The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-10-02
THE INVISIBLE BUILDERS
A Problem For Psychical
Researchers to Solve.
:: BY F. R. Guernsey. ::

:: By F. r. Guernsey. ::
~s~.-~.-%.-%.>>-.-~-e>-.~-~~s~-..@
For scores Of years the old one story
stone house on the Street Of the Seven
Gentlemen in the city of Querendaro
had remained In the possession Of the
Allendes, till In the troublous times
preceding General Diaz's coming into
power 1t had passed into the hands of
Colonel Marion, guerrilla leader
against the French and imperialists, as
he preferred to be known, but regarded
by the "Mocho" party In the city as q
bloody handed robber and highway
man.
How the colonel had become pos
sessed of the house was something Of a
mystery. No deed was passed. The
old owners, the family of Allende, most
respectable people, with haciendas and
shares In mines, had been extinguish-
ed, there remaining at last only one old
man, as deaf as a wall, to occupy the
place. He disappeared one night, and
the next day the colonel took posses
sion, with his "estado mayor" or staff,
desperate crew recruited among the
sort of people who hang on the edges
of every revolutionary cyclone. And
as the colonel was a testy person
whose hands were stained with powder
and something more doubtful and as
nobody In the city dared inquire into
the conditions of his tenure of the Al
lende property. He was a tall, wiry,
sinewy man, with long brownish mus
tachios, eyes gray and full of fire, a
harsh mouth and an eagles beak Of
nose
Things were unsettled in the state,
and the colonel was much afield,
usually in the Sierra, where, like
hawk, he watched the fertile plain be-
low and swooped down on any unwary
enemy. During the war of the interven-
tion he commanded as many as 1000
daredevils and once had made a dash
into Querendaro, surprising and punishA
ing awfully 1000 French soldiers, some
of whom had seen African service and
all tough chaps. That exploit made
the name Of Colonel Marion famous.
For a few days he was master of the
city, and good imperialistic citizens
were hiding in friendly houses or get
ting away in the disguise Of cotton
clad poems. A dozen or more were
ranged against wall out by the Gene
terry and shot for enemies Of the re-
public" 1t was said that the colonel
did some extensive and profitable loot
ing. Anyhow, he seemed in after years
to have hidden treasure to resort to in
case of any financial difficulty.
The Emperor Macmillan went to his
doom and slowly peace returned. The
iron handed Juarez ruled in the City OF
Mexico and finished the anticlerical
programme begun years before by
President Comonfort. Friars and nuns
were bundled out of the converts and
monasteries, great properties, the re-
suit of centuries Of church rule, were
sold to speculative people for whatever
they chose to pay, and thus the great
leveler, revolution, redistributed -accu-
mulated wealth. President Juarez gave
place to President Lerdo, who was a
milder man and had less strenuous
work to accomplish. and finally there
doomed high in the political armament
of Mexico a soldier of genius and the
lablest of them all, the great son Of des-
tiny, Porfirio .Diaz. Lerdo was beaten
and, fleeing, left the country. Thus the
dawn of modern Mexico began. A
man with vast and Napoleonic plans
had begun to build a new national edi-
American invasion, the friend Of Grant
and an encourager of railways.
1t was, as has been said, some two
years before this restorer of order took
Mexico In hand that Colonel Marion
became the de facto owner of the an
Gent city house of the Allendes. Quer-
endaro was a long way from the fed
eral capital. times were doubtful, he
had been a power in his region and
had shown that he could raise troops
and command them to good purpose,
and so his predatory tastes had to be
overlooked by men at the capital. 1t
was no time to bother about fighting
gentleman's peccadillos.
The occupancy Of the old house by
the guerrilla chieftain was character
lied by prodigal expenditure, much
cockfghting on Sunday afternoons and
high gaming Awful tales were told
of people inveigled there who were tor
tured into sending letters to their
friends in distant places demanding
large sums of money for some unmen-
toned purpose. One party in the city
said these were high players who had
to send home for money to meet debts
of honor. but the few Mochos. or Cler-
zeal party men, still alive whispered
that Colonel Marion was no Repub-
lican officer, but an out and out scoun-
drel. They only whispered this state
ment In the privacy of their own
| houses and with the doors barred. But
Marion carried himself with high
head: he rode abroad with his body
guard of friends all armed to the teeth,
and nobody liked to talk of his doings.
! He had become possessed of all the
bakeries and meatshops of the city,
leased them to enterprising north coun-
try Spaniards or to natives of busi-
ness turn of mind and SO had a COM
Portable monthly income of fully $2,-
600. Thus. with extra income derived
from queer sources, he could live In the
style becoming a gentleman and sup
port his henchmen quite like an old
time feudal baron and just as respecta-
bly,. In fact, this type of strong. I'M
scrupulous and resolute men paralleled
In the times spoken of the followers OF
William the Conqueror. Might makes
right till lawyers and notaries come
along with red sealing wax, much tape
and stiff parchments. You have got to
begin somewhere and somehow. Fam
lilies of the aristocracy begin like the
Duke of Argylps race, by killing on
troublesome property holders and seiz-
ing what they have.
And, after all, it will be seen on due
reflection that Colonel Marron's
manner of accommodating capital was
not whit worse than the exploiting OF
the general public by the modern kings
of finance and the great speculative
manipulators Of Wall street. They
have the men of the long robes to help
!. them steer clear Of the awkward points
of the criminal code and take little
risk. Marion took big risks, spent his
money like lord, and poor people
found. him .likabIe. In fact nuMer