Evening star., 1897-05-15

Soils should be household word. Ha! AS
1t has become indeed! household word
throughout the land quoted in the annual
reports among the cursed of Mexico, on the
same pages with yellow fever, famine and
drouth!'
Soils mad risen from his chair, he was
much excited, and spoke quickly, with
passionate utterance, and unconscious ges-
ticulation. Though he was speaking to me-
he had about forgotten my presence, except
as an impersonal recipient of mis- ccnfes-
sion, and l took care not to interrupt him
AS he stopped, he leaned against one of
the posts OF the Veranda with his back
toward me. and for some minutes loked
away over the plain. When he came back
to the table he poured out a tumblerful of
wine, and drank it down at one gulp.
An. Don Juan. am very tired of it ALL"
he began again after short pause. There
Is a reward of $10,O0O promised for bringing
me to Cuiiacan, dead or alive and some
times l feel that the best thing | could do
would be to shoot myself in the house Of
some poor devil who needs the money l
Will tell you how / became an outlaw-I
have given you the beginning and end of
my story, but a good deal lies between.
When l came home from Europe l ap-
Piled for a government position, and 1 was
appointed private secretary to the governor.
He was an able man, but bad-totally un-
scrupulous-the kind of man l might have
become If 1 had remained at home. He
recognized the advantages Of his office,
but not the obligations. He was cstensibly
apathedc-really one of the most violent
men 1 ever met, cruel and vindicIiye a.
villain as could be found In Mexico 1t was
our joint misfortune to fall IN love with
the same woman-Mercedes the daughter
OF old HomObono ParaL
You are married. I said to him half
joking, one day, and 1 am not. I have the
right on my side!
But might Is on mine he answered,
smiling good naturedly, and you know that
In this country might is right
But 1t is not love- 1 retorted> L have
my right and her love, too. So your might
WIN not help you much in this case'-fool
Il remember the quick start that he
gave. and his sarcastic emphasis as he
said very quietly:
:" All, Soils, you Mercedes loverr Then
suddenly changing the conversation. he
asked Tor certain papers, and gave me in
struct1ons as to what answers / should
send: then he left the room. After he had
gone sat down to write but our conversa
tloh had made too deep an Impression ]
began TO fear the consequences. l wanted
to tell Mercedes herself, so threw the pa
pers into my desk, saddled horse and
lode off to ParaTs ranch. 1t was not a
long ride. but before 1t was in sight sud
denly my horse was tripped. I was bound
gagged. and that night was carried to an
outlying prison, where I passed the next
eight months. l was not inscribed In INV
own name, SO 1t will hence be unknown
officially that Eraclio Soils lived behind
bars-a remote satisfaction, to be sure! IT
was not until long after my kidnapping
tnat my Jailer told me l was accused Of
robbing the state treasury and the gov
ernors private safe: my whereabouts were
unknown. but 1t was supposed that 1 mad
!elt the country with the money Finally
was tried In secret session of the court OF
course, was found guilty. and as l was
sentenced by default, my mothers estates
were eoniscated to repay the governor first
ana the state afterward out of what was
left 1t all mattered very little TO me how
ever. for while l was imprisoned my moor
mother had died of grip I was told: Mer-
eeaeS mad disappeared. not even Homobono
mad been able to find her. did not give
up all hope of finding her until q month
later; but then learned it was all over
she had died. and insane"
Eraciio stopped short. but his face ex-
pressed more than any word could have
done. It revealed such capacity for suffer-
1ng that I turned away; to watch his face
| seemed an impertinence
he lighted another cigar presently and
said:
Senor. 1 was alone in the world Door
dishonored. without ties or obligations Of
any Kind. and burned to revenge myself,
| ana took for my motto, An eye for an
| eye and tooth for a tooth
! ,.Ihere, was my weakness, senior. A
| greater man would even then have forgot
| ten personal wrongs and remembered only
nobler purposes. but prison life exerts the
| most demoraltzing influence; good man
may come out of 1t as good man STILL but
his goodness is no longer a power, it is
| ,-S~~ AosSAts 0SSaCSo QodlIty, not TO say
| weakness-even that Is the exception
| rather than the rule. A strong man usu-
| ally becomes bad man. and q bad man
/ grows worse. So 1t was with me-my vital
, ity, my energy and strength were neither
broken nor impaired. but with only bad in
| nuences around me. became a leader of
| pao men, Revenge was my only thought,
| my only dream, my aim and purpose In
| life In that prison planned my subse-
quent career. and formed the nucleus Of
my present band Of brigands.
rnan H. -.
was dynamite--horrihle! 30 bloody that the
people realized that a family Of human
tigers had broken loose. and that the public
safety was endangered. Still. senor Il was
some time before began my work of re-
yense. for did not feel could rely on my
men N an emergency-as for myself.eI was
| OF cruelty. which 1 knew I should need fn
the future. So, for two years, I did no
moro than rob soscheA. knid q ranch or
fMo. and deht the soldiers sent out against