The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-05-26
National News Association)

National News Association)
Mexico City. May 26.-The Official
announcement of the resignation Of
Porfirio Diaz, as president Of Mexico,
not only marks his political death,
but through the strange irony of fate,
colors the close of thirty years of vir-
tual sovereignty with the same blood
red tints that marked his accession
to the throne" of Mexico in 1877,
when as a popular idol, clothed with
the romance of brave deeds and bear
ing the standard of political purity,
he marched into the same town where
he now lies. burdened with years, be-
set with pain and surrounded by enc
mics, at the head of 10000 yelling
poems, and took possession of the
place vacated by President Lerdo,
whom he charged with practically the
same misdeeds that have been his
own undoing.
! Porfirio Daz is one of the strangest
figures in modern history. His long
life of hazardous activity unfolds a
/ story that rivals that of the medieval
heroes who have held the attention
and won the admiration of countless
generations by their Quixotic heroism.
The son of a poor inn keeper of OAK
AGA, an oprhan in 1888, when scarce
three years OF age, he rose by leaps
and bounds, through all the various
gradations of priest. lawyer, soldier.
statesman and president, dragging
down-trodden Mexico in his wake till
at last he made himself one of the
greatest figures in modern times and
his nation one of the leading republic
in the world.
| Abnormal Frecoeity.
| Early tales of Diaz credit him with
a precocity abnormal even in a child
surrounded by every advantage and
but little in accord with one whose
early life was spent among the Next
can poems, conceded to be the poor
est race in the civilized world, yet
there must have been a germ of truth
amid the tumble of fiction, for at a
| tender age, he was Known to have &C.
cumulated an education far above his
fellows by assiduous application to
the books lent him by itinerant priests
and when yet in his teens, was select
ed by the Holy Fathers to become one
Of their number.
| He studied for the clergy until a
stirring presidential call set all Mexi.
co afire against an invasion by the
United States. Young Diaz, his fiery
nature grown weary of restraint, flung
down his books and crucifix and walk.
cd over two hundred and fifty miles to
join the Mexican forces that were
massing on the border against the
Americans. After the close of the
Mexican invasion he returned once
more to his native village, only to
find that his action had forever cut
him of from the priesthood. and that
he must needs find some other voca
ton. He, however. was welcomed with
open arms by little coterie of stu
dents headed by Benito Juarez. an IL
lustrious Indian lawyer, who was then
governor of the state of Oaxaca.
Joins a Revolution.
His Rrst chance of distinction came
in 1854 when he joined revolution
against the tyrannies of President
Santa Anna. Santa Anna attempted
to Quell the disturbance by calling a
general election and forcing his re
election by a show of force. Ate,
Z his military were drawn up in the
square. his ENJOYS let it be known tina,
all who failed to vote for him would
be imprisoned. Diaz sought the vot
ing booth. but when pressed to cas-
his ballot, craved leave to remain neu
trail. Taunts of cowardice were f1uns
at him by Santa Annals officers and, al
last wrought to a white heat pitch o.
by his enemies, he strobe boldly Il
the ballot box and cast his lot will
the rebels. Instantly confusion
reigned. Santa Annals soldiers sought
to lay hands upon him. He retreated
drew his sword, seized a horse anC
amid a hail of bullets, rode at full gal
lop though the federal forces to the
absence of his chief. he assumed com
mand and successfully routed those
who pursued to take him captive.
From this time on Diaz's career wa.
one continual round of adventure
Santa Anna was defeated and driver
out of Mexico. The rebel chief sue
ceeded him. Juarez was appointed
minister of justice, Diaz captain of tn,
National Guard. The new administra
ton sought to stamp out the rule o
the priest and pulpit that had yearl.
yoked Mexico to poverty by it's de
mands upon the people. The churcl
melted a rebellion. War ragged through
Mexico; war in which priests ap
peared before charging troops: wa
in which the curse of the church wa
Numbered from thousands of altar
, and which stepped the fair land O
Mexico in a sea of blood
Made q Governor.
Diaz. now made a governor OF
state. and military commander of
: district. with the rank of colonel, wa
: besieged in Vera Cruz, and his com
: mand reduced to handful by the re
peated onslaughts of the ecclesiastics
; till at last he made spectacular es