Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-02

in the past. Brigandage is common in
many districts. and travel in the noun
There are many thefts, and crime.
which could be kept in check when the
country was quiet, now goes on uh-
punished.
AS an instance of this, the other night
a rich Mexican. the owner of a large
hacienda, was standing on the steps OF
a Pullman car. He was something or
a dandy, and wore beaut1ful SOM
brero, embroidered with silver and
loaded with d heavy silver cord Such
a hat is worth S25 or more. The train
had stopped a. WaySlde station anu
the man was standing looking out toward
the east, smoking cigarette 1T was
evening, and the electric lights on the car
made bright the silver trimmings OIL the
sombrero They caught the eye OF peon
who was sneaking up on the WESTWARD
side of the train, and he, cilnoihg the
steps, stabbed the man in the back,
snatched the sombrero and got away
before he could be unprecedented Inc
American who saw this tells me the
stabbed man died.
l have been warned by several
berth down when riding at night over
the Mexican railroads. and when 1
asked why, the reply was that several
rocks had been thrown into the cars
aimed at travellers who sat by the WIN
doWs One such traveller was sleeping.
The stone scattered the pieces of glass
all over him, and cut a gash or SO III
his face. His eyes We're saVeu us ne me
fact that he was sleeping When the
stone came.
:. Z.
would say however. that these cases
are extraordinary. Railroad tTaVel III
Mexico is undoubtedly more dangerous
lust now than in the past and hoid-ups
in certain districts are common. uhdef-
stand, however. that many OF the Foaos
have been running their trains ullintef-
rlptedly during the past year, ana nope
Ia travel over the greater part OF the
Mexican republic without beng foppeu'
| shall start south To Monterey tomor-
row and will write of conditions and
other things as / find them
Before leaving Uncle sam country,
however | want to give you some OF the
big stories the Texans are pouring into
nv ears They say their state Is grow
ing 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 practi-
cally a desert. and it could be bought Tor
from 81 80 to So per acre. Now you nave
TO cover it with greenbacks to get III.
There are already more than ten thou-
sand acres under cultivation, and much
of this is in garden patches, deVoted 10
onions which in quality surpass those of
Bermuda. The Laredo onion Is as white
as snow and exceedingly tender lt is
often as big as the head Oh oapS. Last
wear $500 carloads We're shipped away
from Laredo and this represented
value of between two and three million
dollars. These onions go to our northern
markets.
year or so ago one of the big onion
raisers decided to experiment with red
pepper The result was much the same
as that expressed in the story of the
rather profane grocer, who became con-
verted and was praying at religious
meeting for a poor widow. He said,
'Oh, Lord. give this poor woman a bar,
rel of flour, Oh. Lord, give her barrel
of potatoes! oh. Lord, give her
barrel of sugar. Oh, Lord. give her
barrel of pepper.' At which point he
caught himself and said, No, On 1t,
that's too much pepper.
Well, this Laredo farmer had too much
pepper The crop was so large he could
not dispose of 1t all. He swamped the
drug houses. the canneries 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 of
the world.
An even greater revolution as to the
values of land has taken place in the low
er Rio Grande valley in the neighborhood
of Brownsville. There are three coun-
ties between this point and there that
were practically dead ten years ago, but
which are now shipping solid trainloads
of winter vegetables to ST. Louis, Kansas
City, Chicago. New York and Philadel-
phia They can raise vegetables for these
markets three weeks ahead of California,
and they begin sending them off when the
blizzard is still raging north of Mason and
Dixon line. In consequence. four thriving
cities have grown up within the last four
years These are San Benito. Harrington,
Mercedes and Mission. They have each
three or four thousand people and each is
surrounded by a rich farming community.
l hear many stories about men who
have come to this valley walking on their
uppers and are now riding about in auto
mobiles The exports OF vegetables are
running high into the millions of dollars
a year and over $125, 100000 of new
money has been invested in the valley
within the past seven years.
Mr. Holland, one of the owners of the
San Antonio Express, tells me that all the
counties of the lower Rio Grande valley
are rapidly growing and he cites the in
stances of three (which cover space