The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-12
LATIN AMERICA'S { AMAZONS
WOMEN SERVE IN THE ARMY IN
 VENEZUELA AND ELSEWHERE. 1
Whole Families Enlis Sometimes in Cenral and souh American Re- publics-women and Chill
 dren .ofen More Savage
 Than he Men.

| N6W IOTk 0uH. | When patriotic citizens are called tc arms in the United States and other high. I ly civilized countries the girls are left be- hind. It is not so everywhere. Tn vene- | zuela. Colombia, Hayti, Santo Domingo Bolivia. Nicaragua and some of the other less advanced Latin-American countries
 the entire family sometimes goes to war It happens this way. A revolution is in progress. and there is urgent demand for troops by both sides.
 A group of half-civilized Indians are tilling their fields. A band of soldiers comes along, surrounds them and marches them all off to fight for a cause about which they know and, care nothing. But my wife, my boys, senor!' walls the peon to the commandante who has captured him. What is to become of The family troops up weeping, and begs the officer to let the man go. The officer looks at them thoughtful, and. sees that the boys are strapping lads of F and IA. and that the wife is fine. strong wo- man.
 NO, I must take your man." he tells her. but, if you like, you and the boys can come, too. They are strong enough to march and carry rifles. and you can help do the cooking for US and look after the wounded"
 So 1t comes about that the entire family marches off to the front, happy and cheer full again. There are no harder people in the world than the Indians of Central America, Colombia and Venezuela. Even the women think nothing of marching thirty miles a day over rough mountain tracks, carrying rife, heavy cartridge belt, a machete and a packload of mis- cellaneous baggage.
 Sometimes a guerrilla band will enlist all the members of family, from the youngest boy of ten to the grandfather of seventy. And they will march and fight side By side-husband and wife, mother and daughter, father and son, uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents. During the recent civil war in Colom- bia. when the government was very hard pressed for troops, it was a common practice to surround country churches on Sunday and forclbly enlist the entire con gregation, except old people and infants unable to march.
 The armies with which President Castro has made his great fight against the Mates revolutionists in Venezuela com prise large proportion of mere boys, whose ages range as low as 8 and g, and every company of his soldiers has from dozen to twenty women attached to 1t. They are generally Indians or mulattos, and they marcS with the baggage train.
 When Castro's army marched home to
 
 defeating the revolutionists a few days before Christmas, foreigners had a good chance to study it's makeup, First cSme the fife and bugle band. | composed of half h dozen ragged Indian boys, blowing triumphal march for all they were worth. Behind them, riding pyroudly on stolen mule, copper colored general carriaed a huge Venezue- Ian flag. its gaudy stripes of red, blue and yellow Haunting proudly in the sun- light.
 He was dressed in a pair of tattered red trousers, with broad gold stripe, a blue service blouse like that of the United States army. an old palmleaf hat with a ribbon of the Venezuelan colors twisted round 1t, and a pair of alpargattas-the native canvas sandal, which exposes the toes and heels
 A Mauser rife was slung over his shoui- der, an Andino machete, with a Rayly colored scabbard, hung on one side and a brass-htlted regulation sword on the other. while the belt around his waist contained heavy revolver and enough | cartridges for a Maxim gun.
 | The army followed in single file. Gen. erals and Colonels marching along on the Hanks in generous profusion. There was a held officer to every half dozen men, but you could hardly tell the field officers from the, rank and file.
 The officers were dressed in odds and ends of uniform from nearly every army in the world. The rank and file made no pretense at uniform, but wore anything they happened to have picked up Some went half naked.
 The Indians, who made up the bulk of the army, wore their favorite alpargattas; but few negroes and mulattos went barefooted They all marched along sturdi- iy at a swinging quickstep-almost a trot although they had covered thirty miles that day and gone through a fortnight's 6 | hard campaigning.
 Each man carried a Mauser, belt full of cartridges, a machete or sword, and perhaps blanket, a mess kettle and a | tin- pan. The Venezuelan soldier has to be his own commissiriat service, or go without. There were scores of Title boys. or 1C | years old, carrying cut-down Mausers and stepping out as OraveIy and sturdi- ly as the rest. An even stranger sight to a foreigners eyes was a company of Indian and mulatto women, we'll armed | who marched at the rear of the army with the baggage train.
 Here and there a whole family march ed together-women and men. boys and girls, all mixed up. There was no at- tempt to enforce military order. If the soldier liked to enjoy the society of wom- CnC general didn't think it was up to him to interfere.
 Indeed, 1t was good business for the re- public, as all the members of the family were quite ready to fight whenever the need arose. They coSV nothing to feed, for the army had no official commissa- riat It lived on the country.
 The soldiers foraged for themselves, with the help of their children and women folk. Nearly every man in the force had a little loot to show. if it was only skinny fowl or u small bunch of plantains slung on his Mauser rife.
 The fortune of war often brings men to the front with surprising rapidity in these republics The family that goes to war ragged and shoeless may, in a few short weeks or months. become one of the greatest in the hand. A man may be a ragged Indian peasant one year and ardistinguished general the next.
 When President Castro fought his way to supreme power In Venezuela, many men Went up on the crest of the wave with him. One of them, Gen. Louis Ot- alara, used to be the village barber at Sastf6Ts home in the Andes. He still djls yes sthe President, as part of his mil a4ary duties.
 f Another friend of Castro's. an old In dian who had fought well, was made Minister of War. He Iml Ssdiately pur- chased gorgeous uniform. with lots of gold and silver lace on it, and then walked into his wifes room to show her his finery. She died on the spot, Her heart was weak, and the joy of seeing