a firing squad. Each morning the rifles were raised; each time the order arrived to stay their execution until the following dawn.30 Villa appreciated their value. Cananea officials had been contacted and were told the surgeons had been killed by shellfire from Calles's lines. Villa emphasized this point, but company representatives who met with him got the distinct impression that dollars could resurrect the doctors. ... The payoff completed, the surgeons, considerably shaken by their sunrise ordeals, were allowed to "escape."
Naylor, Thomas H. Massacre at San Pedro de la Cueva: The Significance of Pancho Villa's Disastrous Sonora Campaign. Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr., 1977), pp. 125-150. Excerpt from pages 131-132: Villa saw an opportunity to replenish both coffer and larder at the large American-owned Cananea Consolidated Copper Company nearby. Doctors Rembert H. Thigpen and Charles H. Miller were company surgeons in the Cananea hospital. They knew Villa had sustained considerable casualties at Agua Prieta, and they gave up their sanctuary in Bisbee, Arizona, to recross the line and treat the wounded. Hardly had they opened their bags before Villa accused them of being Yankee spies.29 For the next three days the doctors were awakened at sunrise to meet a firing squad. Each morning the rifles were raised; each time the order arrived to stay their execution until the following dawn.30 Villa appreciated their value. Cananea officials had been contacted and were told the surgeons had been killed by shellfire from Calles's lines. Villa emphasized this point, but company representatives who met with him got the distinct impression that dollars could resurrect the doctors. ... The payoff completed, the surgeons, considerably shaken by their sunrise ordeals, were allowed to "escape."
Master pnID
AMH-PN2502
Src1 DP
AHSL-DP
History of Arizona medicine; collections of Orville Harry Brown, M.D. [AHSL Special Collections WZ 70 AA7 H673]
volume 9, page(s) 294-296
OHB Checked
y
Residence(s)
Cananea, Sonora, MEXICO