The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-11-18
REBELS MAKING
LIFE ARDu0Us
Earl Smith, Son of w. G.
Smith, Sees Some of the
Mexican Looting.

DELAYED for a month before it could
De mailed because OF the fact that
rebels had cut off every means Of
communication, a letter from Earl
smith. a former resident Of this city.
and during the year 19O9-1910 a stu
lent at, tho university. has been re-
ceived by his father. w. G. Smith.
Earl Is now in charge of Il silver mine
near Batopilas, Mexico, which is in the
neart OF the present scene Of rebel &C.
ttvity. during the absence of his broth
er Frank. who ia manager Of the mine
and is now in Philadelphia.
The mine Is a six-day trip by mule
trail from a railroad and according. to
the letter, he rebels are making it de-
charge. The letter was started on
September 9. but as 1t was impossible
to get It mailed. postcripts are added
under the dates of October 1 and 5.
The letter in part follows:
Batopilas. Mexico, Sept. Q, 1912.
L am writing Il few lines hoping to
be able to Ser them out by the book
Keeper Of the other mine. but am not
sure they will ever reach you. Things
are very much upset here, and all out
side communication is shut off. The
Oroscestas. or rebels. came in yester-
day and took the town and have been
raising the Dickens e since. To-
lay they raided a little shoe shop own
ed by some Chinese and took all the
money they had saved in years, several
thousand pesos. One of the Cinnamon
came down a little while ago and told
us all about it. and handed me 100
pesos. all he had left. and asked me
TO take care of 1t for him. The fight
yesterday lasted four hours. the rebels
losing two killed and eleven wounded.
and as yet l have not learned of the
loss to the Maderistas or federals. The
rebels came down to the other mine
and demanded their mules. Mr.. Bro
die, the manager. told them to bring
an order from their chief. They are a
bunch Of bandits going under the
name of soldiers and steal and murder
wherever they go.
Confiscated His Mules.
Last week the same outfit took Iluvia
de Orc. a small town three days from
here. and looted the store there. not
having even the decency to leave a
box of matches. l had made a trip
over there at that time intending to
bring back some mercury, and was
rooming above the store. SC saw the
whole performance and right between
the firing. after they were done with
the store, they proceeded to get drunk
and four Valientias came and demand
GU AlAS AAAulSSs ! llIOIIIlCu LIlSIIt IIS
were the property Of an American
company. but they look them all the
same. and 1 had a job getting them
back, but with the assistance OF the
officials. managed t. do so in time;
then / found they had stolen my sad
dies, but I also managed to get them
back. This bunch informed me they
las) and yesterday they came in n
made their word good-as l mention
ed above. I just this minute received
word that they have stolen eight Of
the company mules and raided the
company's store. which makes mat
tiers look very bad, as they generally
take all the Mexicans' goods and stores
before they touch American com,pan-
les goods. The bookkeeper and en-
gineer Of the next company say they
are going out tomorrow n l am go
ing to get them to take this letter
where 1t can be mailed. I have writ
ten to Frank several times. but do
not suppose he or o ever receive my
letters. The season is getting late and
we are having a little cooler weather
and less rain. Potatoes and other
vegetables are coming in. but I can
assure you are nothing like your North
Dakota stuff.
Our mine is closed down for lack Of
supplies and we nave only Il few Poems
clearing up inside. Last Sunday some
fellows broke into the mine. stole a lot
Of silver, and so we have been fixing
up the gates all the week. The talk
and how they would whip them II they
did. and as that Bill Taft is leary. it
sounds reasonable. Dolezal is now
writing to the company, but as h. Is
painting things stronger than I should.
1 will have to write it over. For our
selves personally, / don't consider
there is much danger. but there GER
taintly is for property.
Write soon and take a chance of my
mail from the states for Over w
months. The hadrones took about
$4,000 in cash from the Batopilas
Mining company, besides their loss
from the store.
Sept. 27.-They have now taken part
Of our arms and ammunition and q
mule. but have left our mine alone
The Life Poltico" would not let
out, so will have to wait for another
chance.
Back Again.
Oct. 1.-The Maderistas are here
again: took the town back again. but
waited outside for the Oroscistas to
get out before coming in. The post
master was scared out and hit for the
hills. so we cannot mail letters or re-
ceive any.
Wires Go Down.
Oct. 5.-The RED Flaggers" are
again outside the town and waiting a
good chance to come in. They have
cut all the telegraph wires.
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