The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 13, 1899, Page 21

-1-1@ the In the Yaqui River cour most serous Despite the attempts of th try has assumed proportions. 105e % awuthority to reassure our people it is feared by those who are in & position to thoroughly understand the present situation that all the horvors of the “ten years’ war” are to be duplicated. Omne of the first overt acts of the rebel Yaguis was the killing by torture of E. N. Miller and Jack Ramsey, o X y kX & - o i 3 L % 0 "' two Americans, who were : taking a pleasure drive from £ Hermosillo to Alamos. The % manner of their murder was . particularly atrocious and % has sent a thrill of horror :Ej throughout the entire com- L munity. ; efeuiofieetto @ YAQUI Indian never forgets. Be it for good or ill, his memory is deep as the fathomless depths central as of the the 1 ens and as as long as ss circle of the heav- racing as eternity A Yaqul ”, But, is, he e favor half so eagerly as he repays an injury, nor with & rate of int anywhere near justice, thwart him in red plan, defraud him n eny we 1t he considers to be his £p 1ts, and he will spend his lfetime, if need be, in the effort to— with as little risk to himself, of course, 85 is possible—settle accounts with you fn such a way as to leave a big bal- ts own favor. Should death wnfortunately intervene and prevent him from giving his personal attention to the matter of straightening out the fittle difficulty between you and him- @elf, his children are only too happy to ‘ any h character- lier nd btedly be s th horror of years of clv- which gar the Indlan natures have masqueraded in the ilization. Ever since the conquest of Mexico by Cortez the work of priests ong the Mexican Indians has been constant and untiring, and the Yaquis especially tnguished them. . ay by their zeal that per the ns to in all churchly ces. They have b nd buried by the ho who have devoted thelr them; and instruct- lives to th | 11 ap- last few y: they nost sincere and devout of converts. It has been their custom, so anxious have they seemed to have the sar of religion for all their acts, to have one of their own numb: man of the best educated e ointed to T the priest officially when he able to be with them in and to this “maestro,” they have yielded the n ence and obec foning defer- A history aquis which was written by their present tribal ruler, Governor Corral, states that they are the furthest advanced of any of the Mexican tribes and have proved them. gelves the most capable of learning and practically applying the useful arts of civilization. For many years the men and women have worn conventionally fashionable garments made of cotton or wool which the men have raised themselves and the women have carded and spun and woven on home-made looms. The men have learned to be skilled machinists, successful farmers, hardy sailors and pearl fishers, and the women have earned honest and decent livings by their spinning wheels and looms, their needles, or by performing domestic service in the families of per- sons able to pay for such work. Up to the year 1887 the civilization of the Yaqui seemed to have been & most cas a causa ong his of ths s greed in the or mer had v along with weightier , and when once the of lands handise to an ominous crimson which only too truly foretold of bloody battles to come. It was during this rebellion against the Mexican Government that the seed was planted which, after lying dor- mant all through the two years of ap- miling peace which followed g of the treaty in 1897, has red its way to the surface and burgeoned and budded and blossomed and just no its noxious fruit under the I 1shine down there in t Madre Mountains in the n State of Sonora. If Jack Ramsey, & small merchant of the of Hermosillo, had not, dur- ing the last part of the “ten y ars’ ' felt it to be either his duty or are, or both, to communicate to th 1 military authorit c tain facts which came into his posscs sion, there would have been nothing especial for even an Indian to have remembered about him. He was a jovial, companionable, genial kind of a fellow, well liked by most of those with whom he came in contact, but he was possessed of an adventurous spirit which found little outlet in the dull routine of his avoca~ tion, and it suited him—not being over fond of Indians as a race and particu- larly disliking their methods of war- fare—to do some little detective busi- ness on his own account. The resuit of his quiet investigations was some particularly valuable informationwhich enabled the Government troops to frus- trate a contemplated strategic move of their savage enemies and rout them entirely in the next encounter which took place between them. The Indians considered that Ram- sey’s interference in the matter of the temporary disagreement between them and the Government was both meddle- some and unpleasing. They went fur- ther even and solemnly declared among themselves that he was responsible for every drop of Indian blood which was battle them which o us yal of his duty as , an X it the w became a er of the | W proclaimed. The anteeing safe he wish it, to obtain a knowledge of some nch together with an abund- to keep him in health until such a time as he t or outgrew the desultory and atory habits acquired through a de of warfare and became once n a respectable, steady-going per- dustrious and self-supporting as Jack Ramsey went on with his busi- serenely and contentedly the truth shadowing his honest heart. It never occurred to him that every stolid In- dian face that he saw was but a con- gealed lava crust hiding for the time being a smoldering and seething vol- o of hatred which was but waiting + strength enough to burst out and whelm hi ed that every piece of scrap of merc ed from Indian hand it a curse as deep v and eve money or barter that f to his brought v and deadly as hell itself. Jack Rams w of a nationality which forgets, but his enemies were Yaquis. Unsuspicious though he w ite, who often for a tim t herself to save the or the ignorant from the con of their own indiscretion: watch over him and prev falling into the hands of those to whom his very existence was an offense that they would never forgive. He came and went as he would, tak- ing no thought of himself or of possi- ble danger because he never dreamed that hate was dogging his footsteps, but careless as he was it always hap- pened that it was never quite possible for his foes to work a fitting revenge upon him without incurring the cer- tainty of disproportionate trouble for themselves in reprisal. They were a peaceful natlon now, supposedly, and reaping many benefits because of that sypposition. Life was long—if the portion of the individual failed he could leave the story, with its legacy of hate, to the next in succes- sion, and be sure that some day it would be brought to a fitting and satis- factory conclusion. Meanwhile Jack Rramsey was well and strong and hearty, and those who hated him could afford to walt. They waited for nearly three years. Business was a little dull in Hermo- sillo when E. N. Miller arrived thera intent on making a carriage trip through the mountains for health, emed to im from Miller was a zh pleasure and profit. Mr. apher by occupation, a thorous mechanism_ of artis ent of natur ul as a le e picturesque gions « wora undoubte yet da of misac to a stranger i he attempt to follow the indeterminate roads of the less settled d his own general ideas of d congenial companion, mcreover, makes even a pl nt journey s0 it that, most ur anter, a tunately for both of them as it proved, Mr. Miller proposed to Jack Ramsey to make the trip to Alamos with him in his commodious and well-stocked buck- board drawn by two strong and spirited young horses. The men started out under the hap- plest auspices. The weather was per- fect; their outfit all that could be de- sired and the prospect before them of several days of riding and working and camping together was most satisfac- tory to both. There was no hint of any impending trouble in the air when they gayly said good-by to the little group of loungers who gathered to see them oft on that bright morning, there was no thought of even a possibility of evil in either heart as Mr. Miller gathered i and started his horses on Madres are steep and the are rugged. It was slow but the scene is so ~ulties of progress delight of pro- to the highest degree, tistic standpoint and as an experiment in companionship, and every one who saw the two envied them the care-free happiness which was so evidently theirs. Not until they were nearly at the end of their expedition did the thunder-clap of doom sound in their unbelieving ears. The Indian nature loves to play cat- like with its victims. It has a theatri- cal appreciation of the value of con- trasts and high and low lights. The swift descent from the heights of hap- piness to the depths of despair adds in the savage mind to the desira- of a situation. To merely kill for the sake of removing an obnoxious in- @ividual from this state of being is a very stale and uninteresting perform- ance. Though they are not specially prone to the use of condiments on their food they like their revenges highly spiced. Unknown to the two white men the Yaqui rebellion, long-smoldering, had broken out while they, unconscious even that it had been planned, were peacefully pursuing their way to their destination, now comparatively near at hand. Unknown to them, by means of the secret telegraphy so well under- THE FRIGHTFUL TORTURES JAaCkK RamsAaYy AND stood in all savage nations, the very moment of their setting forth had been noted, and every turn of their carriage wheels had been marked by some un- seen but vengeful ey The Yaqui rebe as it means to Me co, meant from the first all eternity to one man and that man Had pot another ed in the uprising he could for with the first was Jack I man been ki not have escaped, whisper of scontent that had stirred among the su L his name had been sealed. been couple It we however, th to act hasti From the hour of their leaving the city the two white men had been utterly in the Indians’ power, but because they took a grim pleasure in seeing t r prospective victims so nscious of the horror that each th was bringing nearer to them they had allowed them to proceed upon their way until it seemed to their self- appointed executioners that in the fit- ness of things the time for the end had arrived. When Jack Ramsey’s eyes fell the first Indian who s behind a bush and lev him, he knew that the hour of death had come. When he saw that every bush had been a shelter for an Indiz and that the road was sud- full of them, no longer habited denly in the garments of civilization, but clad only in stained and hideously painted skins vith human _scalps, taking the place of hats a of human teeth and snake rattles taking the place of the pumpkin-seed and bead adornments of peacetul times, he knew that an up- rising had taken place and that many others beside himself were destined to a cruel death at the hands of these malig- nant and merciless creatures—savages still and of the wickedest type, in spite of all that had been done to reclaim them. He knew the Yaquis well, and he knew as he saw their flerce eves bent upon him with demoniac joy that there was in store for him torture as excruciating as their ingenious minds could plan. He had heard during the previous war of their cutting off the ears and noses of their victims, and then their fingers and toes one by one. He had heard of their searing the flesh ©of their captives with hot irons and setting fire to their hair. He himself had once come upon a party of them engaged in the pleasing operation of burning a man at the stake. The scalps and human teeth which adorned them were, he kne es of past bar- bariti but what special form of suf- fering was deéstined for him he could not know; he only knew that it would be intense—slow, if possible—and in the end fatal. It was Miller’'s misfortune that he had selected him for a comrade, for by this act he had signed his own death warrant. The Indians hated Ramsey, and they reasoned that any man who would associate with him on terms of friendliness was of his kind and there- fore deserving of similar punishment. Resistance was useless, for two men against 200 could do nothing. It is re- ported that Ramsey, scorning to ask mercy for himself, begged for the life with br @ ENMLLER of his companion, but to no avail. The two were dragged to the ground, kicked, cuffed and beaten almost to the yerge of insensibility, and then a council was held to determine their ultimate dis- posal. The motive power of horses and carriage was there, and they had once e tried the experiment of tying sons to the wheels of a vehicle and starting the horses on a wild runaway over these mountain roads. That had been & long time ago, and the people upon whom they had tried the effect of this form of torture—they were a young married couple on a pleasure trip—had become insensible after the first few bounds of the flee- ing horses, and the delight of seein their unconscious bodies mangl against rocks and trees had been a qualified and chastened one, since after the initial moments the victims had known no pain. The torture of these two men must be far greater, for one of them had sinned against the tribe and the other had sinned In—though all ignorant of his offending—giving him the hand of friendship. Ramsey, by betraying them, had caused the slaughter of many of their best braves, and in re- quital he must render up & sacrifice of his keenest suffering that they could, with the means at hand, devis and incidentally Miller must contribute his share of agony to the ceremony of expiation. The two men were stripped and bound to the wagon wheels with heavy chains, drawn so tightly as to cut into the flesh at every point of contact. Inflammable oil was then poured liber- r their heads and bodies and over the wagon to which they were ened and then the whole horrible funeral pyre was set ablaze. Strong hands held the frantic horses until the eves of the 200 leaping, danc- ing, shrieking, howling demons were satiated with the sight of those two piteous white bodies in their garments of scorching, seething, searing flame, writhing and twisting and bending In the vain effort to orten their agonies by forcing death to come more quickly. But the Indians had done their work so skillfully that for a time death stood aloof and looked on with them at this soul-sickening spectacle of hideous and untrameled savagery. At last, however, even this sight palled upon the on-lookers, eager to run the whole gamut of horrors, and then fire was applied to the oil-soaked backs of the plunging horses, the In- dians sprang away into safety before their maddened onrush, and down the mountain road they fled—a blazing hor- ror of human and brute agony, a flery chariot within which death rode tri- umphant, while fiends incarnate held the charring reins. R T S MR e T The next morning the inhabitants of Alamos found, just outside the limits of the town, all that was left of men and horses—a shapeless mass of cin- dered bone and flesh and twisted chains—a horror to haunt their dreams | The Yaquis never forget. ] ALVARADO FERNANDER, /