Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-01-31
THE MEXICAN BORDER.
How Both Sides of the Line Are
Watched and Guarded.

Watched and Guarded.
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 a well mounted rider, armed with
rifle and pistols, pacing obserVantly
along some bypath or canyon HE IS
one Of the United States boundary rid
ers appointed by the treasury depart
ment to patrol the border on the look
out for smugglers, cattle runners ana
other persons whose presence on the
American side is generally undesirable
For this position the man selected
must possess courage. Judgment ana
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 a line OF over
$50 miles, and this is in part over
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 a good Illus
tration Of the trust reposed In single
American citizen by his government 1t
is probable there is no other man In the
United States whom 1t would be harder
70 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 9. venturesome band of cattle run
ners, 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 or
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
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 rifle 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
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
for the 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 pris-
Oner 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 unsympathetic 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 side
of the border From a cursory inspec-
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 well known that you
have done so nevertheless. and on the
eleventh excursion you are likely to
find yourself surrounded by a pictur-
esque group, who will carry you off to
Jail if your explanation is not satisfac-
tory.
As rule, the rurales patrol back
and forth in detachments at a distance
of from ten to fifteen miles from the
actual border. Many a headlong dash
for the American side has been made by
perfectly law abiding citizens, with
the rulaleS 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 will, 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.-Michapl White in Youths
4 =, mi,