The Republican journal., 1888-01-19
Weekly Budget of Mexican News.

Weekly Budget of Mexican News.
| HOW TWO SUPPOSED CORPSES SPOILED THEIR
! OWN FUNERALS. GHOST-GUARDED CAV
FRN. CELEBRATION OF LORD BYRoNs
/ BIRTHDAY. MEXICAN LADIES AS EDITORS
t AND JOURNALISTS. BuLL-TIGIIrING RE
sTRICTEb TO SUNDAYS. THE HISTORIC
| CROSS OF PALENQUE.
Correspondence of the Journal
CITY OF MENICO, Jan. 1883. 4 remarkable
thing occurred last week in the little town of
! Puerto Rico. \ prominent citizen suddenly
| gave up the ghost: after which, according to
custom, neighbors and friends of the deceased
floekcd iii to pray for the dead and condoe
with the living. The corpse, dressed in his
best aud crowned with wreath Of red tissue
roses, lay covcred.with sheet upon black
palIed bier, candies burning at the feet and
| head. y bountifully-spread rcfreshment table
i'll all adjoining room groaned under its load of
| funeral baked meats" and various drinkabies,
| set cut TO sustain the motirncrs in their sor-
row; the priests had said their say and depart
ed, leaving the stuly little room full of in
| cen>e; the wife and daughters We're making
| such m hystcrical fuss as only Mexican fc-
males can: men We're groanng, women crying
loud, and all praying audibly, in full enjoy
ment Of the luxury of grief-when the dead
man une neXpertedly popped up his head and en-
CURED
| THE CAUSE OF THE ROW
The mourners shricked and fled, ti,mbling
ever one another in their fi.ntic haste-and
though the supposed corpse begged piteousIv
not to be left alone, even the wife deserted the
casa and could not be induced to return till the
next day, after strangers had seen the man
'clDthci and in his right mind" and repeated
| ly assured her that he had only been in par
ticularIy sound sleep.
| 4 similar circumstance occurred several
years ago in the village of Candida. State of
Coahtila. 1t was Sonora Guadalupe Retlucin-
do. wife of L wealthy Mexican, who was taken
very i'll and to all appearance died. She was
/ treated as Al! corpSeS are in this country, the
usual pow-wow was duly gone through, and
| the hour for burial approached. Itrhappened
| that all intelligent woman Of the ncghborhood
cane TO look her last upon the good lady,
and discovered what to her seemed like faint
! sight of life. She called the husbands atten-
| ton, but he-being q devout Catholic, and
| therefore in duty bound to feel resigned.
| pioH>ly remarked something to the effect that
! tie Lord hath taken away-hlesseu be His
name and refused to mcddle with the DEGREES
! Of Providence.
But the neighhor persisted in her humble
! opinion that Dona Reducino was not dead, and
! finally won over one or two others to her be-
! lief. Then new complication arose. for the
| Law comueiS the burial of the dead within
| tWentN N-four hours after life has left the body.
IpIi that
/ ly >hutilod off, Don Reducino took no further
| steps toward huryng her. till the third day,
| When the local police notified him that if lie
! did not get her under ground Immediately,
! there Woultl be trouble, in the shape of heavy
! i;nc end funeral per force. whercupon the
erave was dug and an early hour appointed for
/ the last sad rites.
The prayers had all been said and friends
/ gathered around to close The coffin and carry it
I 10 the t0mb-whcn the corpse gaSped and
| opened lis eyes. The couple are still living.
! surrounded by their children and grandchild-
| ren, Hear Oio Caliento iiot SpringS) in Ca
| hula.
That reminds me of another occurrence
| equally @ruesomc, recorded lately in the MeXi.
! can papers. 4 lady Of this city, who owns a
| house in Manzanare> street. discovered some
how that the family who rented it had not been
/ seen for several days. Finally she went to the
casa. and knocked loudly for admission. Re
! ceiNn@ no answer, she became alarmed. and
| called upon the police to force open the door.
| The sight they hcheId was a horrible one,
! Father, mother and their only daughter, Gagged
| b. Were
! LYING DEAD UPON TIE FLOOR,
their distorted faces, clenched hands and twist
| cd bodies telling plainly the agoneS they had
! suffered. That they had been dead several days
was proved by the terrible smell and their
, hlackencd and swollen condition. Investiga-
tlon reyeaied the fact that they had been
strongly to the servants as the perpetrators all
three of whom had dccampeL for parts un-
/ known.
While ON the subject of horrors let me tell
you OF a ghost-@uardcd cavern. not far away.
| situated in canon of the Sierras few miles
from rucruavaca. All the hills of that section
are known to contain gold and silver, but nc
| pro>pector-uness he be a very vCrdant one
will venture near this ghos-infested gorge
Now and then some doubling Thomas from
Yankee land snifs al the story and determines
to prove its fal>ity: but none have ever been
| known to get into tne cave. or to attempt it q
second time. Tradition says that at the en-
trance Of vast. black hole in the mountain
sits the corpse of an Indian woman: and if one
attempts to pass her. she clutches him with
bony fingers. uttering cries that are warranted
to freeze the blood OF the brave>t.
The story goes that in 1865 the cavern was
occupied by peaceful Indians of the Tontc
tribe. when party Of whites, simply for crue
sport, 'eeaned out ana murdered every one
Of them: and since that day nobody has beer
able TO enter the cave, because of the thing
that sits at the door.
Not long ago q couple of Americans tried it
having been SO foolish beforehand as to boast
of what they were going to do. After IA while
one of them came back, with shattered nerves
and air distraught, and the other has not beer
heard from since, even by his partner. The
man Who returned is strangely reticent on the
subject, but has conli,led portion of this eN-
perlence to one or two persistent inQuisitors
lie says they found the gorge, away no annie
the highest butteS of the Sierra. surrounded b,
the most lonesome and God-forsaken scenery
il is possible to imagine. Having no faith il
the stories. they walked boldly ahead-tiIl sud
denly both felt strange chill, as if struck by
an ley wind. At the same moment fearful
shrek. as of mingled rage and terror. arose
and directly in front cf them appeared "A horri
Bile figure. that Of a tail female corpse. bearing
down upon them with claw-like hands extend
ed. 1t is needless to add that they stood moi
Gpon the order of their going, but ran for theil
lNc>-ani one of them seems to be running
still.
Another newspaper has made its appearance
at the Mexican capital, called
LAS IIIJAs DE ANAHUAC.
the daughters of Anahuas." the last wore
being the ancient name of the Valley of MeXi
co. 1t is a new departure in Mexican journal
ism. being named and edited entirely by ladies
VI ttlc SillHc klnt Has Decn lilltIguF
ated in Montercy,-but what the outcome wi,
be, remains to be seen.
The journalists and literati of the State o
Vera ruz are getting up grand celebration
for the 23i OF the present month, in honor q
the century Of the English bard. Lord Byron
That tlea-infested old city has recently beel
convuIsed with delight at the bull-ighting per
formances Of number of Spanish lads mon,
Of them over fourteen) who were importe,
from Seville for that purpose.
BY the way the Mexican government ha
issued an cdict to the effect that no more per
lnits will he granted for bull fights on weel
days. The people may have them on Sunday:
to the top of their bent; but it has been foun(
necessary to restrict them to the LORDS dav
because thousands of working men and womel
were in the habit Of neglecting their daily avo
cations to go to the bull-ring.
Last week Don IlermosiIlo, the renowne,
Spanish pic0dor, was seriously wounded at tn,
Pasco plaza de tOrros. near Mexico city. Ill
had very rcmunerative contract pending il
Spain, ard was giving his farewell performance
in this country before a vast audience. Ill
had already killed three bulls and won NJ
end of paudits for pluck and skill when
little brown beast proved too spry for him an,
ran a horn straight through one of his legs
dragging him several times around the aren
before he could be extricated.
The National Museum Of the City of MeXic,
has at last received from Tobasco all that re
mains of the historic
CROSS OF PALENQUE,
which for many years has been the wonder
ment of the archaeological world. 1t came il
sections part of it more than three wears ago