The Washington herald., 1914-01-11

perience OF Mexican hghting.
Is there any pleasure equal to the
joy of feeling clean and fresh after a
long, fatiguing. dirty ride? II there is,
do not know it. In our five days
journey across the wilderness from Ma
tamoras to Monterey We only had ouI
clothes off once. You can imagine the
delight with which We bathed and shaved
and put on our other clothes There
was wonderous contentment in cur
faces as we sat smoking after lunch in
a sunny patio full of roses with
glorious pink creeper smothering the
walls.
Two Of our party were at home now
he other two Of us had no idea of let
ting Monterey be our Capua- Yet tempt
ing as this rich. light-hearted city was.
the mining engineer was anxious to get
to Saltillo and I equally determined 70
press on to Mexico City. To Saltillo there
were no trains. but the Tampico service
was running. 50 i booked for the next
morning but one. and went to bed that
night with the happy feeling that my
way semed now to lie more plain
Awakened by Battle.
But Mexico is a country where you
never can tell" Early next morning I
dreamed that / was beating carpets.
What heard was the sound of heavy
rife fire, coming from the direction OF
the suburbs we had passed through.
Very soon the whole city knew that the
constitutionalists were attacking il, and
We knew that IL We had been one day
later We should have butted into the
very heart of the battle.
You must not think of a Mexican bat
tie. though, as being like an engagement
between two other armies Troops are
not handled in masses at ALL There is
little strategy and next to no tactics
Let me illustrate this by what ! managed
to see of the two days attack upon Nor
terey. 1t was delivered by a force OF
between loo ana 5000 insurgents. against
whom the commandant OF the garrison
could only muster some 500 or go regu-
lars, with a few hundred volunteers. In
the result these volunteers did pretty
well. but at the start citizens were more
afraid OF them than of the rebels. since
most OF them were holding a rifle for
the first time. whep i got up on a hill
that first morning and saw how the situa-
ton lay I had no doubt whatever that
within twenty-four hours the constitu-
ticnalists would capture the city. I met
German later in the day. a shrewd
student of war. He was entirely of my
opinion. and expected the federal trbops
to march out during the night, leaving
the place to be occupied without a strug-
gle.
Women Real Heroes.
My German friend ought to have known
better. for he has Il ed in Mexico all his
life My error was pardonable. | had so
far seen only skirmishes. Now / discov-
cred that Mexican battles are simply a
series OF small fights fought on skirmish-
ing lines. A general advance could not
have been kept back, not even by the
machine guns which tap-tap-tapped
from the federal positions
But there was no general advance. Small
bodies OF fifteen or twenty operated sin
gly. so far as could be seen, without any
plan. The organization OF
the rebels is by "commandos."
One captain had a woman fiasbearer-
a handsome, graceful girl. who wore
revolver in her belt and a mill
tary headdress, sat on a big horse per-
fectly, carried revolver in her belt and
a rifle on her saddles A day or two after
the battle she and the rest of her com-
mando were at farm a few niles out.
There was a sudden alarm. Feaeral cav
airy were sighted. In the confusion she
could not find her horse. The others gall
loped of without her. She ran into the
barn, threw the cap and pistol under
some straw, and strolled out as the fed
erals rode up. Just a woman" They
only stayed few moments and took no
notice of her. Ten minutes afterward
the captain with four men came back and
her off.
l have heard of other ''soldaderas:" I
saw one lying dead in a street of Mon
terey. But my admiration for them doe.
not surpass that which I feel for the
hordes Of nOnhghtinS wives who go
everywhere with the soldiers. Mexican
armies have no commissariat. These In
dian women carry the cooking pots. light
the fires. and get the food ready. A
Mexican encampment is really an aston.
ishing sight. II is like large picnf
Children swarm everywhere. Coffee and
tortillas appear is II by magic. Somehow
the women are always there in good
time. They even keep up with marching
cavalry. often carrying babies at the
breast. Their endurance and devotion
are wonderful. They are the real heroes
Of the war.
Very Few Killed.
Judging by the incessant noise of Nv.
ing for the best part of forty-eight hour.
after the battle would be heaped with
lead. I went about very early in the
after the insurrectos had been
repulsed and saw wonderfully few. Alto
gether there can hardly have been more
than a couple of hundred killed. eountine
all parts of the field. Yet in all nearly
10000 men were engaged for early in the
afternoon cf the second day the garrison
was heavily REINFORCED II was magnih.
cent to see the relief march into the city.
The frightened Inhabitants came out into
The streets. which till then had been as
empty as in dead of night, to cheer and
give the soldiers all the food and Gig
arettes they had. l shall never forget
the emotion of that hour. But I could
not help wondering why the enemy had
not made any movement to intercept
this force and why. instead of marching
II into the city. IL had not been sent
to catch the rebels in the rear. That
would not have been Mexican, how
ever, and changes Of method are dis
pleasing to the Mexican mind.
In Massachusetts all streams of water
unsui,ed for drinking must be marked
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