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Show YAQUI-MEXICAN . Mexican SiJo of the Trouble Feud in 1531 Spanish Soldiers Thrice DefeatedSubmitted De-featedSubmitted in 1610 Years of Blood Treaty of Peace Schools and Churches Established Pagans Not Field Fighters Still Number 4,000 Emigration the Solution of the Trouble Warfare Means Extermination. (Special Cor. of The fnrormiuntaiu Catholic") (Copyrighted.) What, then, is the cause of the murderous and prolonged hostility of the Yaquis to Mexican rul" Why is the exterminating feud allowed to perpetuate perpet-uate iNelf, and why are not these Indians subdued '. Mu.-t Sonora be forever terrorized by a handful of. half-savage mountaineers, and inu-t the march oi, civilization in Sonora be arretted by a tribe of Indians? To get an answer to these questions I aked, and obtained an interview with General Lorenzo K. Torres, commander-in-chief of the First Military Zone of Mexico. With my request I inobed my credentials accrediting me as a person of some importance in his own country and an author oil some distinction. BRIEF HISTOPwY OF YAQIT WARS, BY GKX. L. K. TO V, RES. Although the general's time was filled with important im-portant military affairs and another engagement awaiting him, he received me with that courtesy and politeness which seems to be an inheritance of the educated members of the Latin race the world over. Though a man of full ." years the general 'appears to retain all the animation and vitality wfTlIiQ'daj3 when b.v 'his' impetuosity a:A dain,v,-. less courage he won his brevet at. Oajaca and the tassels of a colonel on the field of Mien. To the. physical buoyancy and elasticity of younger days were now wedded the conscious dignity of high reward re-ward and the nobriity of facial expression which waits on honorable age. After an exchange of introductory in-troductory courtesies, I made knownat once the purport of my visit. "General, would you kindly give me some information in-formation about the Yaquis i In my country wo have heard the evidence of one side only and that was not always favorable to the Mexican government. govern-ment. We would be pleased to knfw the truth, so as to be able to form a just and impartial judgment."' judg-ment."' The general very obligingly proceeded to satisfy my request. "The feud with the Yaquis.' he smilingly replied, re-plied, "goes back many years. The trouble began in the days of the conquest of Mexico. Iu lo-'AK when the Spaniards first crossed the Mayo river, and penetrated the lands of the Yaquis they found them entrenched on the banks of the Yaqui river, awaiting the advance of the Europeans, and ready for battle. 'Their chief, robed in the skin of a spotted tiger, profusely decorated fith colored shells and the feathers of the trogon. stepped to the front of his warriors, drew a liifr upon tl::: ground and defied the Spaniards to cross it. lb-Spanish lb-Spanish captain protested that he and his men came as friends; they were simply exploring the country and all they asked for or wanted was fo d for themselves and horses. 'We will first bind yoer men and then we will feed your horses.' was the answer of the Yaqui chieftain. While he was yec speaking he unwound a cougar lariat, and advanced ad-vanced as if he intended to rope the Castilian officer. of-ficer. This was the signal for a hot engagemenn which ended in the retreat of the Spaniards. Later, La-ter, in 1584, Don Martinez de Hunliade tried to conquer them and was defeated in three separate campaigns". However, strange to relate, in 1110. the Yaquis, of their own accord, submitted to the Crown of Spain." "Are they braver and better fighters, general, than the other tribes now at peace with the republic re-public t'f "I think they are,' replied Don Lorenzo. 'Mountaineers . are everywhere stubborn fighters. At any rate, for the past fifty years they have given giv-en us more trouble than all the Indians in Mexi-o and Yucatan. Don Diego Martinez in his reports .always made mention of the indomitable bravery and cunning strategy of the Yaquis of his time. In the 'Relation,' or report of his expedition, he said that no Indian tribe had caused him so much trouble as the Yaqui. After their submission, in 1G10, they stayed quiet until 1740, when they again j broke out. The rebellion was quenched in blood j and for eighty-five years they remained peaceful. Then began a period of intermittant raids, lho I (Continued on Page 3.) j t YAQU1-MEXICAW FEUD. (Continued from Page 1.) years 1S25, lS2(j and 1S32 were years of blood, but the Yaquis were, at last, ' subdued and their war" chiefs, Banderas and Guiteieres, executed. In 1807 they again revolted and were again defeated, but despite all their defeats they were not conquered. "They led a semi-savage life in the Yaqui valley, val-ley, but were always giving us trouble, raiding here and there. The majority of them would seemingly be at peace, but human life was always more or less in danger in and near the Yaqui district. ''Isolated bands of them lived by plunder, raiding, raid-ing, foraging and murdering on the ranches and haciendas. This condition of things was, to say the least, extremely irritating. Xo self respecting government can tolerate within its borders gangs of ruffians defying civilization, law and order. The federal government decided to act." ''Were you then the general in command, Don Lorenzo V "Xo, I was governor of Sonora; it was later, in 1S92 that I was given command of this zone. When war again broke out between the tribe and the federal troops the Yaquis were very daring, and numerically strong; some hot engagements took place and the Yaquis fled to tne Baeatele mountains. From these hills they swooped down upon the mines, held up the trails and mail routes, and terrorized the surrounding country. Our troops pursued them into the mountains, storming their impregnable strongholds. It took ten years of tedious and bloody fighting to reduce them and bring them to terms. We struck a peace, and to that treaty of peace the Mexican government was true and stood by its terms and pledges. We gave the Yaquis twenty times more land than they ever dreamed of cultivating. We gave them cattle, tools and money. We fed them and furnished them seed. We have been humane to a degree undeserved unde-served by the Yaquis." The general rose from his seat, and, for a few moments, paced the room as if in deep thought. Whether he suspected my sympathies were with the Indians or that his government was wedged in between the base ingratitude of the Yaquis and the censure of the outside world, I do not know, but he interrupted his walk, faced me with a noticeable shade of irritation on his fine face, and continued: "I did even more; as religion has a soothing and pacifying effect upon the soul and the passions, pas-sions, I obtained priests and sisters of charity for them; I established schools among them. But you can't tame the wolf. Notwithstanding all 'our kindness and friendly efforts on their behalf, the tribe revolted again two years later. With the money we gave them, and the mission funds they i took from the priests, they purchased rifles and ammunition from American adventurers' and Alrx- iean renegades, and made for the mountains. In their flight for the hills they carried with them one of the mission priests and four of the sisters of charity, holding them captives for six months. This happened on July 31, 1897." "Pardon mo, general," I interposed, "but the most of us who are interested in the Mexican tribes believe the Yaquis to be Catholics." "They have a varnish of Christianity, it is true, but this religious wash only helps to conceal a deep substratum of paganism; at heart they are heathens heath-ens and hold to their old superstitions and pagan practices." "So that, since 1897 that is to safor 'ten years, . the Mexican government has been at war with the Yaquis. AP.E NOT FIELD FIGHTERS. "That is not the right word. The Yaquis do hot light in the open, so that no real battles arc fought. In detached commands we have to follow thero into the mountains, and as they know every foot and tree of the Bacateles we are pursuing ghosts." "How many Yaquis are there, Don Lorenzo?" "There are now some 4,000 left in Senora. The majority of these are peaceful, but sympathize with the outlaws and assist them in many ways. They all speak Spanish, dress like poor Mexicans, and as the neutral Yaquis aid and give shelter to the fighters, we must regard them all as enemies of the republic." "So, then, there is no solution to the Yaqui problem?" "Oh, yes, there is. We are sending them to Yucatan, Tabasco and Chiapas with theirfamilias. There they work in the henequin or hemp fields and make a good living. Already we hae transported trans-ported 2,000. and unless the other 4,000 raow here behave themselves we will ship them to; Yucatan also. The state of Sonora is as large as England, and cannot be covered by miiltary troop.l and patrols pa-trols without great expense. The Yaqui Iproblem, as you are pleased to call it, will be solvrjd in due time, and Sonora, when fully developed, will amaze the world with its riches and resources." This expression of hope and faith bromght my visit to a close. I shook hands with the! general and took my leave of a distinguished soldier and a most courteous gentleman. I WAR OF EXTERMINATION. ' The war between the Mexican governni ent and the Yaquis is not conducted according to nethods or practices which govern civilized nati. ns. It partakes more of the nature of a Corsican vendetta vendet-ta or a Kentucky feud. It is a war of ".- hoot on sight" by the Mexicans and of treachery, ( unning, ambushment and midnight slaughter by the Yaquis. Ya-quis. It is a war of extermination. - In 1S61 G overnor Pesquira of Sonora, 'xri a proclamation pro-clamation offering $100 for every Yaqji scalp brought in, calls them "human wolves," 7ncarnate demons" who deserve to be "skinned alie" . "There is only one way," writes Sigifio. Camillo Diaz, "to wage war against the Yaquis.1 I We must enter upon a steady, persistent campaigi j', following them to their haunts, hunting them! to : iie fastness of their mountains. They must lie nirrounded, starved, surprised or inveighed byjwhi je flags, or by any methods human or diabolic, 'and Ithen then put them to death. A man might as we '. have sympathy sym-pathy for a rattlesnake or a tigerj1 And now let me end this rather none jdisaeiation en this singular tribe by a citatioft fr :n Vclasco, the historian of Sonora. I ought, jhow. jver, to add that the Yaqui has yet to be hear in his defense. 1 j . " i . i "Without doubt," writes Velasco, "it must be admitted ad-mitted that under no good treatment es the Yaqui abandon his barbarism, his perfid.r, his atrocity. Notwithstanding his many treaties of peace with Mexico and the memory of what he suffered in- past campaigns, yet, on the first opportunity oppor-tunity and cn the slightest provocation he breaks faith and becomes worse than before." Torin, Mex., June 1. |