The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-07-31
MEXICO HAS A CURSED TREE.

MEXICO HAS A CURSED TREE. Mystery of the Fatal Oak Planted by \ Man in League with the Devil. - Because of the many fatal accidents that, have occurred under huge tree that. grows in the Haciendia ranch, in the Zamora district, Michoacn, peasants of the region are growing. more and more superstitious about it's supposed fatal omen and they begin to call 1t tarbol maldito" (cursed tree.) i The tree is supposed to be over seven- ty-ftve. years old, and is said to have been planted by man who, because of his enormous crimes and his forgetful- ness of the divine law, was swallowed up by the earth. That man, according to tradition was un riombre muy malo. He never went to, mass, never con- fessed, did not have the image of a saint in his house, did not carry a rosary around his neck, and never, made the sign of the cross. There was not. a beggar in the town who had ever. received "tlaco chiquito'' (old coins equivalent to. 1-2 cents) from him. He never gave anything for the church and never took off his hat when he met a a.i'padrecito" on the street. z. It was rlmored that he was respon- lsible for many murders and other atrocious crimes, but he was never in ljaili neither could he be incarcerated because he had a compact with the devil and whenever he invoked his IuS nin ,,o instxr tho latta,. .ayda,,aJ b;y either invisible to human eyes or small CT than3an ant, so that he could easily escape danger, He had no friends nor relatives, because he was summed by Iall. .fi~s &.4 .+5
 l One thing he loved birds and trees. He planted numerous trees and fed big hocks of birds that knew him and came to his home every morning to
 pick the. crumbs, of bread which ht Ethrew in the patio.
 Many years ago, and this is well re- nlemhered by the peasants. 1t was Good Friday. Everybody in town had at Itended the religious services of the morning and they were going to their Ihomes, when a terrific noise was heard IThey rushed to the street where it came lfrom, to find out what 1t was, and saw how the earth had opened under tho lcursed mans feet. He was enveloped
 by thick flames and smoke, and disaap. lpeared beneath the surface of the earth This was considered a most deserved
 punishment. Whilethe faithful wer in the church the cursed, man was loafing arVund, and having seen big
 crucifix upon an altar erected on ths lstreet, as was done in those days, he Iplaced a burning cigarette in the lips
 of tthe image. Scarcely had he made Ieight or ten steps when he was engulfet lby the inferno.
 That very day all the trees that he Iplanted, except the cursed one, driet Iup, and all the birds he had fed died. An attempt was made to cut dowr Ithe tree that had not dried up, but tht Iman who made the attempt dropped Idead upon stepping upon the shadow lof it's foliage. The mans body had tt Ibe left there to be eaten up by tht Icrows, because nobody had the courage ito approach and remove 1t.
 Since ,, that day numerous person. Ihave met a tragic death under that ltree, A pedestrian who went under f flor shade on a hot summer day wa. 1 bitten by a snake and died in two hour
 Three !. men, on, different occasion. Isougbtes shelter from rain under it
 branches, and were struck by lighting
 A woman who was hanging som,
 clothes to dry from the trunk of tn, ltree was attacked and killed by billy lgoat that came from nobody know , where and that was never seen again Two years ago little boy who wal Iridfng burro innocently led his anima
 to the tree. The burro threw him of
 and kicked him to death. The las victim of this fatal tree was a mal named Melduiades Arevalo, wo, thre
 or four days ago during heavy rain Estorm. ran under the tree for shelter Hike his predecessors on such occasions
 he was struck by lighting.
 The horror that peasants have fo
 this tree is so great that peons refus | to work on the fields half a mile aroun lit. Propero Garcia, the owner of tn
 ranch where that tree grows, is said t
 have made up his mind to have i
 blown up with dynamite, but he ha
 been unable to find man who is will ling to do the work, so 1t seems prob
 able that he will have to do it himself l--Mexican Herald.
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