Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-05-20
BACK FROM MEXICO.
Maine Woman Refugee Tells of Con-
ditions There.

Maine Woman Refugee Tells of Con-
ditions There.
Mrs. Maude B. Rogers, refugee from
Mexico, was in Bangor last week on the
way to her home in northern Maine. In
terviewed by the Bangor Commercial,
Mrs. Rogers said
81 should fear for the safety of Red
Cross nurses sent into Mexico from this
country. / have no doubt that the Next
cans whom they would assist would
quickly stab nurse in the back. That's
the sort of people they are.
81 was too near the border to see &C.
tual fighting, but there was q lot going
on around me that kept me afraid all the
time. Villa and his bandits roamed
around Mexico, as you know from news
paper reports, and we never knew where
he would strike next. We American
women were in terror from the reports
OF the mock marriages that Villas men
constantly went through on arriving in
Mexican towns, and indignities were i'm
posed upon American women in that
vicinity which were never acted upon by
the United States authorities.
"What can the United States expect
from such a man as Villa? They say there
is honor among thieves, but there is no
honor among Mexicans. Why, a Mexican
can't walk along the street straight, he is
80 continually imbued with ideas OF treach-
cry. Honestly, they don't walk; they stink
along. They are full OF courage il things
come their way, but let an untoward acct
dent occur and they lose their nerve, il
they can be said to have any.
EVERY Mexican carries his knife with
him. He is always ready to stab in the
back. Why, they are not a people; they're
just half breeds. / have seen lots OF talk
in the papers abont this country not need
ing any more territory, but let me tell you
that that country down there is no good
to them. The only industries down there
and run successfully.
"The Mexicans hate the Americans, and
they fear them. In case wsr should break
out between the United States and Mexico,
the lives OF Americans in Mexico would
not be worth mentioning. We would be
massacred. 1t would be murder right and
left.
Nothing but Intervention can ever save
Mexico, but Obi how / hate to see our
American boys go down there in Mexico
for those worthless poems. They woald
suffer more from the climate and the coun-
try than the bullets OF the Mexican army,
which, in my opinion, aren't much. The
cactus, four feet high, the desert, the in
tense heat, the lack OF water from May to
November, and the treachery of the ma
tives-it would be the worst possible place
to send our boys.
"Only the other day was talking with
an American soldier at Fort Bliss. He
told me that his txoop of cavalry had
taken a thirty-six-hour hike along the
border, and finally came to place where
water could be secured. But band OF
Mexicans, having learned that the Ameri-
cans were coming, had poisoned the
water. They had to ride twenty miles
more to get drink of water. And that's
sample OF the conditions they would
meet there this summer.
"The Mexicans are great people to blow
about their army, but / don't think il
would put up much resistance to the
trained troops of Uncle Sam. The heat,
the desert, the cactus and lack OF water
would be the greatest obstacIes.''
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