The San Francisco call., 1897-12-26

the final clauses of the
treaty made with the spirited Yaouis.
Thus ends, for a time only some peo-
pie think, one of the most stubborn
and sanguinary conflicts ever waged
in section of the continent noted for
/. its desperate fighting. The resolute
and daring YaQuis not only held their
!: own but they won for themselves
: every concession demanded of the
p Government. The broad and fertile
1aqul territory is now being divided
among them in Severalty, and the
nerce braves will now lay aside their
b Wlnchesters and six-shooters and for
time at least become peaceful farm
ers.
=. To any one who knows the Yauui
F.: character the result of the fourteen
years OF incessant fighting is not
8. surprise. Fertile of resource and
stubborn fighter is the Yaoui brave
For 300 years he has held his lands
against all comers, and many and
sanguinary have been the conflicts be-
tween MIN and pertinacious invaders
1or It's possession. At times he has
been forced back into mountain fast
nesses, but never for a moment has
he thought Of relinquishing the fight.
10
rarily captured a footing on the dis
. puted soil have been obliged to
closely guard it rifle in hand and to
give battle whenever the Yaoui braves
considered it advisable to make one of
their interminabIe raids.
When you arrive at Torin. up the
Iaqui River about seventy miles from
Guaymas, you are in the heart of the
p Yaqui country, and there you find
General Luis E Torres, the head of
the military forces in the third zone.
with an army of two thousand men in
barracks and a large force of suryev-
ors laying off land and alIotting it to
the Indians in severaIty. The sound
OF the drum and bugle is heard at all
hours, and you are surrounded by all
the ''pomp and circumstance of war"
There are fifteen thousand Yaquis
in the State of Sonora alone and near
~ as many more scattered around the
rest OF the country. Every man is a
sharpShoOter and a bushWhacker, and
the most of them are armed with i'm
proved Winchester rifles and six
shooters. They give allegiance to one
great chief, who holds his position by
election during life. This does not
necessarily imply a long term of office,
for if a chief lies to his people or de-
ceives them in any way his term of
office and his life end simultaneously.
Whatever the chief says is so simply
because he says it, and the tribe rem
ders him blind, unreasoning obedi-
ence.
Years ago the Yaquis had a great
chief named Cajemi. He was a war
rior of renown. Brave as a lion and
cunning as a fox, he led his people to
victory again and again. He was
hated as much by the Mexicans as he
was loved by his tribe. Of course in
a fight in the open the Mexican army
by force of numbers and power of
3. artillery could vanquish the Indians.
but when the latter were hard
= pressed they would retire to the Bac-
tee Mountains, where every soldier
that attempted to follow them was
killed. Every nook of the mountains
:: did they know, and famous places for
sambuscade abounded. It was simply
impossible for the soldiers to fight on
2. anything like equal terms with the In
~dians in the hills
:. Cajemi some fourteen years ago had
. intrenched himself in the mountains.
.. whence he made frequent and
disastrous descents upon the Mexicans
in the valley. Every effort to dis
e. lodge him or to lure him out into open
battle failed. Finally-and this is
black tale-a priest, the compadre de
Pila Of Cajemi, or godfather Of Ca
jemis children, went to the noun
tains. He represented to Caiemi that
General Martinez, in command of the
Mexican troops, was desirous of peace
II
factory to the Indians. After much
persuasion and under a flag of truce
and every assurance of security Ca
jemi accompanied the priest to the
valley to treat with Martinez. The
trusting chief was promptly seized.
carried to Guaymas and shot to death
by file of soldiers.
This enraged the Indians beyond
measure. They adopted the retalia-
tory methods which soon left no Iiv-
ing Mexican in the Yaqui Valley. It
is said that in their first rage women
and children fell victims to their fury.
The tribe elected a warrior named
Tataviate as great chief, and he
proved to be as brave and sagacious
= as old Cajemi. He was not long in
visiting his wrath upon the Mexicans
and in avenging the dead chief.
Shortly after his election, with band
of twenty-seven warriors, he ambush
ed a company Of one hundred soldiers
at Batamatal, within six miles Of
Guaymas, and killed every man. He
skinned a burro and drew the hide
lover the body of the dead Mexican
captain He then stuck the body on a
pole and took it to a point in full view
Of GuavnaS and exhibited it to the
garrison there. Before he did this,
however, he attended to a little mat
ter of discipline among his own war
riors. There were three of his braves
who did not deport themselves in the
fight as Tataviate thought they
should have done. Accordingly he
called them out and had them
promptly shot to death.
The war ragged fiercer and fiercer,
and for nearly fourteen years the
oil 1nd