Connecticut western news., 1883-02-21
THE FRONTIER MEXICAN.
A Vivid Description by a Man Who Knows
 Him.
From Texas Siftings. l

In many other respects there is re- markable resemblance between the Rio Grande and the Mexican. Both are frequently dry, with the difference that the river needs water, while the Mexican requires aqua die1ate or mesc0tc. The Rio Grande is guilty of sudden risings- so are the Mexicans. Both uprisings desolate the country and cause the loss of much life and property. After the river has spread all over the country, it as suddenly subsidies so with the Mexican revolutions. There is no tell ing when they may occur or subside. The channel of the river is another un- certain thing. Nobody knows where to look for it tomorrow There is no fixed channel. To-day it will be breaking into bank on the Mexican side; next day it will be meandering over the prairies on the American side, carrying off property that does not belong to it. It is just so with the Mexican. It is hard to say which side of the Rio Grande he properly belongs to. He is, however, in the hahit of regarding all loose property on either side as belonging to himself, and he carries it of. The Mexican who claims to be a Mexican citizen, and lives over ill Mexico, is as much like the Mexican who lives in Texas, and claims to be citizen of the United States, as one buzzard is like another In fact, he is often one and the same individual. When there is an election going on in Texas, you will see and hear him about the polls, as full of whisky and party pride as if he were simon-pure American. He can swear as fuently in English as if he knew no other tongue, and he has become so thoroughly Americanized that he will vote in two or three wards, and perjure himself with facility that puts the American to the blush. He can also hold two or three offices at the same time, and draw their salaries as readily as if he had red hair and blue eyes, and his name was Mike. As an American juror he has no equal, and as witness he has no superior. He can swear to an un- limited number of lies before jury, with a consistency of statement and placidity of demeanor that make him the envy of the white races represented on the Rio Grande. He can even make Fourth of July speeches, and if he sees money in it, hurl sarcasms and invectives at the perfidious mongrel who infests the opposite bank of the Rio Grande. And yet, perhaps, the very next week after going through all these truly American accomplishments, you may..fnd him over in Mexico, at the head of gang of ruffians that would have put Falstaffs s recruits to blush, carrying on revolution in the name of God and Liberty.
 When the Mexican authorities are ap- plying for volunteers for the army, the Mexicans come over to this side, and are American citizens. That the Mexican volunteers should fly to this side of the river may seem strange to those not &C., uuainted with Mexican affairs, and re- quires explanation. The Mexican word is Uolat,,torio. The voluntarios are first caught, very much as the English used to catch their sailors. A big ball, or ytiesto, is given, to which all the Mexicans within convenient distance are invited. There are sounds of revelry by night, and all goes merry as an unmarried belle. Suddenly the place is surrounded by soldiers, who capture all the able bodied men, and make Uolooatarios of them by tying them together, by the hands, to long rope. General Don Miguel de Casabianca, in his report to the Mexican government, has an item of expense: "Three dollars for one hundred feet of rope, to tie volunteers with.'