Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1908-02-14
THE MEXICAN BORDER
How Both Sides of the Line Are
Watched and Guarded.
UNCLE SANS BRAVE RIDERS.

Well Mounted, Well Armed and Cour-
and Their Methods.
If business or recreation should take
Tou down to that long line which forms
the boundary between the United States
and Mexico, you may by chance meet
q well mounted rider, armed with rifle
and pistols, pacing observantly 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 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
15O miles, and this Is in part over
2 sparsely settled mountainous region
and partly through the waste of the
Colorado desert.
f. As opposite him, on tho other side Of
the line, the Mexican government main
tatns from fifteen to twenty rurales
for the same work, it Is a good Illus
ration Of the trust reposed In single
American citizen by his government.
It ls probable t thhaEs T. Is @ No ether msq
IN the pnite1 States whom It Would
e 4arder to find at a 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 vef1turesome band of cattle
funhers, Or In some canyon Of the noun
tains on the: lookout for q wagon load
Of prohibited immigrant Chinamen;
6uas wherever he H. ons may be fairly
etre 1t is not where the transgressor Of
the customs laws expect him to be.
That he mast possess both Judgment
and courage the following incident,
which took place during the career Of
the former boundary rider in this dis
rict, will aptly Illustrate:
For some time 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 their into Campo.
Then, however, arose the question as
to the method Of taking them down to
the coast He hired a double seated
vehicle, the only one in the place.
But at once another question pre-
scented 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
hazardous choice?
He finally decided to, separate them
and SO. with one on the front seat witt
him and the other behind he started
for the coast.
The two cattle runners managed K
communicate with each other by sign:
and at a rough part Of the road made
the boundary rider. in turn. thei
prisoner. Needless to say. they they
No ~ hot +,
escape over the border, but as they fel
into the hands Of the unsympatheti'
rurales they would have been bette
OF If they had submitted to the law O
their own country
This brings one Of the somewhat diff
ferent methods pursued by the Mexi
can government In guarding their. sid
of the border. From a cursory inspec
! ton Of the line one might suppose tina
the Mexican side is not guarded at all
You may cross the line ten times a
different places and never set eyes Oh
a rurale, but it Is well known that yo1
have done SO nevertheless, and on tn
eleventh excursion you are likely
find yourself surrounded by a pictul
esque group, who will carry you off t
jail IL your explanation is not salts
factory. ~', ~
~ As a rule, the rura1es patrol bac
and forth in detachments at distanc
OF from ten to fifteen miles from tn
actual border. Many headlong das
for the American side has been mad
by perfectly law abiding citizens, wit
the rurales at their heels, because the
have been needless in obtaining pc,
mission to cross the border.
Z ID. True, an American citizen may eros
{" The border at will, as far*as he himsel
Is concerned, but as he is almost Gel
tain to carry some article liable to dut
I It is upon that charge that he may b
arrested Mfchael White In: Youth
Companion. ~ .:.=7 s-5 4 "a ~
SE ~ Rural Claims. sElS, =
Through the influence Of the dan
5s# E9sess cities and their needs have com
sf,sorb such an amount Of dafl
VII attention that the Importance Of ID
5 country and ifs inhab itants to the we
fare Of the nation Is largely oYerlooi
81 e4 E hf 3Gag