The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-02
MEXICAN RAILROAD TALES.
FIRST hCQUAINTAECE OF Az Al
CdLDE WITH AN dIH BRAKE

"A
Savage Deed of n Kind Moro Common
Formerly-Swin die of n Monte Dealer
Tho Only Hole Ever Dug Out of Town.
HousToN. Tex. June 1o-Five men sat about
table in the Hallway Handlers Rest, which
II half n saloon and half q club. and stands
hcNr tho union station. They were bearded
and Rrizzed. weatherbeaten and very dark.
Whisky OF many kinds was within call and
also champagne. but they all took beer. That
showed they had worked in Mexico. for far
down In the Latin republic. where the air Is
the air OF q furnace and beer costs 80 cents n
pint bottle q man learns to appreciate it
Many American whiskey drinkers go into
Mexico. but only beer drinkers come out
OF II. Three OF the men who sat in the
Railway HANDLERS Rest were locomotive
engineers. one was q freight conductor
and one had been brakeman. His left leg is
buried. however. in Nuevo Laredo and now he
potters about the Union yards and pretends to
be at work. They listened to the cang OF street
ear bells outside and saw tho electric lights
fare up as the dusk sottled. and TAXED OF tho
old days when first the parallel bands OF steel
were driven throug the stony heart OF the Daz
country. and to be a railway man down there
meant hard work big money and big risk
They told tales one to another and there was
no question Of their truth They wero men
who. had seen so much in wild land that they
did not have to Ito In order 10 be impressive
Whom the train crews went into Mananaland
the Mexcans did not like them. They were
unused to folks who did things to-day that
could be put of until Tomorrow. They OBJ
1ected to engines which killed tho citizen who
went to sleep on the tracks. They encouu-
tered rough class OF strangers with whom
they could claim no kin. Still fingered in them
memories OF the Invasion from the north
Othnryyiea thn hot In, Ia,
SOS. and an American in Mexico accused OF
offence OF any kind was in hard luck. Some
times he was tried and shot. but generally he
was thrown into dirty cell. where he died
and did not learn the charges against him.
The few Yankee Consuls were powerless. Often
they made no effort to interfere. knowing the
futility OF 1t and loving their own skins.
Americans came to regard arrest at the hands
OF Mexican authorities as equivalent to life
sentence In particularly undesirable peni-
tentiary and were willing to go to any length
TO avoid It. When Mr. Bayard left the Office OF
Beoretary OF State POO Americans were con-
fined In Mexican jails with no specific charges
against them. The Harrison Administration
released them finally. but there Is no way OF
telling how many OF our countrymen have died
In confinement down there without trial and
without benefit OF clergy
Occasionally one learns OF similar instance
now but 1t Is seldom. The peoples have como
TO know each other better. Poems no longer
look upon the locomotive as Satan. When
drunk with mescal they 60 to sleep along the
aide OF the track and not upon it. In much Of
Mexico an American citizen Is safer than in
certain parts OF New York city II he gets into
trouble fair trial will be given him. Our emf
grants to Mexico are OF higher class than
fifteen years ago. We used to send our worst
All OF the injustice was not on one side. Our
dark-skinned neighbors had much of which to
complain. There were Mexican gam bIers. and
We taught them brace games. OF which they
had never dreamed. There were horse thieves,
and we showed them swindes In horsefesh at
which they stared aghast. There were con-
fldence men. and we sent them some In whose
hands they were children. All of this educa-
tion cost them money. and they endeavored to
get even by means OF jails. but things are bet
ter now.
All OF the MeXlcans aren't so worse" said
an engineer. Now and then we used to find
one that was white If no was yellow. Once
near Victoria we were loaded heavy with iron.
and we hit the usual drunken Mexican asleep
on tho track. Them folks used to think a
roadbed better'n wool mattress. 1t was down
grade and around curve, and we were going
afair clip and. though we had air brake we Just
couldn't hold up in time. We ground him up.
II,
have any better sense than to report 1t. or
course. the train was sidetracked and we were
put In jail. Next day We were hauled up before
the alcalde. He was little. dried up man with
mahogany skin and snow-whte mustache. 1t
bristled hercely but I noticed that his eve
twinkled good deal and sorter cottoned to
him right away. We told him that we couldn't
stop the train In the time allowed us, and it
was the truth. He said. through an interprc-
Ter. OF course:
i've heard all this before. Five OF my peo
Pile havo been killed by trains IN six months
and have let the train crews go. They said
they couldn stop. I'm going to see about this
loaded We fire iG and so 5se T9 TO bS p nGa
whore you killed Vicente Well run down mt
Sme same me- spSea When you come near the
-" Well we fred up and RIM hack three miles
ward again, or course II was not my business
20 run too slowly. / wanted to show the aIcalie
impossbty Old n w ses 1 nrsTinHI wnT an
inside OF two miles. II being n DOWN grade. we
pever in his life been on train. and ho was
ssRnS out Of the 9 Wyne his Big
verified the airbrakss went on like the ca ann
sb myself r'HR to ae !HS 0T he Of shot hot
through he window Ikea rocket turned Xix
cSihci NuuhS IIt oiI MS lh'k III tHt Snnu
thirty feet away. The train ground to stand
still. yards beyond the blood stained ties He
white hair. / remember that his mustach"
was all bent down GU one side. He looked IN
,Ht me and said simply yaga me bios WITCH
went back to town; h. discharged US all and
invited us TO dinner with him. We stayed ana
pulled out that even ng. Everybody ran pretty
much on his own schedule in them times"
The conductor took upt the running: Twelve
years ago in San Luis Potusi they were build
Ing city hall that they said would be the
eighth wonder OF the world There was no
ekllled labor Of the kind they wanted, so they
Imported twenty stone mnsons from PcnnSyl-
yanla at big wages. Those men were needed
TO make the ornamental taGadcs carvings and
gingerbread work generally Everything went
along all right until the 9TH OF May, which is
the Mexican Fourth o. July. No work was
done on that day. and the masons wandered
about the town and drank good deal In tn"
afternoon one OF them. named Morgan, 'Ound
himself In little cautina. To him came big
black. drunken Mexican who laid h. chin on
the Americans shoulder and y"Il"d:
'Niva-a-a-a el cinCO de MavD"
Tel with you " said Morgan showing him
pr and smiting him nightly IN tho nose
'Rah for the Fourth If july
The Mexican picked himself up n dozen