El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-09


book boards action in changing school
books at the opening Of the school
! years this fall One parent invested
! S12.5O in new books for his Two boys
A Spanish-Americaa resident said
/ that while he did not have any chill
dren of his own. he knew what a hard
| ship the purchase Of new equipment Of
books would be on some of the Mexican
/ families, who were making a hard
effort to educate their children. He
told of one widow on the south side
who earned but 81 a week, and was
compelled to invest her entire week s
earnings in school books for her boy
or take him out of school
The complaints were not confined to
the poorer patrons of the schools, Tor
many of the wealthy complained
against the purchase of new books for
| their children, after they had used
, their old ones but one year.
However, the old ones if not lost or,
badly mutilated, are accepted as part
payment on the new books and gener-l
ally only a few cents difference is de-
manded, The truth is, as one school
teacher said, most of the children have
lost or destroyed their old books any
how and the parents would have been
compelled to buy new ones in many
cases even if there had been no change
in text books by the state board
X X K
Men have fought and women have
waited since the world started A lit
tie Mexican woman. the wife Of a fed
eral army officer, has been waiting
since spring for some message from
her husband who went away to war
in the north He was Lieut. Col Alvaro
ROjas, who was executed in Durango
by Tomas Urbina's command, after
they had captured the town from the
federals.
The Mexican Herald recently pub
lished the last letter the army officer
wrote his wife on the eve of his exc
cutiOns after he had been court mar
tailed and ordered to be shot at sun
rise The message is filled with the
bravery which comes to men but sell
dom in their lives and is Characteristic
of the men who died braYely before the
rebel firing squad the morning follow
ing the writing of the letter.
The note, written in the condemned
cell of the Durango penitentiary, while
the death guard was walking past his
door, reads:
Mrs. Conception Ramirez de ROjas,
Monterey
MY Dear Wife:-This is the last
letter that I ever shall write you, be
cause fate has ordained that I shall
die, and as you know had nothing
to leave, God will take care of you
Tell my children that my last mes
sage TO them was that they should
live honorabIy and not abandon you;
my great sorrow at death is that I shall
not see them any more. Try to ar
range that any government that may
be established shall grant the pension
to which you are entitled. With the
certificates of our marriage you will
prove that you are my legitimate wife.
Embrace my children the last time
for me- I hope that they will keep
me in their hearts forever.
Goodbye, my dear, be happy. Work
ing for bread for my children and in
defence of my country, I have been
brought face to face with death.
am a prisoner, and will be executed
tomorrow, so nothing can save me.
Csigned) ALvARo RoJAs.~
Some of my friends will have to
make up 4 purse and buy me a regular
pistol If am expected TO TO defend
the Stanton street bridge from invas-
ion like HoratiUs of old,7 customs in
spetcor T F. Jonah said Monday.
When I pOked that little 81 automatic
at the Mexican soldier Saturday aft
ernoon, realized that my life was
depending upon the action of shoot
ing iron which was little more than a
toy, when compared to the big As re-
volvers which the line riders carry. I
never realized how important a large
cal1Der revolver was until found II
Necessary to shoot Saturday to protect
NY own Ire ana the ives OF my as
SOclateS from the drunken Mexican SOL
der Inspector Heifren had emptied
his % at the man, but had not stop
ped him. l aimed very carefully to
make sure that my shots would have
ERECT and blazed away. But this did
not STOP the man, who ran to his horse
and finally dropped to his knee and
then fell On his face Never again
VIII 1 depend upon such light weight 1
1 xl IRON as that one had Saturday, !
1or II IS a wonder that the Mexican |
with the 5000 rifle had not shot US all !
after we had him winged"
7 did California from end to end
W tL l was out there for a year and !
three months, Mrs E V. Pickren |
says Il am "A years old, but I an |
not tea drinking, gOssiping old Wo-
man by any means, and I was as busy /
out there as I have been all nv life in I
FL Paso and Texas I visited all OF
the beaches, motored to the beautiful |
spots IN California. camped out in the /
canyon back of Hollywood, watched |
the motion picture companies make /
pictures and thoroughly enjoyed every |
minute of my STAY in California The
movies were most interesting. for we /
came TO know all Of the actors and TO /
watch them produce love scenes, west
ern dramas, eastern pageants and miles I
and miles OF other reels near my camp 4
home at Hollywood. They would come /
to my house to rest and to get drink I
OF cool water from the spring, or to |
sit on the big steps, while they were |
not required in the pictures. We would |
follow them from place to place, IS |
they produced the different scenes of /
their plays, sometimes using my rustic /
bridge as q lovers retreat, often pos /
ing in front Of my house or riding like
the wind down the road in some wild
western picture for eastern consump-
ton We came to know them all by
their names and they were all fine fel-
lows and girls"
We are going to have our election
to dissolve the corporation of SOcOrro,
Texas. all over again" Seth Orndorff
says Seth was the judge at the cleo
ton which was held in the old valley /
town recently, when the vote stood 40 /
TO 40 for dissolution oS the corporation.
1t was afterward learned that some
Of the Mexicans did not understand the
wording of the ballot and marked their
ballots wrong. 1T cost US SIS to have |
)ne meeting in SOcOrro, as that vas
he price the corporation charged for
All public meetings. This is a sample
# the way the corporation in such a
mail place works, and the majority
# the people there are in favor OF
he dissolution, so that we can 20 di-
-ect to the county commissioners for
)ur favors and with court complaints
ather than TO the CORPORATION COM !