Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-05-08
THE MEXICAN BORDER
How Both Sides Of the Line Are
Watched and Guarded.
UNCLE SANS BRAVE RIDERS.

The Work That ls Performed by These
Well Mounted, Well Armed and Cour.
aaeous PatreIs-The Mexican RuraIes
and Their Methods.
II 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
a we'll mounted rider, armed with rifle
and pistols, pacing obseryantly along
some bypath or canyon. He Is one OF
the United States boundary riders APP
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, ana
Yuma, in Arizona, there Is but one
boundary rider to patrol a 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, 1t is a good Illus
tration of the trust reposed In a single
American citizen by his government
1t is probable there Is no other man
In the United States whom 1T would
be harder 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 venturesome band of cattle
runners, or in some canyon of the noun
tains on the lookout for wagon load
of prohibited immigrant Chinameni
but, wherever he is, one may be fairly
sure it is not where the transgressor Oh
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 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
q 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 to
the coast. He Hired a 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
hazardous choice?
He finally decided to separate them
and so, with one on the front reat with
him and the other behind, he started
| for the coast.
The two cattle runners managed u
communicate with each other by signs
and at rough part Of the road made
the boundary rider, in turn, theil
prisoner. Needless to say, they ther
made the best of their opportunity &C
escape over the border, but as they Eel
into the hands of the unsympathetit
rurales they would have been better
| of 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 side
| Of the border. From cursory inspec
ton of the line one might suppose tha
| the Mexican side is not guarded at all
You may cross the line ten times a
| different places and never set eyes OF
q rurale, but it is well known that yor
have done so nevertheless, and on the
eleventh excursion you are likely t
find yourself surrounded by pictur
esque group, who will carry you on K
! jail If your explanation is not salts
factory.
AS a rule, the rurales patrol baci
and forth in detachments at distance
of from ten to fifteen miles from thu
actual border. Many headlong dasi
| for the American side has been made
by perfectly law abiding citizens, witt
the rurales Mt their heels, because the!
have been needless In obtaining per
! mission to cross the border.
True an American citizen may cross
the border at will, as far as he himself
is concerned, but as he is almost Ger
tain to carry some article liable to dut.
II is upon that charge that he may b.
arrested.-M White in YOUTH
Companion.
| Rural Claims.