The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-09-12
REBELS MIXED ARMY.
How Zapata Recruited His Fol.
lowers in Mexico.
Every Outlaw and Fugitive From jus
tee Was Enlisted by "The At
Il of Republic" az Poems
Call Bandit

Mexico City.-When Zapata first re
eruited his followers they told me hs
had drawn to himself every outlaw
and fugitive from justice who up tc
that time had been hiding in the More
los hills or in the vast underground
caves Of Cacahuimilpa. near Cuerna
Yaca
Later, when Zapata and his men
took Cuernavaca, Zapata opened the
jail and penitentiary, and, putting q
good rife and handful of cartridges
into each convict's hands. he bade
them help themselves TO horses wher
ever they could find them. AS there
are several horse ranches and rich
haciendas with celebrated racing
studs in the immediate vicinity OF
Cuernavaca, 1t did not take long be
fore all those new recruits went
mounted on the best OF horses, as was
here to be seen.
After the great review of Zapata's
bandit forces, Senior Madero commit
ted the colossal blunder, as 1t turned
out to be, of paying off all of Zapatas
men for their alleged services In the
Madero revolution, without putting an
armed guard over them to see that
they actually turned In their rifles and
cartridges before returning to their
homes.
The result Of this was that Emlliano
Zapata simply drew the sum of $4,000
pesos set aside for himself and his
followers. without bothering to turn
In more than few stacks Of arms
after which he announced that he and
his men would not give any more
arms unless they received twice the
amount of the originally stipulated
sum.
After this the misunderstanding
between the newly constituted gov
eminent authorities and the Zapats
brothers grew apace. Zanata was
summoned to the capital. He came
deflantly, surrounded by an armed
bodyguard. In his brief stay at one OF
the principal hotels in Mexico City he
livened things up by shooting out all
the windows Of the cantina because
they would not serve him with drinks
dliSI % Ill iHe UlOTUlUR.
On the following day he and his
companions Communicated some hall
dozen city taxicabs and rode back to
Cuernavaca, about rs miles away
After this Zapata and his men In
Morelos became quite unmanageable
so far as the newly constituted au
thorities were concerned. Francisco
de la Barra. Mexlco's president ad In
terlm tried to temporize with the
Zapata brothers for a while, after
which Senior Madero, in his capacity
as leader of the revolution, pending
his election as constitutional presi
dent, made a special trip to Morelos
to Smooth down" the enraged Zapat.
lists
But the Smoothing down" did not
last, for within week Zapata's fol
lovers We're shooting up" the col
umns of regular soldiers who had
been sent to garrison the most i'm
portant towns Of Morelos, in response
to the frantic appeals Of the bandit
harried inhabitants of that state.
From this time forth the campaign
between Zapata's bandit hordes and
various expeditions of government
forces has been in full swing
All this so-called campaign" on the
part of the Zapatists, was marked by
acts of unbridled murder. arson and
rapine.
When the government forces re-
sorted to savage reprisals, such as
burning. down villages, imprisoning
women and children and hanging or
shooting all men believed to be In
league with Zapata, the warfare In
these unhappy districts of Mexico
took a turn for the worse
and the whole region become almost
The railway traffic between the cap.
ital and Morelos has been brought to
a standstil since the recent hold-up
and massacre of galway passengers
and their escort of armed soldiers
half way between the City of Mexico
and Cuernavaca, when forty persons
were killed.
Since this event several of the rail.
way stations and bridges along that
line have been burned down by the
Zapatsts, only a few hours from the
City of Mexico, so that the railway
service between the capital and the
states OF Morelos and Guerrero has
had To he snsDended altogether