El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-02-01

in the past. Brigandage is common N
many districts, and travel in the noun
talns is almost everywhere unsafe.
There are many thefts, and crime,
which could be kept in check when the
country was quiet, now goes on I'M
punished
As an instance Of this. the other
night a rich Mexican, the owner II
a large hacienda, was standing on the
steps of a Pullman car. He was some
thing Of a dandy, and wore q beautiful
sombrero, embroidered with silver and
loaded with a heavy silver cord Such
a hat is worth $25 or more. The train
had stopped at a Wayside station, and
the man was standing, locking out
toward the east smoking a cigar5t.
1t was evening. and the eletcric lights
on the car made bright the silver
trimmings Of the sOmbrero- They
caught the eye OF a PeOn, who was
sneaking up on the westward side Of
the train, and he. climbing the steps,
stabbed the man in the back, snatched
the sOmbrerO and got away before he
could be apprehended- The American
who saw this tells me the stabbed man
died.
I would say, however. that these
cases are extraordinary Railroad travel
in Mexico is undoubtedly more danger
Gus just now than in the past, and
holdups in certain districts are com
mon I understand, however, that many
Of the roads have been running their
trains Uninterruptedly during the past
year, and 1 hope to travel over the
greater part of the Mexican republic
without being robbed I shall start
south to Monterey tomorrow, and will
write Of conditions and other things
as I find them
Fortunes in Onions.
Before leaving Uncle Sans country.
however, 1 want to give you some of
- =
into my ears. They say their state is
growing faster than the gourd of old
Jonah. Right here in Laredo they have
proved to my satisfaction that they are
making fortunes in onions. Five years
ago the land surrounding the town was
practically a desert and it could be
bought for from $3.50 to So per acre.
Now you have to cover it with green
backs to get it There are already
more than 10000 acres under culuva-
ton, and much Of this is in garden
patches, devoted to onions, which in
quality surpass those of Bermuda The
Laredo onion is as white as snow ard
exceedingly tender. 1t is often as big
as the head of a baby. Last year 2S0G
carloads were shipped away from Lar
edo and this represented a value Of
between two and three million dollars.
These onions go to our northern mar
kets.
A year or so ago one Of the big onion
raisers decided TO experiment with red
pepper. The result was much the
same as Inar expressed IN the story
Of the rather prOfane grocer, who be-
came converted and was praying at a
religious meeting for a poor widow.
He said: "0h, Lord, give this poor wom-
an q barrel Of flour Oh, Lord, give her
a barrel Of potatoes! on, Lord. give
her a barrel OF sugar! Oh, Lord, give
her barrel OF peppeDE At which point
he caught himself and said. No, d-n
II, that's too much pepper"
Ta-a1o fo~r,a- IaE too
much pepper. The crop was so large
he could not dispose Of it all de
sWamped the drug houses. the can
neries and the pickle makers, and still
had bales upon bales OF pepper left.
The pepper was analysed and it proved
to be the richest pepper in the world
Uncle Sans Winter Garden.
An even greater revolution as to The
lower Rio Grande valley in the neigh
borhood OF Brownsville. There are
three counties between this point and
there that were practically dead 10
years ago, but which are now shipping
solid trainlOads of winter vegetables
to st. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, New
y ork and Philadelphia They can raise
for these markets three
weeks ahead OF California and they
begin sending them off when the biz
zard IS still raging north Of Mason and
DixOn's line In consequence, four
thriving cities have grown up within
y
Senitos Harlingen. Mercedes and Mis-
sion. They have each three or four
thousand people and each is surround
ed by a rich farming community.
hear many stories about men who
have come TO this valley walking on
their uppers and are now riding about
IN automobiles. The exports of vege-
tables are running high into the mil
lions Of dollars year, and over Sl25,-
100000 Of new money has been in
vested in the valley within the past
seven years
I understand that hOmeseekers' ex-
eursions are now run throughout the
year. and that great irrigation works
ire under way. In some places the
water is pumped from the Rio Grande
" centrifugal pumps with pipes rang
ng from IS to As inches, and the water
s carried by means @ pumping sta
ions for miles over the country
There is another district between
here and San Antonio where the irri-
cation is by artesian wells. They find
The water at from $50 to 1900 feet,
ind some of the wells flow sufficient
to irrigate from 200 to $50 acres In
Iced, the whole of Texas seems TO be
n an exec uent business condition The
armers are, growing rich, and the
titles are rapidly increasing in size.
FRANK 6. CARPENTER