Morris tribune., 1883-04-18
MEXICAN B1NDITTL.
Highic0v zraUel as II .as Before Inc OPEN
ing Of the Kaifi0ad.


Hightcav ZraUei as II .as Before me OPEN
ing of the Railroad.
ICor Of the New York World
The road from Mexico city to San
Juan del Rio used to be the worst part
of the journey to the interior when one
was obliged to travel by diligence, and
was the part most infested by highway
robbers. These highway robbers are
by no means extinct as'yet, but with the
railroads one hears much less of them.
When ] arrived in this country for the
first time, some nineteen years ago,
had the pleasure of being robbed two or
three times both on the road to San
Juan del Rio and on the road to Vera
Cruz. / am glad Of it now, as being
robbed on the highway by the genuine
Mexican bandit is sensation soon to be
q thing of the past, and like leaving
the track occasionally and being shaken
up by new emotions. I was doubly
shaken at that time, remember, by the
awful motion of the diligence, and my
fright at meeting the " campaneros," as
they call them.
1t is picturesque sight to see band
of Mexican "banditti" galloping down
q mountain path on magnificent horses |;
their large Mexican hats, trimmed with
gold and silver, shading their faces /;
their pantaloons buttoned down the side
with large silver buttons; their pistols
in their belts behind, their swords at
their sides and their serapes-a sort of
plaid of bright and variegated colors-
artistically thrown over one shoulder
and hiding their entire face with the ex-
ception of one eye, which glares fero-
ciously on the unfortunate passengers of
the diligence they are about to rob.
Their Captain gallops at their head and
shouts imperiously to the driver of the
diligence to stop. liz one trip in which
I encountered them there was lady
among the passengers who wore hand
some diamond ring rather tight for her
finger. In her fright she could not get
it of, and one of the brigands said to his
leader: "Captain, the lady cannot get
her ring of. What are we to do?" To
which the ungallant Mexican Fra Diav-
olo answered very coolly, "Cut her fin
ger off.
You can easily imagine the cold shud-
der that ran through us all. Fortunate
ly she at last managed to get the ring
off, and we were not forced to witness
an amputation. In another journey a
more amusing incident occurred. There
was Bishop in the diligence, and they
robbed him of his ring. When they had
got through their operations, and taken
everything of value we had, they knelt
down and asked the Bishop to give them
his blessing. He told them it was i'm
possible to bless them without his ring,
hoping in that way to get possession of
it. They returned him the ring and he
solemnly blessed them, but when he had
done SO they again took his ring and gall
loped off with it, leaving his Grace in
the middle of the road exclaiming
"Bandidos perversos they have
robbed me even of my blessing p
Robberies on the Vera Cruz road at
that time were of daily occurrence, and,
as the brigands possessed themselves of
the passengers clothes, I have often
seen, from my balcony in the Hotel
Iturbide, men and women arrive naked.
An Englishman said to me once: ST
generally travel with two or three copies
of the London Times. You know it is a
very large newspaper, and in case of
those COMPOUNDED blackguards taking all
my clothes, by Jove the Times might
be useful"