The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-16
HOW HUERTA i.
Won POWER

Kansas City Star: With Huerta
the end has always justified the
means. That treachery was necessary
to attain that end was of small mo-
ment to him.
1t vas secretary to Madero, whose
army he commanded against Diaz,
that gained him the military dictator
ship of Mexico, and it was an act of
treachery that first brought him to the
attention of eX-President Diaz. 1t
was a treachery, however, for his mas
ter and his reward was advancement
in the army.
Huerta, a lieutenant colonel, was
barely 50 years old when the incident
occurred. One afternoon while he was
riding, with an escort of only three
men, through a mountain pass in the
vicinity of his station at Matanzas, six
or seven masked men stepped from
the roadside and covered his little par
ty. Naturally they threw up their
hands.
The highwaymen proved to be mem
bers of the band of Flores Zezaga, the
bandit who kept the community on the
feather edge. 1t was his habit to de-
scend on the towns along the coast
and levy toll whenever hunger or a
rice impelled him to do so, Huerta
soon stood in front of Zezaga's hut,
an adobe dwelling, much ~dilapidated,
far up the mountain.
Formed League With Bandit.
There zezaga made the proposition
which was not at all unusual in Mexi-
CO then. and which is, in fact, quite
the vogue today. He proposed that
Huerta should keep him informed as
to the days when the military force
would be marching in a direction OPP
posite from the town. On such days
Zezaga would make it a point to call,
with his followers, n collect from
the natives such stores of money and
clothes and food and wine and tobac-
co as had accumulated since the last
visit. ..
Zezaga was not at all surprised to
have Huerta accept his proposition
and to receive in return for the prom
Used information an assurance that a.
share of whatever DOT fell to the
bandits should be left for the soldiers
at an appointed place. In fact, had
Huerta not accepted 1t. it is not likely
that he would have returned alive to
Matanzas. s g.. . .... p
Lured Chief Into Trap.
Ten days later Huerta sent word to
Zezaga that he would be away from
the station the following Thursday.
Promptly Thursday the bandits rode
into the town, confident there would be
no opposition except from the sporadic
popguns of the er-frightened store
keepers. AS they turned in the main
street, discharging their revolvers to
brighten everyone away, a squad Of
Huerta's soldiers closed in on their
rear, and another squad appeared in
their front.
Huerta had double crossed the ban
dit.
A number of Zezaga's men were kill
ed in the street. The remainder, with
the bandit chief himself, surrendered.
A week later zezaga was shot in the
Quartet of the prison attached to the
station. The report of the affair that
went to the city of Mexico said that he
"lad attempted to escape" 1t was the
venerable Mexican excuse, a cloak to
cover any crime, whether in the inter-
ests of Justice or of injustice.
Diaz. however, did not wait long to
hear all the details.
The Man for Diaz's Work.
Such a man as Huerta had shown
himself to be in the affair with Zezaga
was the very sort of man to appeal to
Diaz ~supremely. That was the very
sort of lieutenant he most desired, and
the one most difficult to get; who
would be loyal to his trust even though
he succeeded with treachery n dis
loyalty.
zone whose honor rooted in dishonor
stood; where faith. u~nfaithful, kept
him falsely true"
1t. was some time after that that Hue
erta was called to the city of Mexico
! and offered his choice Of positions un
der the war department That was
that of the chief of the geographical
survey of the republic.
.aHE #A. #aH E8e.#sH "a