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

A p
first Of a series of letters
- which I shall write about our sis
ter country Of Mexico. have come 10
the boundary by the way of St Louis
and san Antonio. and am now here at
Laredo on the southern edge or Uncle
Sans land had this afternoon the
peculiar experience OF standing astr1de
the two greatest Of the North Ameri-
can republics. was in the center OF
the old wagon bridge which here
crosses the Rio Grande, and had my
left foot and hand IN the United states
while my right foot was in Mexico. I
know this was the fact for behind me
was one Of the boundary posts which
mark the outline between the two cOun-
tries. This was a steel pyramid about
foot square at the bottom and six feet
In height 1t was plated with silver,
and each side of it bore an inscription
showing that il marked the boundary
linz. The carving on the side facing
our country was in English and that on
the opposite side in Spanish, but both
mean the same The English lnscrlp-
Boundary OF the United States
Treaty of 1913. Reestablished by
treaties Of 18S4-16S9"
Under those words is the following:
Destruction or displacement Of this
monument is a mlsdemeanors punish
able by the United States or by Mex
The United States side Of the pyramid
Is marked with the American eagle and
on the Mexican side IS the coat Of arms
OF Mexico. AS stood facing the west
with my right leg in the United States
and my left leg in Mexico. I observed
the left perceptibly trembled- Perhaps
IT was for fear of the revolution.
which has been so long going on on the
southern side OF the bridge
Our Boundary With Mexico.
I turned around and looked to the
west. my eye following the course OF
the Rio Grande as far as sight could
reach. Tt is a ragged, muddy, dreary
stream, with banks which are ragged
and low. and Dordered BY vegetation
as coarse and thirsty as that of the
Jordan. The stream is not uavigable,
and its chief business seems to be TO
mark the boundaries between the two
countries and to give a dreary and dan
gerous task to some thousands OF the
United States soldiers.
The Rio Grande is winding from here
to the Gulf Of Mexico, its course on the
map looks like the teeth Of a saw and
running northwest to FL Paso 1t curves
in and out and makes great bends COW
erinE almost double the llneal distance
between those two points. At FL PasO
the river leaves Mexico and runs north
into the United States and our boun-
Diary from there TO the Pacific is other
wise marked The whole length Of the
boundary, with its many curves, rough
y speaking, is quite as long as from
New York TO salt Lake City, and this
whole line, running through the most
desert regions Of the United States, is
now patrOled by our troops
Guarding the Rio CFranue.
On my way here ] stopped at san An
tonic and had a talk with the officers
in charge Of the post there They tell
me that the river is especially diff
ert. and when its waters are low it can
be easily fOrded- All along 1t the
Mexican rebels have been trying to
smuggle in arms and ammunition Box
es and crates. labeled agricultural ma
chinery filled with guns are dumped
off at some way station along the rail-
way, and the Mexican raiders steal over
and try TO bring them across The
railways in most cases are quite dis
lance north Of the boundary and the
troops have TO watch the trails and wa
ter holes to catch the brigands-
In addition to this there are many
ranches not far from the river, TO which
the MeXicans will come to steal horses,
cattle and food, and a continual outlook
has to be kept for hundreds and thou
sands Of miles. This is done with
small force One man VIII patrol
line 80 or 90 miles long, and there are
detachments Of troops at every so or
leo miles
The men live in little tents out in the
desert, and one of the .great troubles is
TO get supplies to them. Many Of the
camps are from 50 TO 100 miles from
the railroad, and 1t takes q wagon or
pack train from 10 days TO three weeks
to make the round trip. There is prac-
tically no food in the country and the
men have to live on dried meats. canned
stuff and hard tack. They boil and
filter the water Of the country, ana
ali are inoculated for typhoid fever
before starting. The country is so
arid that the only trails can be from
water hole TO water hole. and much Of
the work is watching these water holes.
Keeping Out the SmuEEIers.
Another job which Uncle sam has all
along this boundary is the prevention
Of smuggling, and also the keeping out
the Chinese. HindOos and others who
are trying to sneak across into the
United States contrary TO our eXclu-
sion laws Within the last two or three
years many Chinese have been snug
gled across, at the rate of $500 per
man, this being the price paid by each
Celestial for his successful landing It
is different now The government has
a band OF mounted scouts, who are un-
der the department of commerce and
labor, and whose only business is to
run down and capture such characters.
one OF these men, Tom Gurley, has
taken 81 Cinnamon within less than a
year. and in addition has captured q
large number OF smugglers. The Chi
nese are still attempting to cross over,
and they are now offering as much as
2 thousand dollars apiece for a sue
cessful landing