The times., 1901-04-21
HoUNDINe oFwARR1oRs WIVES
Squaws of the Hunted Yaauis Driven
From Their Homes
Qrom the san Francisco Examiner.)


Qrom the san Francisco ENaminer.)
At bayonet point band of hungry
| helpless, homeless. wounded Naqul Wo.
men have been driven from the land oi
| their fOTefathers and thrust among stran'
| gers to starVe.
| These Yaqui women and their children
! are the widows and orphans OF the 1aqul
| Indians killed in the recent resistance
| made by members of that tribe against
/ the attempt Of the Mexican Government
/ to seize their lands along the Rio Iaqui
The manner of their going furnishes in
I history chapter of such cruelty as seems
rather to belong 10 the early DAYS of The
Spanish conquest than the supposedly
/ civilized twentieth century.
Being alive and in the way was not the
only crime held by the Mexican author1-
ties against the Iaqui women. They had
dared TO join their Indian husbands,
fathers. brothers. and sweethearts in bat
tie against the Mexican foe.
Presently, when their warriors lay life
less all about them these women OF the
Yaquis knew no better than to wall over
their dead and mourn them. These
women were given no time for prepara-
tion. and il they had there was nothing
to make ready but the few extra shawls
and strips of calico and ragged blankets
that they owned, for these faithful con-
sorts of the defeated Indians had sold or
traded everything salahle or negotiable
belonging to them TO secure firearms ana
The Rio Yaqui lies some fifty miles TO
the south of Guaymas. While the warfare
in the hills was at its hercest, the Haqul
wives of those who We're lighting walked
to Guavmas to get ammunition. With
silent, dogged perseverance that in civil
lied women would be eXtolled as a great,
white. shining virtue, but in a Aaqui
SquaW is something quite too commonplace
to be commented upon or given name,
these haplCss. half-Clad daughters OF
savage race slowly and with difficulty
made their way over the hot. sandy miles
that lay between them and the town. OF
money they had little or none, so il was
necessary that what they took along for
trading purposes be borne in bundles
upon the head.
They did this for love of their Indian
men, fer love OF their simple homes along
the flowing Rio And when they had
managed to gain what powder they could
by their bargaining they walked back
again over the dry. cracking earth. and
then sat them down in the hOllows of the
hills to load and reload weapons for the
final fight that was fatal.
When dawn cleared the shadows from
the hills where the women We're wailing
for their fallen braves. the Mexican
troops rode uD and routed them from
their watch beside their unburied dead.
Every woman and child was ordered TO
march and to be quick about il. To
fuse. they were told, was to be shot dead.
They obeyed. in the duh, stoical suilen
way Of the Indian.
a mounted guard escorted the misera-
bic band to Guaymas. The women were
driven before it like so many sheep to-
1t is a hard march afoot between the
Rio 1aqui and Guaymas-but if woman
or child Jagged behind. the prick of a
bayunCt reused their tagging energies.
Many of the women We're suffering
from unattended wounds Of the preceding
battle
Much military precaution was taken at
Guaymas to prevent the ESCAPE of the
prisoners When they were marched to
the quartet the streets on both sides We're
lined with soldiers. IL was like running
wounded game to cover-game that had
not the strength to escape if il We're
given the opportunity. Some of the kind
hearted MeXicans of Guaymas There are
few foreigners residing there wished to
keep the women as servants and thus
provide them with homes, but the author
tiles refused
After few days in prison the entire
band was rounded up ana counted and
paded TO their waists with children on
their backs, TO rOwboats which conveyed
them TO the bay steamer OaXaca, which
steamed away 10 Yucatan
The Mexican Government is determined
upon the determination of the Yaquis
Jhat II may gain control OF the land they
occupy. the richest land for agricultural
purposes IN old Mexico. Recently they
sent troops ont to take prisoner every
NaQui they could find. The troops are re-
cruited from the most worthless classes
IN Mexico. The Naquis Of the coast tribe
are sober industrious, and in demand as
labOrers. They are hired by the Sonora
and Sinaloa Railroad as employees in pref
erence to the dissolute, lazy Mexican Ia
borerS. Nevertheless. they were impris-
oned. together with drivers of mule carts
and hay wagons and other Indians By the
trainload, whose Incarceration was mex
CUsable
One Indian, q section hand had been
steadily in the railroad employ for fifteen
years He was released after the unwind
ing of a good deal OF railroad red tape
The prisoners were brought in under com
mand Of General Torres himself Many
We're dep0rted Immediately on the Demo-
crata. a Mexican warship. Eighty were
kept until the OaXaca could finish certain
repairs and convey them out of the coun-
try. What has become of the Yauuf
women and children who were driven from
the Rio TO Guaymas and waist deep into
the sea- Quien sabe2
Hucatau is far away