Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-08-04
FIRED BY PENITENTES.
Editor Griffiths, of the Taos Valley
Herald, Has an Experienced
Tempest in Teapot.

out or laos Dy the fenltenteS, OF 'naRel-
lantes," so he says--and thereby the
office cat in the Taos Valley Herald
sanctum develops very long "tale."
Griffith is a wild-eyed, long haired
rooster who halls from the sand dunes of
southern Colorado, and knows as much
about running newspaper as a guaja-
ote does of heaven.
THE PEN1TENTEs.
For years the civil and church authori
ties of New Mexico. the Catholic church
being particularly active in its efforts,
have done all they could to frown down
the peculiar, brutal and uncivilized rites
which the Penitentes practice in the name
of religion, and by means of improved
educational methods much has been ac-
complished toward this end during the
past half decade, and attn point has more
progress been made toward lifting up
these
POOR DELUDED MORTALa
than in the Arroyo Seco region of Taos
county, one of their strongholds. Here
signs of disintegration have been visible
for several years; their ranks are grow
ing beautifully less with each recurring
"Good Friday" This was particularly
noticeable last spring when matters came
to such pass in the Penitente camps
that there was
A DIVISION IN THEIR RANKS
in Taos county and factional differences
sprung up that resulted in the more ortho'
dox and the liberals taking opposing
sides. Accordingly, when it came to "wor-
shipping" the liberals went forth to per-
form their rites in broad daylight while
the orthodox continued along the old
lines and held their ceremonies at night.
This state of things was carried to the
ears of
COL. JOSEPH MILNER,
the general agent at Denver for the Bur-
lington railroad, whose wife has kodac,
and Mr.. D. j. Flynn, of the Rock Island
road, who sings facile faber and has a
weakness for the uncanny. They organ
lied little party last March, visited
Taos and witnessed the antics of the
Penitentes, coming thence to Santa Fe
for brief stay. For the
FIRST TIME IN HISTORY
complete Photographic views of the Peni-
tente cerenonials were secured by them
| and subseq uently the data about the sect
was woven into rather sensational and
exaggerated story for Harper's by Mr..
Flynn. In the course of time the article
got into the patent plate prints, of which
the Taos Valley Herald is a shining light,
and was printed in Editor Griffith's paper.
THE SEQUEL.
The rest is told in special despatch
to the Denver Times-Sun dated at Tres
Piedras on Thursday, portion of which
reads:
'The day after the article appeared
Griffith was set upon by mob of Mexi-
cans and beaten and bruised. He was
also warned to leave town and, though a
courageous man, was finally driven to
desperation and, shouldering his rifle, he
started out to walk to the railroad station
here, distance of thirty five miles. The
tramp lies through the twenty mile desert
barren track, and over this Griffith
walked until his condition became pitiful
and he finally entered Tres Peidras foot
sore, his tongue swollen and his lips
parched. The walk had physically ex.
hausted him. He was taken care of by
friends, half demented from his terrible
experiences.
"What arouses considerable indigna-
ton here is the statement that while
Griffith was escaping from his persecut.
ors and was in halffainting condition
on the desert, he was passed by a number
of Americans on the way to Piedras who
were riding in q double wagon. They, it
is claimed, refused him assistance in his
terrible plight and drove on.
Gone of these men is said to have been
Attorney General Engley, of Colorado,
another Joe Whitley, of Alamosa, and a
third Creede mining man. Gritfith's
condition is still considered serious"
ENdLEY SAYS A WORD.
The Denver Times Sun adds:
attorney General Engley when told OF
the above dispatch from New Mexico, in
which it is stated that he, with others, met
Griffith and refused hun assistance, re-
piled that it was true he had met man
near Tres Piedras. He told me he had
had some trouble with the Penitentes an
that he was newspaper man. didn't