The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-01-28
THE MEXICAN BORDER
How Both Sides Of the Line Are
Watched and Guarded.
UNCLE SANS BRAVE RIDERS.
The Work That Is Performed o. These
Well Mounted, Well Armed and Cour-
aaeous Patrols-The Mexican Rurales
and Their Methods.


aaeous Patrols-The Mexican Rurales
and Their Methods.
II business or recreation should take
YOU down to that long line which forms
the boundary between he United States
and Mexico, YOU may by chance meet
We'll mounted rider, armed with rifle
and pistols. pacing observanuy 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
snIugglers. cattle runners aud 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
bic for a stretch of border land many
miles in length.
Tor example, between San Diego, on
the Pacific coast of California, and
Yuma, in Arizona. there is but one
boundary rider to patrol a line of over
80 miles. and this is in part over
IA sparseIy 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 a good illus
tratiOn of the trust reposcd in Il single
American citizen by his government,
in the United States whom ii would
he harder to find 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 a veuturesome band of cattle
runners, or in some canyon of the noun
tains on the lookout for a 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 a 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
a 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.
Then. however, arose the question as
to the method Of taking them down tc
the coast He hired 4 double seated
vehicle, the only one in the place.
But at once another question pre-
scented itself How was he to seat bis
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 witt
him and the other behind, he started
for the coast.
The two cattle runners managed tC
communicate with each other by signs
and at a rough part of the road made
the boundary rider, in turn. theil
prisoner. Needless to say, they ther
made the best of their opportunity t
escape over the border, but as they fel
into the hands Of the unsympathetit
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 Mexi
can government in guarding their sidt
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 OF
a rurale, but it is we'll known that yOl
have done so nevertheless, and on tn,
eleventh excursion you are likely Z
find yourself surrounded by a pictur
esQue group. who will carry you off t,
Jail if your explanation is not salts
factory
AS q rule, the ruraleS patrol bacl
and forth in detachpents at distanc,
of from ten to fifteen miles from tn,
actual border. Many a headlong dasl
for the American side has been mad
by perfectly law abiding citizens, witt
the rurales at their heels. because the.
have been needless in obtaining a per
mission to cross the border
True an American citizen may eros
the border at will. as far as he himsel
is concerned. but as he is almost Ger
tain TO carry some article Liable to dut
it is upon that charge that he may b
arrested .-Michael White in Youth
Companion.