St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-03-13

; upon the fashionable prOmenades. Th
nam plaza and principal streets hav,
electric lights, and horse car connect
The city with the adjoining pueblo u
, Guadalupe.
They tell us that the days of revOlu-
, tiOn are over in Mexico, aud that tht
blessed time has arrived when til,
swords are beaten into plow- shares
Yet the very air is quivering with sup
pressed excitement and everybody i.
alert with uneasiness. That you ma,
understand what they call 'time o
peace" let me cite IL few circumstances
There has not been an actual revolt in
TINS state for several months, but al
the least symptom of disturbance
such as runaway horse, or the pur.
suit of "A burglar might cause-people
are IN II panic, business places are
closed IN the twinkling of an eye, doors
are doubled-l0cked and shutters clap
ped up to windows with an alacrity
which could only have been acquired
from frequent practice. When riot
actually does occur, woe to the luck
less pedestrian who happens to he
caught upon the streets In an in
stant, before he has time to realize
what 1t is all about, every house is Sc
curely barricaded and on no account
Will he opened till the brief storm blows
over. SO he has no recourse but to
take to his heels, and dodge from cor
ner to corner, amid a shower of stones
or bullets or both, with as much fear
from the soldiers on one hand as from
the insurgents. on the other. A few
days ago, when the "nickel riot, which
has been breaking ont in spots all over
the body polite like Il badly treated
case of measles, reached Zacatecas,
everybody not among the rioters was
III doors and every business house Sc
curely locked, before one could say
Jack Robinson. The multitude of
small dealers on the market plaza, who
have no doors to lock, ran away in
alright, leaving their wares entirely
unprotected. The result was that the
malcOntents fell to stealing with such
vlgor that they forgot to "'revOlute,n
and the trouble subsidized without a
shot being fired.
AsSassinations are of not infrequent
occurrence here, and human life is
valued less than that of "the beasts
which perish" An ex-governor of the
prominent in politics for many wears
and figured in more than one revolu-
ton, has lost no less than nineteen
members of his immediate family by
the red hand of murder. The other
day an attempt was made to assassi-
nate him, his carriage being wayiaid
by masked men as it was returning to
his ranch about three miles from town.
1t happened that the general had re-
manned at home that day, and only his
nephew, wife and sister were in the |
carriage. The nephew was killed in
his stead, and also the coachman, one
of the shots grazing the sisters cheek. |
The horses were cut loose and the ter
a9 H9aTIS9gFsfaggu KS fgu EsoMeR qggereedd GMSarFk GMSarFk
say they obeyed, leaving their dead in
the dusty road. This being merely ii |
political disturbance" it attracted no
particular attention, and the assasSins |
are still at large. Nobody thinks of
riding outside of city limits or indeed |
within them after night fall, without
being well armed aud attended. Betsy |
and |. with two other ladies, were in
vited to spend yesterday at "A hacienda |
five miles away. The elegant barouche,
drawn by six clipped mules, which was
sent for our conveyance, contained |
four shining pistols in its inside pock- |
cts for the use of the ladies in case of
emergency. The cOachman and foot |
man We're equipped with two revolvers |
and knife apiece, and two Outritlers
accompanied us, each with gun, sword |
and pistols fastened to his saddle. But
soon this was not considered sufficient, |
and two gentlemen on horseback |
each with his armed and mounted ser
vant-jOined in the escort, making
quite cavalcade, bristlng with the
implements of warfare, as we wound
over the silent mountain road. Owing |
to Il belated dinner, it Glanced that we
did not return ut the hour expected,
and, as darkness came on, the friends |
in town fell into wild state of anX-
iety, fancying that our mangled re-
mains might he somewhere decorating
the wayside.
As an instance of how little regard !
the government has for life, let me tell
YOU pitiful story A child was miss
ing from a mining settlement at the
edge of Zacatecas, and as weeks went
by, bringing no trace of him, the dis
tracted parents imagined that he had |
been kidnapped. Thereupon, some
thirty persons, most of them laboring
men about mines, were taken ont and
shot on the merest suspicion that they
might know something about the lost
boy About three months atterward
somebody happened to look down
into deep hollow (probably an aban
dOned prospect hOle) not many yards
a. T., 4 L
something therein which excited his
curiosity. Closer investigation re-
vealed small skeletOn,- the poor
child having undoubtedly fallen in
during one of the epileptic fits to which
he was subject, and had starved to
death within sight of home hap
pened to he present when the little
moldy jacket aud muddy shoes were
brought up, amid crowd who wept
with sympathy for the mourning
mother; but nobody had thought for
the thirty victims mostly fathers OF
families who were sacrificed in the
unavailing search.
There is much dissatisfaction Just
now in Zacatecas over newly elected
officials, and when the time comes for
the old incumbents to step down and
out, trouble may be confidently eX
pected. Revolutions generally begin
in the haciendas. where several hun
dred poems are employed. Aiming
themselves with whatever they can
lay hands ou. they sweep through the
country, gaining strength by new re
cruitS at every ranch, rObblng and
numbering as they go. But the poor in
this country are So very poor that they
cannot accomplish much against a rich
and powerful government, when a
single cannon shot costs more than
! score of them can earn i'll "a month.
/ When the soldiers come charging