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get him, and it looked to me this situation is very tense and serious.” Rochester told him, \(Allee continued about the night Rochester got to La Casita shed, he saw a red car, with Rodriguez driving, approach the loading ramp. “Rochester walked out and took a shot at the wheel of the car tires, trying to puncture it,” Captain Allee said. “He took another shot at the car. That’s what he says.” The Rangers were looking for this car, but had not been able to find it, the captain said. A Mexican boy about 14 shined the captain’s boots as this interview continued. “So we attempted to find this Magdaleno Dimas,” Captain Allee said. Allee said he went to the union office and told Bill Chandler, administrative assistant to the union, that “it looked like [Dimas] was going to create trouble,” and asked where Dimas was. Chandler said he didn’t know where he was. The captain continued: “We pulled away from the union hall. Drove up there, cut our lights off. A few minutes later Chandler and another subject who I later learned was Alejandro Moreno, Jr., his address, Mercedes, Texas, got in their car. Pulled out. We followed them to where he stopped . . . They called Magdaleno Dimas out. He came out with a rifle in his hand. We threw our lights on. I got out of the car and asked him to stop, that he was under arrest. Magdaleno dropped the rifle and ran back into the house. Chandler told me, ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, he isn’t armed, and he dropped his rifle here at the car.’ By the front of Chandler’s car.” “Thereupon I called the Sheriff’s Department. Told ’em to get the Justice of the Peace, that I wanted to get Magdaleno Dimas, Rodriguez out of the house. The Justice of the Peace and Sheriff’s Department arrived very shortly. The Justice of the Peace [Brigido S. Lopez] gave me orders to go into the house and make the arrest, which I did. “Madaleno Dimas and Rodriguez proceeded into apparently what they use as a kitchen or dining room, at a table. I told ’em they were under arrest, come go with me. At this point I didn’t know whether they had a gun under the table. They refused to come with me, refused to move. I used only the force that I deemed necessary to effect their arrest.” Asked if he had given Dimas a rap on the head, Alice replied, “I told you . . . I used what force was necessary when he wouldn’t come along.” He repeated that the men had their hands under the table and he did not know if they were armed. “These things are unfortunate, certainly they are, we don’t like to do that kind of thing. But in order to effect an arrest we’ll use force if it’s necessary, and in this incident it was certainly warranted.” “Magdaleno Dimas told me he was out there hunting rabbits,” Allee said. “I don’t think he’s going to f i n d any rabbits 24 The Texas Observer around La Casita packing sheds at that time of night. Besides that, people don’t hunt rabbits that time of night.” Dimas said also he had not got a rabbit, but got a bird. “They certainly wasn’t eatin’ any bird when I walked in there,” Allee said. “I conducted my actions merely as a law enforcement officer. . . . I’ve tried to be fair and impartial in the situation,” Allee said. “I am doing my utmost to prevent violence or bloodshed, and I only hope that we can get by, or get through this situation, without any serious incident . . . We are here to protect life and property, and we’re not going to tolerate any such action, and that’s it.” “I’m proud of this Ranger service. I’ve been a Ranger 35 years. I’m proud of my boss, Colonel [Homer] Garrison. I’m cer THE FOUR arrested men Dimas, Rodriguez, Moreno, and Chandler were taken to the courthouse. Dimas and Rodriguez \(but evidently not Moclinic in Rio Grande City that is run by Dr. Rodriguez, the Starr County judge who is a medical doctor. The men were to tell Dr. Ramiro Casso of McAllen, about twelve hours later, that Dr. Rodriguez’ male nurse, Cesar Espinosa, gave Dimas an injection around his laceration and took four stitches in it and also dispensed some pills. Casso said he is going to report to the state board of medical examiners about this. Dr. Rodriguez confirmed to the Observer that the men “were treated by my firstaid man and the nurse on duty at the time.” Espinosa, Dr. Rodriguez said, is “Army-trained. He was a sergeant.” The nurse is registered, he added. “The injuries were not according to our records, they did not have serious injuries, not serious, not critical, anything like that,” Dr. Rodriguez said. Espinosa, Dr. Rodriguez said, took four stitches in Dimas’ scalp. “They called me, but by the time I was there, they were gone,” Dr. Rodriguez said. The Observer asked Dr. Rodriguez whether what Espinosa did was the practice of medicine or surgery. “In emergency cases like that,” he said, “it can be done. Just like in the Army I’m a colonel in the reserve a sergeant takes care of that, a little work can be done.” McKeithan, the lawyer for the union, heard of the incident at once, called a reporter or two, and went to Rio Grande City, where he demanded to be permitted to see his clients. Reporters were in the courthouse, a fact the authorities knew. McKeithan saw his clients and is represented as having photographs of them. David Lopez of the union said first called the F.B.I. and gave them a report; the agent talked to Kathy Baker, too. Then Lopez went to the courthouse and met Alice outside. Lopez said Allee “was incoherent. I couldn’t get any straight tainly not going to do anything to embarrass him or Gov. John Connally,” Allee also said. His shoeshine finished, the captain, reaching into his pocket, said, “See if I got a goddam nickel.” Rising and standing back, the boy said, “Or penny! A penny’s all right.” “Oh hell no,” the captain said, and gave him a coin, probably a quarter. It came into the captain’s mind then that the other morning he had gone to his car and found it with four flat tires. “Four nails in four tires,” he said. He went to his car and came back with his clip of gas station credit-card receipts, showing one on which payment for four tire repairs was recorded. “Fifth, the 25th, four damn flats fixed,” he said. “Four flats.” answer.” Lopez said it was his impression Allee had been drinking. Lopez said he also called the Texas Department of Public Safety to report to them and asked them to call back, but that they did not. \(For union official Gilbert Padilla’s account of events that night, see a related story on pages 16 and 17 . ROBIN Lloyd, a camerman for KIII-TV in Corput Christi, was born in England and worked for an influential corporation in Caracas before taking up his present trade. He happened into town about 11:30 that night, having checked into a motel in Roma; and returned to Rio Grande City to look around. He went by the union office, heard of the Dimas incident, and proceeded to the courthouse, where he got film of Allee and others walking down the hall. He said Alice roughly asked him to turn off his light, but that Allee did not seem to have been drinking “He was just acting like a Ranger,” Lloyd said. Allee wanted to see his credentials, and Lloyd gave him his card. There then ensued a scene in Lopez’ little courtroom in the basement. Lloyd, sensing, he said, he would not be welcome inside, shot pictures from outside the door. “The courtroom was hot, it was all kind of scary. The place was full of Rangers, everyone was very serious. Here is this man swathed in bandages being advised of his rights. He looked so dejected. Everybody was a little embarrassed,” Lloyd said. Lloyd also said that Allee took him aside after this and said, “They’ve got your phone number’.” “Right,” Lloyd replied, thinking the captain referred to the phone number on the card he had given Allee. Lloyd said Allee replied, “I knew that, son of a bitch’!” and made it clear he had meant that the farm union had had Lloyd’s phone number and this was the only reason he could have gotten there so quickly. Lloyd told Allee this was not the case. Lloyd then phoned ABC network on the Medical and Press Matters