The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1908-01-22
THE MEXICAN BORDER
How Both Sides of the Line Are
Watched and Guarded.
UNCLE SANS BRAVE RIDERS.
The Work That Is Performed by These
Well Mounted, Well Armed and Cour-
aqeous Patrols-The Mexican RuraIes
and Their Methods.

Well Mounted, Well Armed and cour-
aaeous Patrols-The Mexican RuraIes
and Their Methods.
IF business or recreation should take
you down to that long line which forms
, the boundary between the United States
and Mexico, you may by chance meet
well mounted rider, armed with rifle
and pistols, pacing obseryantly along
some bypath or canyon. He is one OF
the United States boundary riders ap-
pointed by the treasury department to
patrol the border on the lookout for
smugglers, cattle runners and other
persons whose presence on the Amer
lean side is generally undesirable.
For this position the man selected
must possess courage, judgment and
no little physical endurance, for his
duties may call him forth at all hours
and seasons, and he may be response
BILE for a stretch of border land many
miles in length.
For example, between San Diego, on
the Pacific coast Of California, and
Yuma. in Arizona, there is but one
boundary rider to patrol line Of over
$50 miles, and this is in part. over
a sparsely settled mountainous region
and partly through the waste of the
Colorado desert.
AS opposite him, on the other side OF
the line, the Mexican government main
tains from fifteen to twenty rurales
for the same work, it is good illus
tration of the> trust reposed in single
American citizen by his government.
It is probable there Is no other man
D In the United States whom it would
be harder to End at given moment
than the boundary rider of the San
Diego Yuma district.
He may be down on the Colorado
desert, watching near some water
holes for q yenturesome band OF cattle
runners, or In some canyon OF, the noun
tains on the lookout for wagon load
OF prohibited immigrant Cinnamon;
but, wherever he is, one may be fairly
sure it Is not where the transgressor OF
the customs laws expect him to be.
That he must possess both Judgment
and courage the following incident,
which took place during the career OF
the former boundary rider In this dis
trict. will aptly Illustrate:
For some time, q: band Of cattle run
ners had been working successfully
back and forth over the line In spite OF
the boundary riders vigilance. They
seemed to be able to divine his move
ments, SO that while he was watching
trail through the mountains they
were rushing a bunch OF cattle over
the desert. -
But at last he managed to surprise
the band and, rife in hand, drove. two
Of them into Campo. ..s !;
Then, however, arose the question as
to the method Of taking them down to
the coast. He hired double seated
vehicle, the only one in the place. :.
But at once another question pre-
sented itself. How was he to seat his
prisoners, for either they must be
placed together on the front or the
back seat or separated, both seemingly
a hazardous choice?
He finally decided to separate them.
and so, with one on the front seat with
him and the other behind, he started
forthe coast.
The two cattle runners managed to
communicate with each other by signs
and at rough part Of the road made
the boundary rider, in turn, their
prisoner. Needless to say, they then
made the best Of their opportunity to
escape over the border, but as they fell
into the hands Of the unsympathetie
rurales they would have been better
off if they had submitted to the law Of
their own country.
This brings one of the somewhat diff
ferent methods pursued by the Mex1-
can government in guarding their side
Of the border. From cursory 1nspec-
ton Of the line one might suppose that
the Mexican side is not guarded at all.
You may cross the line ten times at
different places and never set eyes on
a rurale, but it is we'll known that you
have done so nevertheless, and on the
eleventh excursion you are likely to
find yourself surrounded by pictur-
esque group, who will carry you of to
Jail If your explanation is not salts
factory.
AS a rule, the rurales patrol back
and forth in detachments at distance
Of from ten to fifteen miles from the
actual border. Many q headlong dash
for the American side has been made
by perfectly law abiding citizens, with
the rurales at their heels, because they
have been needless In obtaining per.
mission to cross the border.
True, an American citizen may cross
the border at viii, as far as he himself
is concerned, but as he is almost GER
tain to carry some article liable to duty
it is upon that charge that he may be
arrested White In Youths