Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-25
OUR SISTER REPUBLIC.
THE DELIGHTS OF TRAVELLING IN
AEXICO.
Prompt and UnaduIterated Justice
to Train Wreckers-The Mys-
teries of Frontier Trading.
IREcegp-uyIoN, speeial correspondenee.

uOt long ago near Queretaro. We were
coming down toward the capital, when our
train was stopped by another which had
been thrown from the track by a gang of
wreckers. As usual, the purpose of the
miscreants was plumber, but the train men
end passengers had been too well armed,
and a vigorous pistol iusillade frightened
the robbers away. 1t was in a lonely spot,
late in the afternoon, and far from any
village; therefore-while one man had
been sent on foot to the nearest telegraph
station 10 ummon the soldiers, which the
Government keeps at every town for the
protection of trains-all hands were work
ing with a will to get started before night
fall, knowing that if darkness overlook
them before assistance arrived more serious
trouble might be expected. Just as our
train came steaming up a squad of Mexican
soldiers arrived in hot haste, and every
male passenger deserted the cars TO assist
in the pursuit.
In less than half an hour they returned,
having found the wreckers encamped not
more than a mile away, cooking their sup
per as calmly as though nothing had oc-
CURED. and waiting for nightfall to renew
the attack upon the train, which they sup
posed was completely in their power. The
prisoners were hurried before the nearest
Alcalde,
TRIED II ABOUT TEN MINUTES,
Adjudged guilty and sentenced to beimme.
diately shot. l caught q glimpse of one of
them as he was led by the side of his cap
tor. his arms securely pinioned and a rope
around his waist, being obliged to walk or
run as fast as the soldiers horse. Such a
picture of fierce despair | hope never to see
again. He was a young, yulgar-looking
ruffian, half naked except for the inevitable
blanket and broad sombrero slouched over
his face, his burning yesseeming to belong
10 some beast of prey, and his countenance
liyid with terror-knowing well the fate
that awaited them.
Before the track was cleared and our
traip ready to start an ominouS rattle Of
musketry greeted our ears. A moment
afterwards the Captain of the Mexican
squad rode up to the rear car, and bowling
low to the ladies remarked in Spanish,
"Senoritas, il is all right now (eSte bUen0);
YOU will not be troubled by any more
iadrones (robbers) on this trip"
What have you done with the prison.
ers ~ innocently inquired Betsy.
The handsome officer shrugged his shout
ders, and pointed toward a grove of mes
quit bushes, above which the smoke of
discharged musketry was still floating.
Good heavens ~ we cried in concert,
"vou didn't mean that you have killed
them? And SO soon?'
81 Senoritds, ci~ertanenfe. And why not ?
They were guilty naively replied the
Mexican.
There was no vexatious delay in the mat
ter. no chance for breaking Jail, nor bribing
iuries, and no expense to the State for the
prisoners keeping but within four hours
after their attempt 10 arrest the train they
had been captured, tried and executed.
And in ten minutes more they would be
buried where they fell, with no funeral
bother, beyond that of the hungry coyotes,
whose walls we knew would soon make
night hideous in tnat locality. Like other
newly-developed countries, Mexico has an
element which does not hesitate at
WHOLESALE MURDER
For the sake of plumber. The railroads
have greatly diminished the number of
these banditti-not only by offering safer
means of transit thar the old-time stage
routes and bridle-paths, but by giving fair
work and honest wages to thousands who
were hitherto unemployed. Yet people
still travel here with - one eye open, :" and
without that sense of security felt IN the
older railroads of the United States.
Leaving Vera Cruz, in the twilight OF an
early morning not long ago, Betsy and
were barely seated in the car when a bullet
came whizzing past our noses, penetrating
the wall upon one side, and shivering the
window on the other, but fortunately in
Turing no one. Who aimed it, and for what
purpose, none could tell. The train was
Immediately stopped, and all hands sailed
forth in pursuit-but the would-be assassin
was not found.
A few weeks later we were on the Mex
lean National Railroad, away down in the
State of Michoacap, on the borders of a
lake that is literally covered with wild
ducks, cranes, herons and egrets, and in
which water-snakes of surprising size are
said To abound. For a long distance the
track runs close 10 the waters edge. on a
steep embankment built-up to insure
safety during the annual rainy season. 1t
was after dark, q dreary rain was falling,
and not q human habitati0n within scores
OF miles. We had been listening to q
series of blood-curdling tales concerning
serpents, wild beasts, and not less to-be-
dreaded banditti, which are sometimes en-
countered in these solitudes-when sud
denly the train stopped, with a tilt and a
jar that sent everybody reeling. No N
was hurt, however, and no serious damage
done; but the intentions of the villains
had been evil enough, for rails had been
lifted, and Instructions placed in such a
way that it seemed a miracle we were not
pitched into the lake.
Last spring, a northern-bound freight
train on the Mexican Central road was
di.ched and robbed at Kilometer, in the
State OF Jalisco, by a company of sixty
MawfNnn outlaWe Seven oars Wprp thrown
Off the track. and all the train hands were
robbed, stripped entirely naked, their
hands tied behind their backs, and in that
condition were obliged to walk to the
nearest station, several miles away. The
cars were broken open and n large amount
Of freight taken from them; but though
troops secured the country in search Of the
robbers, they We're never discovered. From
a similarity of operations it was supposed
that this outrage was committed by
THE SAME AMI
Which last year robbed a stage-coach in
the State of Zacatecas. Besides the driver,
this coach contained three men and one
young lady-all MeXicans, belonging to
the best families of chihuahua. The out
laws robbed them of all their arms, Yalu-
ablcs, and every particle of clothing, and
in that condition permitted them to pro-
coed, otherwise unframed, on their jour
ney. The young lady-left SIS unadorned
as Mother Eve before the fall-at first
tainted. then went into mysteries, and wept
SO c%opiously that the robbers relented so
far rs TO give the passengers a sheet. which
they used as q common lap-robe, to the
nearest station. This is no fancy sketch,
but an actual occurrence, not three thou
sand miles from New York, in the heart of
apopulous Republic!
DUt tnv government has wisely deter
mined TO stop these outrages at any cost,
and anybody caught at train-wrecking. or
happening 10 be found inconyeniently near
where q tTaia has been djtched, had better
say his prayers forthwith and prepare for
eternity.
On coming 10 Mexico the traveller will do
better 70 open q credit in the United States,
against which he can draw from time to
time, through some well-established Mexi-
can banking house. than to buy q draft on
Vera Cruz or the City of Mexico for the ex-
penses of his journey. The rate of ex-
change IS largely in favor of the United
States, especially III drafts on New York.
1t has sometimes been as high as 20 per
cent. and seldom less than flteen-except
during the temporary scare produced by
the Ward-Fish and other failures in New
York a while ago, when for q few weeks
Il was aimos. impossible TO get any AmeIi-
can draft cashcd in Mexico. If the traveller
has a banker whose Mexican correspondent
resides at the Capital. and he cannot draw
..HT l.. ~..,fac fHuf ,,asnf ba vrtl1 ba,.a No