The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-09-25
MARIA TERESA UREA.
Remarkable Mexican Girl Who Is
Now with the Yaqui Indians.
From the Chicago Record.

From the Chicago Record.
The young Mexican girl, Maria Ter
esa Urea, who is dcvoutly believed by
the Mexican Catholics to be endowed
with divine power, is now somewhere
among the Yaqui Indians in Sonora,
Mexico. and, although they are the
fiercest tribe in that republic, and ir-
rcconcilable in their hostility to the
whites, they revere her as a priestess,
and they obey her as il she We're their
queen. There is something strange
about Santa Teresa" as they call her.
she is modest, unassuming Mexican
girl the daughter of q small farmer
in Sonora, with very little education,
but at an early age she developed re-
markahle hyroptic or mesmeric pow
ers, which cause the ignorant peasants
to look upon her as more than hu-
man. A touch of her hand Is believed
to be a cure for every mortal evil, ana
one of her prayers os intcrcession
passport to paradise. She does not
claim divine power, but cOnfesses that
she does not understand the source or
her influence. Her family were Catho-
lies. but she has never been strict
in her observance of her religious du-
tics. At the same time she recog-
nizes that there is something within
her that gives her the unusual in
fluence that she enjoys.
In 1896 l saw her at FL Paso,
plain-looking girl Of twenty-one or
twenty-five years, in a speckled calico
dress and coarse shoes. with a black
shawl thrown over her head. Her hair
fell in two braids to her waist, and
she looked much younger than she real
ly was. She was then living under the
care Of a gentleman named Aguirre.
the editor Of the Mexican paper FL
PasO, having been compelled TO leave
Mexico by the authorities, who aC-
cused her of trying to invite revolu-
ton. A band of fanatics somehow got
notion that she was to be the mother
of Montezuma. the lOng-lOOked-for
Mexican Messiah, who is to liberate
the poems from servitude. and restore
the splendor Of the empire that Cortcz
pIurdered and overthrow. Restless
and dissatisfied politicians took advan-
tage Of the mania. and, in the name
of Saint Teresa. organized n revolu-
ton in Sonora, and attacked the custom
house and barracks at Nogales
Mr.. Aguirre may have given the
is an exile. and is wanted" by the
Mexican police. But I was assured
that Teresa was not involved in any
way. Trustworthy people told me that
she was just an ordinary sort Of girl,
without any special force of character
or intellect. but possessed of a mys-
terious power like that Of the magnetic
girl who came out Of Georgia few
years ago and seemed 10 have the
strength Of a locomotive in her slender
fingers. Santa Teresa has some such
physical peculiaTity which gives hor
a mcsmcric influence over people 10
whom it NAV he applied, ANA she has
cured hundreds of sick. and lame and
blind. The NeXiCanS hang her nor
trait over their little shrines beside
. that Of the Virgin Mary, but when We
talked with her she laughed at the
suggestion of her divinity, and indig.
nantly denied that she was To he the
mother Of the Tedcemer Of the Aztec
race. She is now living among the
YaQui Indians i'm an obscure noun
tain village in Sonora, which Is con-
stantly. visited bv pilgrims and sick
people in search of her healing power.