The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-01-30
LETTER FROM THE FAR WEST

re- re-, previous her death. Nv brotbsr " ia y ;
;s,a iea myself had just come to the blacl 81
us s!n'tn !1 n on the Austin and Webhe,
,1n vllle Pike road when We saw oro
N numbers of Mexicans com;na sae %
gong in every direction in wa.sn al
nugs'es; ;" y hacks, horseback and WALL Wall
ing. We learned that this verv VOL oI
Tb 1sby y mad died the night preyiou, m
Inc crowd kept gathering until us ,nar
IL was about hundred Mexicans~ ~ =
j, Ine 1osaa mouse, u. no white people were al i
Ct .o4ea to 60 near the house as tb,
g priest mad already arrived from Ans
l o". ~" anu .hey were going through thei,
n ceremony. They had also a foll
}. blood Spaniard from Austin who bad ,
d par part OF the affairs to look after at the the
cemetery; they also had a photo .
siapner from Austin, this was IL
. miles east of Austin, the nbo.o
grapher was an American. H. t"1d
, US that they had to guarantees h;n, @
9 Yen dollars III, besides the hire of the The
rg' There were several white neo.
PIE who stopped in the road near ,ho
house where the corpse was beino
blessed and annointed. and boIv s on
ales burned to drive away the evil evil
sPlrl's, but none were allowed 70
enter the house. There was quite ~
crowd who had gathered at the black
smlth shop waiting to see the process.
sion pass finally they got started and
II was by far the most peculiar finn
eIai nave ever witnessed. Some of
Tue Venlcies we're ioudod-witb noorIu
all young people and they were ~
gay and jolly as any lot 1 have ever
seen, if they had been going to j
masquerade ball they could not have I
been more worldly in their appear ,
ance, for they could not keep their {
faces straight for moment, nearly r
all the men and boys were smoking
cigarettes and the girls chewing gum. s
Each and every driver was tryins to y
see bon ~..;-lvnouguv an woufu De
more serious when they got to the il
grave, and as soon as the cortege had p
passed where we were we made haste l
to get to the cemetery, and we could t
easily get there first as they had b
about half mile to 60, while We q
went through uncle Davie Jones 9
wire fence into the pasture and made
the distance at about half that of the I
wagon road. The cemetery is loca-
ted on a high, coarse, sandy ridge in
Uncle Davie Jones pasture; the land
is covered with small brush. mesquite,
most oaks, cacti, and millions OF rocks
about the size to throw at mean
dog. We got to the grave before
the corpse had arrived and took our
position where we thought we could
see most but we had to move our
quarters several times to make room
| for their movements, though they
did not tell us to move as very few
of them would or could speak Eng
lish, but by their looks we thought
best to give them mofe room.
There seemed to be no system
among them and no one seemed to
know what to do and they ran first
one way and then the other and
sometimes there was a dozen watch
ing one TO see what he was going to
do, and it was nearly half an hour
before they got the coffin in the po-
sition they wanted it. They sat the
, coffin on the east side of the grave
with face towards the grave propped
ri up on somo rocks and chunks and
. the box for the coffin. Then all
, were given candle each and they
3 proceeded to light them as fast as
: possible. Of course we didn't get
a any candle. There was very lively
. breeze and the candles would not
y stay lighted, besides some OF the kids
. did net hold them SO they could burn
10 and some of the young girls would
10 keep the candles flying around first
il one side of her face then the othe,
,e until it went out, then they woale
= borrow light from some one else
n This kept them in confusion all tn
= time. AS soon as the coffin was il
M the position as above described they
- took the lid ::off. We were ..directl
ofI in front of the corpse and the Mex
- leans were all in the rear, then the.
an all lined up as close together as pos
r. III IL m cloon ko tho cnrnaa a