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^ ESTABLISHED 18SS. YORKvYLLE,^ C.^ftjESIDAY, MAY 5,1914. ~ NO. 30.
PARRCT
By HAROLD
% Copyright 1913. The Bobbs-Mer
CHAPTER I.
East Is East.
% It began somewhere in the middle
of the world, between L?ondon which
which is the end, where all things are
is the beginning, and New York,
east of the one and west of the other.
To be precise, a forlorn landing on
the west bank of the muddy turbulent
Irrawaddy, remembered by man
only, so often as it was necessary for
the flotilla boat to call for paddy, a
visiting commissioner anxious to get
away, or a family homeward-bound.
Somewhere in the northeast was Mandalay,
but lately known in romance,
^ verse and song; somewhere in the
southeast lay Prome. known only in
guide-books and time-tables; and
farther south, Rangoon, sister to Singapore,
the half-way house of the derelicts
of the world. On the east side
of the river over there, was a semblance
of civilization. That is to say,
men wore white linen, avoided murder,
and frequently paid their gambling
debts. But on this west side
stood wilderness, not the kind one
reads about as being eventually con4k
quered by white men; no, the real
grim, desolation, where the ax cuts
but leaves no blaze, where the pioneer
disappears and few or none follow.
The pioneer has always been a successful
pugilist, but in this part of
Burma fate, out of pure admiration
for the pygmy's gameness, decided to
cell the battle a draw. It was not
the wilderness of the desert, of the
jungle; rather the tragic, hopeless
e,a?" "f ? settlement that neither
progressed, retarded, nor stood still.
^ Between the landing and the settlement
itself, there stretched a
winding road, arid and treeless, perhaps
two miles in length. It announced
definitely that its end was
^ futility. All this day long, heavy
bullock-carts had rumbled over it.
rumbled toward the landing and
rattled emptily back to the settlement.
The dust hung like a fog
above the road, not only for this day.
but for all days between big rains.
Each night, however, the cold heavy
4 dews drew it down, cooling but never
congealing it. From under the first
footfall the next day it rose again.
vvnen tne goas, or me v.
Providence, arranged the world as a
fit habitation for man, India and
C Burma were made the dust-bins. And
as water finds its levels, so will dust,
earthly and human, the quick and the
dead.
It was after five in the afternoon.
The sun was sinking, hazily but
swiftly; riobons of scarlet, ribbons
of rose, ribbons of violet, lay one upA
on the other. The sun possessed no
definite circle: a great blinding radiance
like metal pouring from the
mouth of a blast-furnace. Along the
road walked two men, phantom-like.
One saw their heads dimly and still
more dimly their bodies to the knees:
of legs, there was nothing visible.
Occasionally they stepped aside to
permit some bullock-cart to pass. One
of them swore, not with any evidence
of temper, not viciously, but in a kind
of mechanical protest, which, from
long usage, had become a habit. He
directed these epithets never at animate
things, never at anything he
could by mental or physical contest
overcome. He swore at the dust, at
the heat, at the wind, at the sun.
The other wayfarer, with the inherent
patience of his blood, said
^ nothing and waited, setting down the
heavy kit-bag and the canvas valise
(his own). When the way was free
again he would slir.g the kit-bag and
the valise over his shoulder and step
back into the road. His turban, once
white, was brown with dust and
sweat. His khaki uniform was rent
under the arm-pits, several buttons
were gone: his stockings were rusty
black, mottled with patches of brown
skin; and the ragged canvas shoes
spurted little spirals of dust as he
walked. The British-Indian government
had indulgently permitted him
to proceed about his duties as guide
A and carrier under the cognomen of
James Hooghly, in honor of a father
whose surname need not be written
here, and in further honor of the
river upon \\ hich, quite inconveniently
one early morning, he had been
born. For he was Eurasian; half
European, half Indian, having his
place twixt heaven and hell, which is
to say, nowhere. His father had died
of a complication of bhang-drinking
^ and opium-eating; and as a consequence,
James was full of humorless
imagination, spells of moodiness and
outbursts of hilarious politics. Every
native who acquires a faculty in English
immediately set out to rescue
4P India from the clutches of the British
raj. occasionally advancing so far as
to send a bullet into some harmless
individual in the civil service.
James was faithful, willing and
strong: and as a carrier 01 uuruens,
took unmurmuringly his place beside
the tireless bullock and the elephant.
He was a Methodist: why, no one
could find lucid answer, since he ate
no beef, drank from no common cup,
smoked through his fist when he enjoyed
pipe, and never assisted Warrington
Sahib in his deadly pursuit
of flies and mosquitoes. Ho was
Hindu in all his acts save in his manner
of entering temples; in this, the
Kuropean blood kept his knees unbended.
By dint of inquiry his master
had learned that James looked upon
his baptism and conversion in Meth?
odism as a corporal would have looked
upon the acquisition of a V. C.
Twice, during fever and plague, he
had saved his master's life. With the
guilelessness of the Oriental he considered
himself responsible for his
4 master in all future times. Instead of
paying off a debt he had acquired
one. Treated as he was. kindly but
always firmly, he would have surrendered
his life cheerfully ai the
beck of the white man.
Warrington was an American. He
r & co.
MACGRATH
rill Company.
was also one of those men who never
held misfortune in contempt, whose
outlook wherever it roamed was tolerant.
He had patience for the weak,
resolution for the strong, and a fearless
amiability toward all. He was
like the St. Bernard dog, very difficult
to arouse. It is rather the way
with all men who are strong mentally
and physically. He was tall and
broad and deep. Under the battered
pith-helmet his face was as dark as
the Eurasian's; but the eyes were
blue, bright and small-pupiled, as they
are with men who live out-of-doors,
who are compelled of necessity to note
things moving in the distances. The
nose was large and well-defined. All
framed in a tangle of blond beard
and mustache, which if anything,, added
to the general manliness of his
appearance. He, too. wore khaki,
but with the addition of tan riding
leggings, which had seen anything but
rocking horse service. The man was
yellow from the top of his helmet to
the soles of his shoes?outside. For
the rest, he was a mystery, to James,
to all who thought they knew him,
and most of all to himself. A pariah,
an outcast, a fugitive from the bloodless
hand of the law: a gentleman
born, once upon a time a clubman,
college-bred; a contradiction, a puzzle
for which there was not any solution,
not even in the hidden corners of the
man's heart. His name wasn't Warrington:
and he had rubbed elbows
with the dregs of humanity, and still
looked you straight in the eyes because
he had come through inferno
without bringing any of the defiling
pitch.
From time to time he paused to
relight his crumpling cheroot. The
tobacco was strong and bitter, and
stung his parched lips; but the craving
for the tang of the smoke on his
tongue was not to be denied.
Under his arm he carried a small
iron cage, patterned something like
a rat-trap. It contained a Rajputana
parrakeet, not much larger than a
robin, but possessor of a soul as fierce
as that of Palladin. minus, however,
the smoothing influence of chivalry.
He had been born under the eaves of
the scarlet palace in Jaipur (so his
history ran); but the proximity of
Indian princes had left him untouched;
he had neither chivalry, politeness,
nor diplomacy. He was, in
fact, thoroughly and consistently bad.
Round and round he went, over and
over, top-side, down-side, restlessly.
For at this moment he was hearing
those familiar evening sounds which
no human ear can discern; the mutterings
of the day-birds about to seek
cover for the night. In the field at
the right of the road stood a lonely
tree. Tt was covered with brilliant
scarlet leaves and blossoms, and justly
the natives call it the Flame of the
Jungle. A flock of small birds were
gyrating above it.
"Jah, jah! Jah?jah?ja--a-h!"
cried the parrot. imitating the
Burmese bell?gong that calls to
prayer. Instantly he followed the call
with a shriek so piercing as to iting
the ear of the man who was carrying
him.
"You little sun-of-a-gun." he laughed,
"where do you pack away all that
noise?"
There was a strong bond between
the big yellow man and this little
green bird. The bird did not suspect
it. but the man knew. The pluck,
the pugnacity and the individuality
of the feathered comrade had been
an object lesson to the man, at a time
when he had been on the point of
U ? Or ?11\ thn ficrht
imuniiife up ?..v
' Jah. jah! Jah?jah?ja-a-h!" The
bird began its interminable somersaults,
pausing only to reach for the
tantalizing finger of the man, who
laughed again as he withdrew the
digit in time.
For six years he had carried the
bird with him, through India and
Burma and Malacca, and not yet had
he won a sign of surrender. There
were many scars on his forefingers.
It was amazing. With one pressure
of his hand he could have crushed
out the life of the bird, but over its
brave unconquerable spirit he had no
power. And that is why he loved it.
Far away in the past they had met.
He remembered the day distinctly
and bitterly. He had been on the
brink of self-destruction. Fever and
poverty and terrible loneliness had
battered and beaten him flat into the
dust from which this time he had
had no wish to rise. He had walked
out to the railway station at Jaipur
to witness the arrival of the tourist
train from Ahmadabad. He wanted
to see white men and white women
from his own country, though up to
this day he had carefully avoided
them. (How he hated the English,
with their cold-blooded suspicion of
all who were not island born!) The
natives surged about the train, with
brass ware, antique articles of warfare,
tiger-hunting knives (accompanied
by perennial fairy tales),
skins and silks. There were beggars,
holy men, guides and fakirs.
Squatted in the dust before the
door of a first-class carriage was a
solemn brown man. in turban and
clout, exhibiting performing parrots.
It waa Rajah's turn. He fired a cannon,
turned somersaults through a
little steel hoop, opened a tiny chest,
took out four-anna piece, carried it
to his master, and in exchange received
some seed. Thereupon he waddled
resentfully back to the iron-cage,
opened the door, closed it behind him,
and began to mutter belligerently.
Warrington haggled for two straight
hours. When he returned to his
sordid evil-smelling lodgings that
night, he possessed the parrot and
four rupees, and sat up the greater
part of the night trying to make the
bird perform his tricks. The idea of
suicide no longer bothered him:
trilling thought it was. he had found
an interest in life. And on the mor
row came the Eurasian, who trustfully
loaned Warrington every coin
that he could scrape together.
Often, in the dreary heart-achy
days that followed, when weeks passed
ere he saw the face of a white
man, when he had to combat opium
and bhang and laziness in the natives
under him, the bird and his funny
tricks had saved him from whisky, or
worse. In camp he gave Rajah much
freedom, its wings being clipt, and
nothing pleased the little rebel so
much as to claw his way up to his
master's shoulder, sit there and watch
the progress of the razor, with intermittent
"jawing" at his own reflection
in the cracked mirror.
Up and down the Irrawaddy, at the
rest house, on the boats, to those of
a jocular turn of mind the three were
known as "Parrot & Co." Warrington's
amiability often misled the
various scoundrels with whom he was
at times forced to associate. A man
who smiled most of the time and
talked Hindustani to a parrot was not
to be accorded much courtesy; until
one day Warrington had settled all
distinctions, finally and primordialiy,
with the square of his fists. After
that he went his way unmolested,
having soundly trounced one of the
biggest bullies in the teak timber
yards at Rangoon.
He made no friends; he had no
confidences to exchange; nor did he
offer to become the repository of other
men's pasts. But he would share his
bread and his rupees, when he had
them, with any who asked. Many
tried to dig into his past, but he was
as unresponsive as granite. It takes
a woman to find out what a man is
and has been; and Warrington went
about women in a wide circle. In a
wav he was the most baffling kind of
a mystery to those who knew him; he
frequented the haunts of men, took a
friendly drink, played cards for small
sums, laughed and jested like any
other anchorless man. In the east
men are given curious names. They
become known by phrases, such as,
The Man Who Talks, Mr. Once Upon
a Time, The One-Kupee Man, and the
like. As Warrington never received
any mail, as he never entered a hotel,
nor spoke of the past, be became The
Man Who Never Talked of Home.
"I say, James, old sport, no more
going up and down this bally old
river. We'll go on to Rangoon tonight,
if we can find a berth."
"Yes, Sahib; this business very
piffle," replied the Eurasian without
turning his head. Two things he
dearly loved to acquire: a bit of
American slang and a bit of English
silver. He was invariably changing
his rupees into shillings, and Warrington
could not convince him that
he was always losing in the transactions.
They tramped on through the dust.
The sun dropped. A sudden chill be
gan to penetrate the haze. The white
man puffed his cheroot, its wrapper
dangling; the servant hummed an
Urdu lullaby; the parrot complained
unceasingly.
"How much money have you got,
James?"
"Three annas."
Warrington laughed and shook the
dust from his beard. "It's a great
world. James, a great and wonderful
world. I've just two rupees myself.
In other words, we are busted."
"Two rupees!" James paused and
turned. "Why, Sahib, you have
three hundred thousand rupees in
your pocket."
"But not worth an anna until I get
to Rangooon. Didn't those duffers
give you anything for handling their
luggage the other day?"
"Not a piece. Sahib."
"Rotters! It takes an Englishman
to turn a small trick like that. Well,
well; there were extenuating circumstances.
They had sore heads.
Xo man likes to pay three hundred
thousand for something he could
have bought for ten thousand. And
1 made them come 10 me, james, 10
me. I made them come to this Godforsaken
hole, just because it pleased
my fancy. When you have the
skewer in, always be sure to turn it
around. I believe I'm heaven-born
after all. The Lord hates a quitter,
and so do I. I nearly quit myself,
once; eh Rajah, old top? But I
made them come to me. That's the
milk in the cocoanut. the curry on the
rice. They almost had me. Two rupees!
It truly is a great world."
"Jah, jah, jah! Jah?jah?jah?
ja-a-a-h!" screamed the parrot.
"Chaloo!"
"Go on! That's the ticket. If I
were a praying man, this would be
the time for it. Three hundred thousand
rupees!" The man looked at
the .far horizon, as if he would force
his gaze beyond, into the delectable
land, the Kden out of which he had
been driven. "Caviar and truffles, and
Romanee Conti, and Partagas!"
"Chicken and curry and Scotch
whisky."
"Bah! You've the imagination of a
he-goat."
"All right. Sahib."
"James. 1 owe you three hundred
rupees, and I am going to add seven
hundred more. We've been fighting
this old top for six years together, and
you've been a good servant and a
good friend: and I'll take you with me
as far as this fortune will go, if you
say the word."
"Ah. Sahib, I am much sorry. But
Delhi calls, and 1 go. A thousand rupees
will make much business for me
in the Chandney Chowk."
"Just as you say."
Presently they became purple
shades in a brown world.
(To be Continued.)
St. Petersburg and the Neva.?When
the river Neva rises St. Petersburg is
always in danger of inundation. The
city was built upon a swamp, and the
land has la-en laboriously reclaimed
and is liable to overflow by the Neva.
That river divides and forms a delta
and this delta is embraced within the
city limits. Although the main portion
of St. Petersburg is situated on the
mainland (a peninsula washed on the
east by the Neva and on the northwest
by the Great Neva), parts of the
city stand on islands formed by the
arms of the river. The islands, with
their gardens and villas, are a pretty
feature of the capital. The various
parts of the city arc connected by
over 100 bridges, the longest being the
Troitsky bridge, about a third of a
mile in length.?Westminster Gazette.
FOOTSTEPS OF THE FATHERS
As Traced In Early Files of The
Yorkvllle Enquirer
NEWS AND VIEWS OF YESTERDAY
Bringing Up Records of the Past and
Giving the Younger Readers of Today
a Pretty Comprehensive Knowledge
of the Things that Most Concerned
Generations that Have Gone
Before.
The first installment of the notes
appearing under this heading was
published in our issue of November 14.
1913. The notes are being prepared
by the editor as time and opportunity
permit. Their purpose is to bring
into review the events of the past for
the pleasure and satisfaction of the
older people and for the entertainment
ana instruction or ine present generatlon.
FORTY-FIFTH INSTALLMENT
Thursday Morning, November 15,
1860.
(The Sentiment in Charleston).
The events which have transpired in
Charleston within the past ten days,
or fortnight, are destined to fill a
stirring chapter in the pages of future
chronicles of our history. Such excitement
as exists there now has
scarcely been known before within the
memory of the living men. The vast
majority of the citizens seem to be in
favor of the Immediate withdrawal
from the Union. Upon the announcement
of Lincoln's election, the officers
of the United States army attempted
to remove the Federal arms from the
Arsenal in the city to Fort Moultrie
on Sullivan's island, and for this purpose
a sloop was sent to the pier; but
the sloop was compelled to return
? V? /-v oiti'/onc rfidlQt
WllIlllUl IIIC anna intr VII|UV..U
ed the movement. On the evening of
the 9th they had a "grand secession
rally," in Institute Hall, with warm
speeches and enthusiastic cheering:
appointed a president and fifty vice
presidents and sent a committee of
three on a special train to Columbia
to interest their delegation to urge
immediate resistance. On the same
day, in commemoration of the reopening
of the Charleston and Savannah
railroad, the military turned out;
visitors from Savannah were received,
and speeches were made in favor of
disunion Everything there has the
ring of a Southern Confederacy about
it. Banners float from the windows
of the newspaper offices, bank offices,
business houses and across the streets
and drives, expressing the prevailing
feeling or resistance, greet me eye ai
every turn. Ten thousand cheers for
glorious old Charleston!
Thursday, November 22, 1860,
"The York Rangers."
At a meeting held at Rock Hill on
the 17th instant for the purpose of organizing
a cavalry company to be
styled the "York Rangers," Col. Cad
Jones was called to the chair and M.
A. Moore requested to act as secretary.
After the chairman had explained
the object of the meeting and urged
in a clear and forcible manner the
propriety and necessity for such an
organization in the present crisis of
affairs, the meeting, on motion of AlD/xKortonn
nrnnopdpfl to thi* hllsi
ness of the day, which was the election
of officers.
On motion of M. A. Moore, the
chairman appointed John Biggers, N.
A. Steele, Allen Robertson, Daniel
Williams, O. E. Mc Steele, Edward
Avery, D. D. Moore and W. L. Robertson
a committee to nominate officers
for the company. After a short
consultation, the committee reported
the names of E. R. Mills for captain;
Edward Avery, first lieutenant, W. L.
Robertson, second lieutenant, and W.
A. Steele, third lieutenant, which was
unanimously approved by the meeting
and duly declared elected.
On motion of Daniel Williams it was
resolved that the servi-e of the company
be forthwith endered to the
governor of the state by the captain.
On motion of Col. Edward Caveny,
a committee was appointed by the
chairman to draw rules and bylaws
for the regulation of the company, to
be submitted at tne next meeting.
The committee consists of Edward
Avery, W. L. Robertson, W. A. Steele,
D. D. Moore, and J. C. Hicklin.
On motion of Daniel Williams, it
was resolved that the proceedings of
this meeting be publ.shed in the
Yorkville Enquirer and the Rock Hill
Chronicle.
On motion the meeting adjourned
until the 22d instant.
Cud Jones, Chairman.
M. A. Moore, Secretary.
* *
The young ladies of the Female college
on Saturday evening last, hoisted
a very well designed flag on the
steeple of their college. On one side
is represented a broken chain; the
upper links of black linked together
with red, and relieved with white,
typical of the North; the lower links
are pure white and forming a new
circle, in the centre of which the sun
of Freedom is shining?typical of the
sentiment that the South, just ushering
in the natal day of her proud and
matchless independence, will be "the
last asylum of constitutional liberty."
On the opposite side is a Palmetto
tree, with the word "N'une" above and
"Stet" below?a Latin enigma, which
freely translated, means "Now let the
Palmetto State stand upon her sovereignty."
The ground is deep blue:
and the whole looks well with its lofty
meaning from its lofty eminence. The
Jaspers turned out to greet its erection
and resolved never to desert it.
* *
our exchanges bring the news of
insurrections rife in different parts of
the South: arid we have heard of more
daring and impudent "runaways" recently
than ever before. These things
are largely owing to the agitated state
of the country; and art a cause why
we should speed that dissolution which
alone can bring peace and security.
The commotion works its way to the
slave population; they gather from
one another vague rumors about an
abolitionist being elected who is going
to set them tree; and they are foolish
enough, some of them, carried away
by the unreasoned hopp, already to
show "the cloven fool." The great
body of our slaves, we believe, know
how free from care ard how happy
they are, and will prove loyal to their
masters; a few, however, are Infected,
either because they are lazy or rascalish,
and are disposed to give their
owners trouble. Dissolution will wind
up the jig with these. The fact is, in
Union is raid after raid, internecine
lawlessness and anarchy, servile and
civil war; out of it, peace, security,
prosperity and the preservation of liberty.
God speed the glorious revolution.
On Friday evening last the Jasper
Light Infantry tried their skill at target
shooting?standing and kneeling.
The distance, 100 yards, fell far below
the utmost range of the guns, and consequently
almost all the balls struck
above the mark. The proprietor of
The Enquirer and Major Clinton made
the best shots?Mr. Grist "plugging
the centre," and the major breaking
the wing of the target. We understand
that the members of the company
are t:o shoot for a silver cup
soon.
(To be Continued.)
j.
MEXICAN AGAINST MEXICAN
Associate Deformed Missionary Tells
of Fighting Around Vera Cruz.
Yesterday, Sabbath, the fifth day of
tha month, a bombshell shot from the
Mdxican gunboat "Veracruz" alarmed
every one. We were led to believe
that the rebels that have been threatening
an attack on the city, had fallen
back to their first position some twenty
miles distant. The stores had all
been open until noon and buyers lined
the counters, and as is customary on
the Sabbath, the market was visited by
thousands. Many of the rich and well
to do go to market for diversion; Sabbath
is also pay day and the working
class buy the week's supplies and the
masses were doing the marketing for
the day.
At nine o'clock we met at our little
church in he center of the city and
had our morning service in Spanish;
ninety-six were present and the collection
amounted to nine dollars and a
few cents, contributed by eight classes.
At half past ten o'clock the Mexican
congregation went to their homes and
the English congregation came in. The
service las:ed about an hour, the attention
was all that a preacher could
ask of an audience and the singing
spirited. There is a mixed school for
English speaking children right by the
side of the church, and a Sabbath
school is conducted there every Sabbath
morning. The most of these children
are attendants at church and
they are a bright score of boys and
girls. By noon all were at their homes
and possibly not one had thought of
whet was in store for the afternoon.
In December when the battle began,
pitiful fear was feelingly shown;
houses, offices and stores were closed,
but it was quite different last Sabbath.
After the Urst shot was fired and the
rattle of Mausers began, the most
unconcerned indifference was manifested.
On the square in front of the telegraph
and postofflce buildings was a
multitude of human beings, big and
little, old and young, male and female,
enjoying the refreshing sea breeze and
splendid music. Some were promenading
the gravel and cement walks,
admiring the rich, beautiful Mowers,
others sitting in conversation with
friends, others slowly driving in carriages
and autos round and round the
square; two blocks from that is another
pretty square on which the municipal
bu ldings and cathedral front.
Under the portals of the municipal
building was the semi-monthly drawing
of the Tamaulipas lottery, a splendid
band was playing the sweetest
music, and scores of all classes were
present to hear the numbers read out;
four blocks from this square is another
and or it had been erected some
two scores of booths in which is every
device for gambling, and that was
crowded v/ith little boys, young men,
middle-aged and old men, all animated
with the gambling spirit, and
gambling, if they had a cent to risk.
All this on Sabbath and in hearing
of a battle not more tnan a mue ana a
half distant. No one could know the
results of the encounter, nor could any
one anticipate the treatment that
might be received from the enemy
should their attack be successful. All
knew that brother was lighting with
brother aid that many were falling on
both sides before the continued lire of
rifles, machine guns and roaring cannon.
Carriages converted into ambulances,
carrying the flags of the Red
and White Cross societies were driving
like Jehu to and from the battlelield,
bringing in the dying and wounded.
Such things call for the deepest
feelings of sorrow; but it was not
written in the faces of the crowd. It
was a revelation to me. Can people
get accustomed to Cod's providence
and chastisement?
With the night fall, the crack of
Iho r-r.a r- ,,f enrinun were hushed, it
was a calm that was noticeable, and
how I did wish we would never hear
it again. At seven o'clock we had an
attentive audience to listen to truths
founded on, "Dadnos de vuestro aceite."
Matt. 25:8.
This morning everything was quiet
until ten o'clock when the battle was
renewed at Dona Cecilia and it has
raged all day, and judging by the
number of guns and rapidity of the
firing, the battle has been fiercely contested.
From the high buildings the
battle could be seen, but we do not
know the results. Men, women and
children, non-combatants, have been
wounded and killed and many soldiers
have been brought in. The house just
at the corner from us has been converted
into a White Cross hospital,
and it is full. The country is bathed
in blood and shrouded in sorrow and
distress, and the end is not yet. With
night fall things are quiet again.?Rev.
N'eill E. Pressly in Associate Reformed
Presbyterian.
The Dark and Bloody Ground.?Before
the white man began to explore
Kentucky, about the middle of the
eighteenth century, the region was
~ "" f, ir mtnv lnrpp
U. VUBl lUIIIUiih Biuui.u
tribes ol' the south, north and east,
and between these tribes there was
continuous conflict for the possession
of the rich game privileges. Later on,
when the white people settled in the
territory, their struggle with the red
men was more bitter and persistent
than in almost any other section of
the continent: hence the sanguinary
name that was given t<? the territory.
"The Dark and Hloody Ground."
I MEXICO'S LEADERS.
Pen Picture by a Man Who Knows
Them.
GEN. HUERTA HAS GREAT ABILITY.
Villa is Characterized as Cruel and
Cowardly, and Carranza is Said to
bt Affable; But Incapable as a
Leader of Troops.
Who are the big men of Mexico?
I Above the din of battle south of the
Rio Grande we hear three names?
Huerta, Carranza, Villa. As a war
correspondent in Mexico, it repeatedly
has fallen to my lot to follow each of
these men in the field. I have seen
each in the heat and action of battle,
and have talked with them on conventional
topics in time of peace. As a
result I have had considerable opportunity
to study their characters and to
judge their ability to fill the positions
they now occupy.
At the very crater of the Mexican
volcano and the cause of all the trouble
is Huerta?Dronounce it Werta.
There is a saying in Mexico that it is
easier to become president than to fill
the office and exercise the authority of
the executive head of the nation. Huerta
has discovered this, and also that
it is easier to get into the presidency
than to get out of it.
Don Victoriano, as he is known in
Mexico City, really was not prepared
to assume the office of president and
command a people. He had not learned
fully how to command an army,
for he was made a major general only
a few months before the coup that
overthrew Madero and placed him in
the National palace. Had he been
granted a little more time before being
forced into the presidential cha'r
Huerta might have made a better joo
of the presidency, but from the present
outlook his end is not far distant.
Overreached Himself.
Despite the many reports to the
contrary, General Huerta is about the
strongest man Mexico has produced
since the days of Porflro Diaz. But
Huerta's lack of knowledge of men
and world's affairs has been his failing.
He has thought it a trait of strong
character to quibble with Uncle Sam
with a view of gaining popular support.
In this he has been successful
to a great extent, but in tampering
with the patience of President Wilson
over the Tampico incident, he spilled
a little more water out of the bucket
than he expected.
The result has been his discrediting
himself in the eyes of his immediate
associates and the masses of the
Mexican people to such an extent that
unless he attempts some new act of
cunnimr dinlomacy. he is doomed at
the hands of his own countrymen. At
least, that is the outlook.
Huerta has probably the best technical
education of any man in Mexico.
What he lacks is practicability?not
the kind of which Madero was devoid,
but the sound fundamental principles
of government and legitimate intercourse
between nations. He is ambitious
for the good of his country?all
Mexicans are, more or less, but he has
permitted his ambition to sway his
judgment, so that he has stooped to
means that slowly, but steadily are
working out his doom, perhaps at the
hands of a foreign nation, but more
likely at the hands of his own people.
Huerta's mother was an Indian and
his father a Spaniard?a combination
that hardly could be practical. His diplomacy
and cunning, his crafty ways
and his personal fearlessness are the
Indian instincts inherited from his
squaw mother; his love for fame and
cruelty, together with his natural tendency
toward oppression of those
weaker than he, and his ever-ready
willingness to deal injustice, come
from his Spanish blood.
Graduated an Engineer.
Educated in the military school of
Chapultepec college. Victoriano was
graduated at the age of 21 a commissioned
lieutenant of engineers. During
his schooling he is said to have developed
a liking for scientific subjects,
and headed his classes in mathematics
and astronomy. I have heard
the Constitutionalists remark that had
Huerta continued his scientific research
and contented himself with the
stars and their courses, Mexico would
have been a far more peaceful country
today.
The constitution of Mexico provides
that each graduate of the College of
Chapultepec must stand ready to give
service in the army. Young Huerta
first served during the presidency of
Lerdo de Tejida in charge of a garrison
in the state of Oaxaca. Later he
was made captain of engineers and
placed in command of a small coast
in Guerrero. During his stay in the
western state there occurred an incident
that showed he had developed a
daring nature and also developed what
probably is the basis of "Puncho" Vil
la's hatred for him.
Villa was leading a hand of guerillas
in the mountains where Huerta was
stationed. The ravages of the bandits
on the population of the valley had
become so frequent that Huerta decided
to put an end to the robbers. Accordingly
he took two men and, unarmed,
went into the hills in the
t
neighborhood of Villa's camp. He had
gone only a short distance when he
was surrounded by Villa's men and told
to surrender. Without making a show
of resistance and to the disgust of his
companions, lie surrendered without a
murmur.
The bandit chief held his prisoner
for several days and finally entered
into an arrangement with Huerta by
which the latter agreed on a certain
day to leave the town where he was
stationed in order that the robbers
might loot the stores and escape to
the hills without the necessity of any
blood being spilled.
On the day the bandits were to visit
the place. Huerta ordered his men to
remain indoors and permitted the intruders
to reach the centre of the
town. As the guerrillas dismounted
they were met by a volley from the
guns of Huerta's rurales. The party
was surrounded and Villa was captured
and imprisoned. Later he escaped
by breaking out of the jarFounded
Army Staff.
When Porlirio Diaz became president,
Huerta planned the general staff
for the Mexican army,which he founded
in 1879. Later he became head of
the Military Map commission at Jalapa,
Vera Cruz, and in the eight years
fcdlowing surveyed the greater part of
the country. The commission still is
at work on the task of mapping the
mountainous states of Mexico.
In 1901 Huerta was made lieut nant
colonel and served in a campaign
against the Yaqui Indians in Sonora,
and afterward in the war of extermination
against the Mayas in Yucatan,
until the last of that tribe was deported
to the Jungles of Quintana Roo. He
then returned to the capital, where he
continued his map-making until the
rebellion of Madeto in Chihuahua.
What has happened in the last three
years is too fresh in the public mind
to be renumerated.
In the field I have found Huerta to
be fearless, but his knowledge of military
tactics is deficient. During his
campaign against Orozoco I watched
him fire at a line of hills with fourinch
guns for five days without getting
a return shot. The soldiers of
the Mexican Federal army hardly ever
aim or sight when they shoot. In most
instances they point their guns in the
direction of the enemy and fire. Huerta
has carried out this trait in his
statesmanship. His carelessness in his
dealings with the United States precipitated
a crisis at Tampico, and it
does not appear as If it will be long
before he carries himself to his own
end and probable death.
Carranza's Career.
Born 59 years ago, of pure Spanish
stock, with grdy eyes that have come
to him from his Goth or Vandal ancestors,
who settled in Spain, Venuistiano
Carranza, "first chief of the Constitutionalist
revolution, was educated for
law in Mexico City. He was forced to
give up his studies because of defective
eyesight. He is a farmer with a
small fortune of $200,000, and had no
affiliations with the great landed proprietors,
such as was Madero. He was
elected to the senate from the state of
Coahuila under the Diaz regime. He
opposed Diaz, however, and resigned,
later joining the Madero revolution.
During the presidency of Madero,
Carranza was made provisional governor
of Coahuila, and later was elected.
Today he remains in this office on
the theory of Huerta's title to the
presidency being false. He was recoged
by the governors of Sonora, Sinaloa
and Durango. For a while he exercised
the same federal power over that territory
as if he had been president.
Carranza is pleasant to talk to and
speaks English almost a3 well as
Spanish, but he inherits the ideas of
Madero and has proved himself equally
incapable of restoring peace in the
country unaer nis control, ms miiure
in this, principally, was caused by his
lack of knowledge of military affairs.
He never has taken active part in a
battle, and has not shown any ability
of statesmanship, except the art of
quibbling, which is the Mexican's human
nature.
It was natural that out of the host
of bandit chiefs who joined his standard
of the San Luis Potosi manifesto
calling for effective suffrage, no reelection
and the division of lands, that
one must arise to assume military
leadership of the Constitutionalist
cause. Villa aspired for that place and
won it, through his recent victories
against the garrisons of Huerta in the
north.
Sentenced by Villa.
My first personal meeting with Villa
was last July, when he captured the
city of Torreon from Huerta. Shortly
before the fall of the city, which had
been bombarded for a week, in company
with two other correspondents,
an American and a Mexican, I left the
city and entered the rebel lines to ascertain
the losses on that side of the
fight and also to find a telegraph station
in tha virinitv nf Palacio Oomez.
We had gone only a little way when
we were halted by a squad of rebels,
arrested and taken before the rebel
chief.
In searching the Mexican, the rebels
found some papers, which Villa, although
he could not read at the time,
pronounced as sympathetic to the
Federal cause. Accordingly, we were
sentenced to be shot. The Mexican
was charged with being a spy, and we,
despite our protests that we were
Americans, and displayed our Federal
and rebel passes, were conducted to an
adobe wall with him.
When lined up before the firing
squad, Villa asked us if we had any
final word to say. The Mexican spoke
up:
"It's all very well to shoot us if you
have the upper hand," he said, "but
you shall die first. I have 150 men in
that clump of trees yonder, and, when
your men raise their guns to fire, your
body will be riddled with bullets."
Villa kn?w that the Mexican was a
former Federal army officer and took
him at his word. He looked at the
clump of trees, turned and said disgustedly:
"Get on your horses and get out of
here."
Villa has not the daring of Huerta.
He dreads pain and never has been
known to lead his forces In battle. His
nature is cowardly. His mother was
a negro and his father is said to have
been an Indian. His cruel nature, evidenced
by his torture of prisoners and
executions, show his instincts of the
savages. Only recently he has consented
not to murder prisoners in cold
blood.
Little hope could be had for Mexico
if it were under the leadership of a (
man for whom civilization burns the
taper of the middle ages.?By Marvin
Ferree of the editorial staff of the
Public Ledger, formerly editor of La
Tribuna, a Spanish daily in Mexico ,
City.
i
The Thrifty Spirit.?It seems easier
to be a deacon or elder nowadays than
it was in our fathers' time. The portentous
solemnity of countenance has 1
gone out with the "blacks" that used 1
to be essential for the duty of stand- 1
ing at "the plate." Only last Sunday, 1
says a correspondent in the Glasgow 1
News, I laid down my mite under the
gaze of quite a sprightly deacon wear- '
ing a soft gray hat and a suit of light
tweeds! When daddy stands at the
plate a certain small toy finds it difficult
to observe due decorum as he '
passes into worship. In fact, he shows
a desire to take his parent's hand and !
stand at the receipt of collection too.
On Sunday, as I sat waiting for the I
service to hegin, listen'ng to the chink 1
of the coin in the "plate" in the vesti- '
bule, I heard a young voice uplifted in '
argument with a fond mamma: "But
mummy, it's daddy! He'll let us in
for nothing. Can't I keep my penny <
for another time?" i
PREPARED FOR CAMPAIGN
Army Inefficiency of Old Times No
Longer Apparent.
Washington officials believe, says a
dispatch from Washington to the New
York Evening Post, that, if an army is
sent into Mexico, there will be no duplication
of the state of unpreparedness
in which the army was found a
the outbreak of the Spanish war, and
which led to rows between officers of
high rank and to the scandals which
gave "embalmed beef a place In the
army annals. With the lesson of the
Spanish war behind them the chiefs of
departments have done the best they
could with the money which was forth
coming, and it can be said today that
except in the matter of the Held artillery,
the army will advance, with a
prospect that the men will be well
clothed, well fed, and well armed, and
that every precaution will be taken
and every means afforded to save them
irom me ravages 01 disease.
It was just after the Spanish war
that the general staff of the army was
established. The general staff not only
has looked after plans for operations
in case of emergency, but it has done
what it could to see that the supplies
of all kinds were properly distributed
and made available for Instant use.
Under an act of congress, approved
two years ago, the quartermaster, subsistence,
and pay departments of the
army were consolidated into a single
corps to be known as the quartermasters'
corps. July 1, 1907, President
Roosevelt nominated Maojr James B.
Aleshire as brigadier-general in command
of the quartermasters' department,
and on August 24, 1912, President
Taft nominated him to be major
general.
Today Gen. Aleshire has authority
over the three departments, which,
consolidated, make up the quartermasters'
corps. Brig.-Gen. Henry G.
Sharpe is the commissary general, and
Brig.-Gen. Carroll A. Devol is the paymaster
general of the army.
The responsibilities resting on Gen.
Aleshlre are, perhaps, greater than
those which rest on any other man of
the United States army. With. Gen.
Sharpe and the other officers of the
quartermasters' corps, he is responsible
for feeding and clothing the armies
in the field. Soldiers do not
growl as hard at the man who leads
them to defeat as they do at the man
who fails to lead them to dinner.
A good many people probably will
remember the plight in which an officer
of the subsistence department
found himself because of the beef
scandal of Spanish war days. There
was a court martial and a suspension
from rank and command, with a heavy
if not total, loss of pay for two years.
Ever since uen. rornrio ulaz dropped
the military dictatorship of Mexico
and retired to more congenial quarters
abroad, the chiefs of the various
army departments have been preparing
for trouble in Mexico.
It is the duty of the quartermaster
general to know what he must do, and
what he can do if this country were to
become involved in war with any power
on earth. The matter is a constant
study, and necessitate a shifting of
plans occasionally as a possibility of
war changes from one quarter to another.
The anxieties of the chiefs of
these departments are great, and they
have been made much greater because
of the difficulties which came to the
service at the time a part of our army
went into Cuba and another part of it
went into camps in Virginia, Georgia
and Florida,
Every effort is being made to keep
our army of invason, well supplied
with field necessities, and to keep the
men as comfortable as possible under
the circumstances, and to make it certain
that the spirit of the soldiers is
kept burning by a sufficient supply of
fuel in their stomachs.
WHY STARS SHOOT
Meteors Falling Toward Sun are Burned
by Earth's Friction.
Each so-called shooting star is merely
a cold little meteor which is moving
around the sun in its own path, Just as
the Immensely larger comets and plan
ets are doing, says St. Nicholas.
On the average these particles are
moving about 26 miles a second when
they are at the distance from the sun
that the earth is, and, as the earth itself
is moving 181 miles a second, the
two bodies are sure to collide with a
high velocity.
If the earth runs into the particle in
such a way as to overtake it, It will
strike out air with a speed of only about
eight miles a second; if they meet
"head on," so to speak, they may come
together with a speed of 44 miles a second.
In either case, the friction of the air
on the cold particle, as this plows
through the air, instantly heats it up
to a heat so great that it is vaporized
and appears to us as a shooting star.
The reason why the little meteoric
particles are moving so very swiftly in
the first place is simply because they
are falling toward the sun.
If you could carry a stone many millions
of miles away from the earth and
there let it drop, it would begin to fall
toward the earth very slowly, but as it
fell it would connnuauy move ituici
and faster, until when it finally struck
the earth it would be moving no less
than seven miles in each second.
In exactly the same way each of the
little meteoric particles away off in
space began long ago to feel the pull,
or "gravitation" of our sun and to fall
toward that body.
If the meteorite and the sun had
both been at rest at first, the metecrite
would have simply fallen into our
sun; but as our sun is moving through
space at the rate of 11 miles in each
second the meteorite will not hit it exactly,
but will miss it and begin to
swing around it in a curved path.
As the sun is so much larger than the
earth, its pull is very much greater. If
you could visit the sun, you would find
when there that you weighed more than
27 times as much as you weigh on the
parth.
This great pull of the sun on each
side of the meteorites makes them fall
very swiftly, indeed; it is because the
pull is so strong that when they have
fallen toward the sun to the place where
the earth is we find them moving some
26 miles in a single second.
til Even when he can't make anything
?lse a man can generally be depended
upon to make a fool of himself.