The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1898-12-28
HE REDWOOD GAZETTE.
BY AIKEN E. SCHMAHL.
WEDNESDAY. DEC. %, 1898.
IN NEW MEXICO
Buying Fuel of Greasers and Some
thing About Them.

S. e. Lankard of Santa Fe, New
Mexico, formerly of Vesta, Redwood
county, who was here last week for
purpose of disposing of his Vesta
farm, gave some interesting details
of life in and around Santa, Fe, the
home of many greasers. Spanish is
their tongue, and nearly everyone
in Santa Fe can speak it more or
less, Sam having already acquired
enough knowledge of it to make
himself understood, while his
children have mingled with the
Mexican children so much that they
speak it fluently.
The nearest timber to Santa F'e is
in the mountains several miles away,
and the usual way of obtaining it
for fuel is through the greaser, who
with his burro, goes up the
mountains early in the morning,
cuts load and places it on his ami
NAL, half on either side of the bur-
ro's back, and returns to town
early enough to catch the Ameri-
.canos by birth, arising. The greas-
'er sings his song of wood for sale,
los Americanos appears from his
residence, salutes the greaser,. and
asks him how much he will take for
the load The greaser first asks
about four times what he expects to
get, and then occurs a long parley
during which los Americanos gets
the greaser down to a fair price
about % cents per load, a sum
which is gladly accepted, and which
goes long way toward making the
burro driver feel rich. Several
trips a day can be made, but only
so many tri ps are made as are nee
cessary to the greaser S existence.
The owner of five, six, seven or
blSuU Julius ID SO1olNSAO o
plutocrat by co-laborers in the fuel
world of Santa Fe, he being able to
make all the way from S1.25 to 81 in
a single trip.
Mr.. Lankard states that among
this class a wrong is never righted,
except, to use the boy term, of
Hgetting even' For instance, one
greaser whips or uses a knife on
another. The latter is bound to
-"get even,' and this is generally
done in the darkness OF night, in an
out of the way place, where the per-
son to be avenged is lying in wait
for his victim AS a result the
number of "get evens'' continue to
grow, and nightly feuds become
more frequent.
Mr.. Lankard was asked whether
the element of the New Mexican
population was growing, and he re-
piled by saying that it was about at
a standstill. Applying economic
law it would appear that the num-
bers would soon commence to de-
cline. Smallpox seems to make sad
havoc in their midst, and there are
"a number of cases of that kind in
among the greaser element of Santa
Fe to day.
A small loan-ten cents or like
amount, will make one of the Great
ures good friend-a refusal is
likely to make him your enemy, and
there is no telling in just what way
he will demonstrate this fact.
Gambling continues a good in
dustry in Santa Fe, and the houses
run wide open day and night, and
large sums cross the roulette and
card tables every "a hours. Recent
ly man from the east dropped into
the principal place of business. Be-
fore he dropped out he was $1,000
worse off than when he dropped in.
"It is a healthy country beauti-
full country-a fine country" con-
tinued Mr.. Lankard. "When more
of the progressive population of the
east pass over the table lands OF
Kansas, Nebraska and Texas, and