The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-11-11
JOAN OF ms Of MEXICO, BITTER ANGUISH HER ONLY
REWARD FOR HEROIC SELF SACRIFICE

BY Ethel DoIson.


is but a girl in years, modest, cul-
tured. beautiful gentlewoman.
Porfirio Diaz, despot of Mexico,
hates her.
She is Andrea villareal, the
Jean dare of Mexico.
In every cause that has for it's
object the lettering of human
conditions, there will be found
women, unselfish, consecrated,
sacrificing, and ever ready to
sacrifice all they hold dearest to
bring about the change that they
believe will bring a little more
of comfort, a little more of love,
a little more of happiness into
the lives of their people.
Sometimes 1t chances that a
single woman comes to be the in
SEPARATION, the very heart and soul
of a movement for a change like
this.
Andrea Villareal is such a wom-
an. With her only brother in the
Arizona penitentiary at Florence
as a result of aid given to Diaz
by police officers and courts of
the United States, sentenced to
jail because of his opposition to
his country's oppressor; her IA
Their and her only sister facing, or
actually suffering unknown hor-
rors in Mexico, this girl, choking
back her sobs, bravely suffering
the anguish that must be hers, is
the inspiration, the heart and
soul of the Mexican liberal
movement on this side of the Mex
lean border, a movement which
she hopes will work the change
that will, whatever the personal
cost to her, bring a little more of
comfort, a little more of love. a.
little more of happiness into the
lives of her people.
That is why Porfirio Diaz hates
her.
In the towns along the Next
can border, where there are
thousands of Mexican liberals.
waiting to be guided, when the
time comes, to take their part in
an effort to take what the consti-
tuition of their country declares is
theirs, to rid themselves of the
burden of the Diaz government.
Andrea Villareal Yields an influ-
ence so powerful that should she
venture to set foot on Mexican
soil, her life would undoubtedly
be the forfeit. She would be
taken prisoner by agents of Diaz
and "executed'-tortured to
death or shot down as an anar-
chist, dangerous criminal.
Yet she is neither of these. She
loves her people. That is all. She
believes her people are suffering
unjustly. So she talks to them,
quietly, convincingly, sometimes
almost gently. She is trying to
teach them, not to inflame them.
Daily, almost, she talks, explain
ing, urging patience.
Americans who have heard her
speak, though, perhaps, not I'M
derstanding her words, carry
away with them a distinct impress
sion Of the magnetism, of the
wonderful power, of this gentle,
beautiful girl-fearless as she is
beautiful.
The burden that Andrea Villa
real carries every hour of the
day would break many a man. 1t
was only a few days ago that her
father and her only sister, Teresa,
venturing on Mexican soil, were
instantly reached by the "long
arm" of Diaz, and thrust into
prison.
1t is the uncertainty of what
may be their fate that is hardest
to endure.
Andrea realizes the awful pos
She knows well what
very few Americans dream. OF
this, John Kenneth Turner, au-
ehOt Va La Dul gus Says.
"In Mexico, federal and prison
make no distinction
where sex is concerned.
II don't know what will be-
come of Teresa Villareal-no one
can even venture a guess. No
matter what her friends may try
to do in her behalf, they may nev-
er hear from her again. It is bad
enough for a man to be thrown
into a Mexican dungeon, but a
woman-well, 1 won't try to say
anything more. There's nothing
to be said"
Andrea Villareal knows the BIT
ter truth of Turner's every word.
Yet with her brother in an Ameri-
can jail, her sister and her