The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 18, 1901, Page 3

of zations ever grappled w pearing savages Yaquis co The uniq most Mexico.—To be roused slumber at 2 mconless morning and eague ride in a “Mexican dili- t the most cheerful opositions. And the fur- that the twenty leagues re b of one hostile es civili- no se However, such stances under M the crew in progress y seem ur diligencia consisted of a trio of the nolsiest and withal most questionable ap- custodians ca cerning the were projected away on of duce. ¥ of our immed of history con- ve old w happy-go- lucky assignment of ascertaining how matters stood in this long-waged conflict on the Mexican frontler. The convey- ance is owned and operated by a com- pany whose hes dquarters is somewhere in the heart of the Mexican Sierras, at the further extremity mas The spec of the road from Guay- ¢ name of this institu- tion, 1f it has one, is nowhere in evidence alon 4 its line of travel, notwithstanding which it is entitled to pronounced credit for its magnificent ne tracted with ¢ e in having con- he Mexican Government 10 carry the mail to the various army posts located at interva country. Tru wroughout tk he dangers threatening e hostile e, the leagues of desert highway that must be traversed each trip are, thanks to the rigorously conducted campaign of the Mexican troops, less grave than formerly; which condition, however, does not alter the fact that right along the service has cont oughout the whole pi ued ress of the war, and with singular regu- larity, that company a early had t of dev was considering the which the driv outstart less policy picking off the Mex consequent d resort frequency with re and their crews at the o be renewed. The: relent- the Yaquis fn repeatedly drivers, and the h of these functionaries, impelled the stage désperate the Yaquis eloped, to expe- casoned were in the habit of sending out members r band m continuance of not secu malls by recr among these ul such a me safeguard to other immunity to time to seek haciendas from time the various a view to replenishing their ammuni- supplies essential to the litles. Therefore, why for the Governm=nt g their stage crews from quitous tribesmen? Tru promised no additional re their passenger service, bhut then the company had never made any pretentions, to say nothing of contracts with the traveling public, on that score. THE SUNDAY CALL. ¥ ity D AQUID LERVING - Y HE Tt was the postal subsidy that must be protected—the passengers could look ont for themselves At all events there was clearly no other salvation for the company's contract, and the experiment was forthwith put to the test. The innovation worked to perfec- tion—so far as the mails Were concerned. True, the belligerent hostiles, from their roadside retrpats, continued to make tar- gets of such passengers as were S0 un- wary to obtrude their personalitjes from behind the wagon screens. but the vehicle itself, so long as a Yaqui driver was perched on the box, never once failed to get through on schedule time. However, diticns had time we weeks as previously explained, con- improved somewhat at the undertook the trip, auite two having elapsed since the last mas- had been enacted on the road we to traverse. Nevertheless of visit to Hermosillo, it ad occurred to General Torres that wo t feel more at ease if accompanied sacre on our rmed escort over the most host..e portions of the route,. to which end I car- ried the necessary credentials, entitling us to such protection at any of th: mili- utposts we would pass. - the darkness of our somewhat spare ac- r the first four hou of the journey commodations was of an intensity that. under ordinary circumstances, must cer- tainly have produced a corresponding de- gree of monoton Not so in this case, however. The Yaqui driver and his staff were too Industriously occupled with in- fusing life into the motive power of our equipage to admit_of any such tendency to dullness. The power in question con- sisted of half a dozen diminutive mules, hitched two abreast in the rear and four in the v after the prevalent custom of the country. The characteristic per- versity of this curiously incorporated string explained the necessity of so large a corps of drivers. Their method was for the chief furctionary to hold the lines, while his two lieutenanrs raced along on eith th2 unwilling team, which they sought to terrorize into a perpetual scamper through the sgency of long lashed whi; of the blacksnake varfety. hercic process the entire trio con- interspersed with a serfes of hair-curling warwhcoops as only the Indtan n devise. All of which consti- tuted most suggestive accompaniment to our silent reflections on the long list of czsualties, to which we were aware our chosen route was solely indebted for its fame. The chief point of interest we passed in the course of this early morning in- terva! was a sudden swerve in the road where the same diligencia had been cap- sized on its last inbound trip, which mis hap had resuited in a broken leg to one, besides various bruises sustained by oth- er of the occupants. The detafls of this little incident were furnished us by a fel- YAPUI- PRISONERS - RND - MEX\CAN-CAPTORS -~ * on the, *JOSE-DE OLIVRARES R+ ANRTNE. 2ESCORTS low traveler, who happened to be one of the passengers at the time, and who ac- counted for its origin as follows: “You see,” be explained, “this is a new crew—just dows from the mountains—and the last trip having brought the three into contact with a milltary canteen for the first time they naturally filled up on all the firewater, in the shape of native mes- cal, that came within their reach. Result —a smash-up, of course. But,” he added, encouragingly, ‘that was twenty-four hours ago and no doubt they're sobered up by this time.” Maybe so. But considering the hideous- ness of their yells I feit at liberty to doubt the theory. The fortitude of my In- formant, however, In undertaking another trip with the same outfit, in the face of the experience he had so recently under- gone, could not but excite my admiration, and 1 straightway proceeded to cultivate him. My new acquaintance proved to be a civilian resident of an army post in the heart of the Indian country, and being thoroughly conversant with the territc through which we were passing his com- panionship constituted a mast enlighten- ing feature of our triy. Added to thig, he was something of a philosopher in his own way, which fact he demonstrated about the time the darkness began to disperse. Observing by the faint light which sifted in through the drawn curtains that this denizen of the frontfer was to all appear- ances unarmed—a most unconventional circumstance for'these parts—I tock occa- sion to express my surprise at the fact; to which comment he responded in his somewhat unique vocabulary: “Oh, I reckon I'd be heeled fast enough any- where outside this particular wagon. But T've figured it out, that the less vaiuables you show along this road the better your chances are forgetting through with a whole skin. Now, there's nothing a Yaqui Indian will covet quicker'n a good shoot- ing iron—like either of those you an’ your partner are sporting, for example. And he’d a heap sooner pick vou off for the chance he'd stand of bagging your gun than he would me if he knew I had a/ mil- lion dollars in my clothes. You see, mone; no object whatsoever to the Yaqui, while shooting utensils are both his capital and religion. Besides,” he added deprecatingly, ‘“‘there’s no use spoiling your ride by looking for trouble from beginning to end of it. For if the Yaquis happen to spot You anywhere along the line they’'ll sure get you, and without giving vou a shade of a chance to* argue the point with ‘em. Is there any record of a live Yacul ever having been seen from this stage? Not one. But on the other hand. he's spotted no end of travelers in his time—as the dead list wiil show. There was the American photo- graphing outfit from Hermosilio, for in- stance; two in the party and the last ones in here before vourselves. Well, they were armed to the eyebrows and under- tcok to get through to Alamos, at the other end of the route, but the Yaquis got them before they were an hour out of Forin—killed in this same wagon, and on the very seat you're sitting on.” Here was an ultcgether néw version as to the proper conventionalities to observe while en route through the Yaqui domain. During the progress of my interlocutur’s theorizing 1 repeatedly caught mysaif in < STRGING - < IN-THE - the act of casting skeptical glances at my erstwhile trusry Colt,” which, to insure convenfence, I had switched around on my belt to a position immediately in line with my right cve. And the camera man meanwhile was equally distrustful of the policy he had espoused, for he eyed the Winchester that rested athwart his knees in a way that convinced me he heartily wished it were his tripod. There's a deal more of truth than jest in these random details of that h:ief but singularly imrres- sive discourse on the ore-sidedness of In- dian bushwhacking ethics. And the char- acter of the count with its ominous jungles of cactus and chaparral tkrough which the road at intervals plunged, tend- ed to enhance our respect for the philoso- phy of our ccmpatriotof the Sonora fron- tier in no small measure. ‘While continuing on our way the indi- vidual in question pointed out to us vari- /ous spots of historical interest connected with the present war. As we approached an especially dense tlicket he suddenly bEserved, “I think I said awhile back that 2 live Yaqui had never been seen by trav- elers along this route—but there's a dead one over in yonler tree that any ote can look at ‘We folicwed the direction Indicated and, sure enough, Lebeld a Lieaching skeleton danzling from the limb of a mesquite tree. 4 “You'll see others like him at various points alerg the rcad.”” was the uncanny uchsifed by our friend. e Leen hung up there by the Mex- fcan troops.” he exp'alned, “as a warnmng to the'live hostiles. This particulir one marks the spot where a whole battalion of Mexicans were wiped cut at the outstart of the war in g fight with the Indians. You see, the devils decoyed the soldfers dnto on2 of their ambuscades and tuen picked them oif one atter another from assurance v “They their hiding places In the cactus beds, where nothing that's human could reach them. That's their favorite style ot fight- ing In fact, a Yaqui will never show fight unless hs has the sure drop on his intended victim. Their time for bush- whacking on a large scale, however, like the blcody massacre at this point, is past now, for the Mexicans have cut up what’s left of them int> small disorganized bands that go skulki ut in the chaparral or e in walt near the rcadside for trav- elers witkout escort.” We stopped the diligencia long enough to secure a photograph of the grewsome thing In the mesquite tree, and then re- sumed our journ A little farther on we drove into the village of Las Guasimas, the first military post of importance in the Yaqui country. The place consisted of an adobe cuartel, or barracks, sur- rounded by a wretched assortment of thatched Indian huts. Here we had ex- pected to secure an armed escort, as the remainder of our journey lay through the very hotbed of the hostile district. But, upon applying to the officer in command, we were informed that his entire garrison had gene in pur of a band of Yaquis that only two days before had visited the suburbs of the village and made off to the mountains with a bunch of fourteen cattle belonging to the post. This raid was sup- posed tor have been made by the largest of the various marauding bands, in retal- fation for the defeat they had sustained at the hands of the Mexicans a short time previously. On the occasion in question the troops had. tracked the hostiles to their principal stronghold in the Sierras ée 1a Bacatete, and, in the fight that.en- sued ten Yaquis were killed, forty women end children taken prisoners and the vil- lage destroyed. The casualties sustained by the Mexicans in this engagement were but four wounded. The captive Indian women and children were confined in the cuartel at this place, where we were per- mitted to photograph them. When first brought to the post they were in a pitiable condition from lack of foed and harsh treatment at the hands of their aboriginal lords and masters. Hence their present captivity, Insuring them, as it does, plen- tiful food and kindly protection, is in the nature of a boon to them. On our way from Las Guasimas to the Rio Yaqui we passed through out of the most desolate regions I have ever trav- ersed, its chief danger lying in its closa proximity to the mountains, from whi the Ipdians can command a view of the road for miles at a stretchi In the course of the afternoon our trgveling compan- fon pointed out to us the spot, opposite a deep ravine near the roadside, where two weeks previously one of the cruelest trag- edies of the war had been enacted. " Here a party of travelers, consisting of twe men, two women and two little children, were fired upon by the Yaquis, who were secreted in the ravine, and all but one of the two women killed outright. The wom- n who survived had a most miraculous escape, her child being killed in her arms, at which she fell fainting among her dead companions in the road. Here she lay for hours before recovering, and meanwhile the Indians, thinking their awful work complete, had made off, thus enabling the bereaved wife and mother to gain the rearest post in safety. At another point we were shown a large mesquite tree, between two top branches of which a board was secured. This rude contrivance had been intended as a look- out tower by a company of soldlers sent to patrol the district. The invention, however, had speedily proved a failure, for the first sentry who mounted to the perch was picked off by a Yaqui sharp- shooter before he had secured so much as a preliminary glimpse of the surround- abe —— 1 -IN-CAMP- S “YRPUL- TWARRIORS- ing country. Thereafter the soldiers took it for granted there were Ingians in their vicinity and the sentry stand in the mes- quite tree was condemned as a superflu- ous evil Night was far advanced before our dill- gencia rolled into Torin, the chief out- post on the Rio Yaqui, which was to be our headquarters during our sojourn in the Indian country. Here we were cour- teously received by Colonel Vega, chief of General Torres’ staff, who is imme- diately in command of the 4000 Mexican troops in the field. On the following morning we were given an escort consist- ing of a lieutenant and five native guards- men, and thus equipped at once proceeded on our journey through the Rio Yaqui basin. The Yaqui is a beautiful crystal- line stream of considerable volume and winds its tortuous course through a val- ley of surpassing fertility. It was this region that the Indians ' were formerly * allotted by the Mexican Government as their exclusive domain. There is abso- lutely no evidence, however, that its rich lands have ever been citivated by them, as it is to a great extent densely over- grown with mesquite trees. In the midst of these thickets the Yaquis have dwelt for maay years, constantly fostering their deep-seated hatred of the white man and his civilized tendencies. The missionary priests have labored among them in vain, as the more earnestly they would strive for the uplifting of the Yaqui the more bitterly they would be despised by him. And notwithstanding his perversity he has been suffered for vears to retain con- trol of this beautiful region—until at length his barbarous policy of death and destruction could be no longer endured. And this is the story in brief of how the Yaqui came to be expelled from the land of his fathers—and why his heritage is henceforth destined to become the heri= tage of other: = b New System % Preservve Felit fi SYSTEM of fruit preservation s A now being introduced into the West A \\ Indies and Central America, which has for some yecars been success- fully tried in the cduntries of Australasia. The new system is one of evaporation, its qualificaticns, which render it superior to other processes, being the quickness with which it is accomplished and the absolute cléanliness insured. Five or six hours s all that is required to change fresh fruit into an article which will keep for months and years and still preserve the original flavor—in some cases actually improve it. Australian indorsement carries with it the seal of Gevernment approval, as the foods stuffs of the country are subjected to the most careful analysis before they are con- sidered as staples. The process of evaporation has been ap- plied with great success in Central Amer- ican countries toc bananas, a dozen mar- ketable commodities having been evolved out of the surplus and smaller fruits. As the machinery is not elaborate and the original cost of the fruit almost nothing, it is possible to market the products at a small cost. Other tropical products, among them the cassava and okra, having been experimented upon. it was found in almest every case that the evaporated ar- ticle retains its full nutricive quality. It is reported that large quantities of evaporated food are being furnished the British army from Santa Tomas, Guate- mala, and that the Government of Ja- taking a keen interest malea is in the question, as a favorable outcome seems probable. The perfecting of the process will, it is thought, practically revelution= ize the tropical fruit trades