Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1909-03-11
- YAQWJ Nv Re0oW .NARD @e-o

while in a warfare that has not been that Of savages-
has, in fact, been fully as humane as that of its foe.
men.
1t is not necessary to go back any further than 1878
to get a good idea of what the Yaquis have been doing
IN trying to hold their own against the people of Spanish
descent in Mexico. In that year, because of trespass
upon their lands and because the Mexicans had taken
large numbers of them to work upon their ranches in
practical slavery, these TREMENDOUSLY tenacious fighters re-
sumed hostilities after a short period of peace. Gen.
Cajemi, their governor, took command and for seven
years held the passes and stronghods against 5000
troops under Gen. Pesquiera.
Although the Yaquis gave a good account Of them
selves, they lost many men and Gen. Cajemi was cap
tured and shot. Still the defensive war was continued,
and when at last the Mexicans drove them out of their
strongholds and captured their mines there came a Pc
Rod during which only desultory raids upon the hacien-
ds were made. During that period the Yaqui women
and boys and some of the noncombatant men of the
tribe went out to earn money in the mines, ranches and
fisheries to buy arms and ammunition to carry on the
fight.
A number of American miners who had been unable
peaceably to work their mines brought about the peace of
Ortiz in May, 1897. The government then began to take
Yaqui boys from the reservations and send them to
Vera Cruz, on the other side Of the continent, to make
soldiers of them. These boys were as good if not better
sharpshooters than the Boer youth, and the Yaouis saw
that in thus d~epriving them Of what would be a great
source Of reliance in future battle they would eventually
have to give up all hope of ever holding their own. So
that the peace of Ortiz only lasted a few months before
there was another uprising and more fighting, chiefly of
a guerilla nature, which continued for several years.
Meantime every cent that the noncombatants Of the
tribe could earn and save was handed over to the chiefs,
who bought with this money enough Mauser rifles and
mountain howitzers to equip very decently an army of
5000 men, under Gen. Tetaviate, who, in April, 1899,
took the field after having made this statement:
1--WE Yaquis are a peaceful and Industrious people.
When the Mexicans want workers for their mines or
factories they come to us. We do not want war. We
have never wanted it, but we want our rights. We made
a treaty of peace with the Mexican government, our herd
itary foe, in May, 1897, after a long series of wars, the
last Of which was more than ten years in duration. We
intended to keep faith with the government of Mexico,
but it has pursued a course Of cruel encroachment and
menace. We are now ready to fight it again, and all the
battles Of the past will be as nothing compared with
the bloodshed that will follow our entry into the field"
Gen. Tetaviate began operations in the lower valley
Of the Rio Yaqui, where his men drove out the white
settlers upon Yaqui lands. They cut the telegraph wires
and destroyed other means Of communication, and it was