The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-12-12
A Young Girls Fear.

what they had on.
A Young Girls Fear.
have seen the original of and have
in my possession translation OF a
letter written on October "a by a
young girl of Toluca to her pastor
who had been exiled. She described
how the bishop had been heavily fined
and exiled. She describes how the
clubs of boys and girls for whom she
had been working had been broken
up, but how some of the boys to
whom they used to give breakfast on
Sunday mornings still occasionally
come to see them; and she asks adj
vice how to keep these clubs OF the
poor together But the dreadful and
pathetic part Of the letter is contained
in the following sentence: "Now, will
ask you question. Suppose some one
falls into the power of the Zapatistas.
Would it be better for her to take her
own life rather than allow them to do
their will and what they are accus-
toned to do? AS never thought such
thing could happen, l did not ask
you before about it, but now l see
it quite possible. If we had not our
God in whom we trust, l think we
would give way to despair"
In other words, this girl who had
been engaged in charitable work in
connection with the Church asks her
pastor whether she is permitted to
commit suicide in order to avoid the
outrages to which so many hundreds
of Mexican women, so many scores OF
nuns, have been exposed in the last
few months. I cannot imagine any
man of whatever creed-or of no
creed-reading this letter without his
blood tingling with horror and anger;
and we Americans should bear in mind
the fact that the actions of President
Wilson and Secretary Bryan in sup
porting the Villaistas have made lis
partly responsible for such outrages.
have been given and shown letters
from refugees in Galveston, in Corpus
Christi, in San Antonio and Havana.
These refugees include seven Arch
bishops, six Bishops, some hundreds
of priests, and at least 800 nuns. Most
of these bishops and priests had been
put in Jail or in the penitentiary or
otherwise confined and maltreated.
Two-thirds of the institutions of
higher learning in Mexico have been
confiscated and more or less COM
pletely destroyed and large part of
the ordinary educational institutions
have been treated in similar fashion.
AffidaVits Recite Shocking Things.
Many of the affidavits before me re-
cite tortures so dreadful that am I'M
willing to put them in print. 1t would
| be tedious to recite all the facts set
forth in these affidavits. For instance,
there is one by Daniel R. Loweree, a
priest in the diocese of Guadalajara,
the son of an American father, and
librarian of the seminary and pro-
lessor of chemistry. He describes
what took place in Guadalajara. On
July 81 about one hundred priests
from the city and country round about
were put in the Jail, while the Cathe-
dral was used as barracks. In the
affidavit of Canon Jose Maria Vela of
the Cathedral of Zacatecas, he sets
forth how the constitutionalists shot a
priest named Velarde, how twenty
three priests were gathered together
and, under the orders of General Villa,
required to produce 100000 pesos
within twenty-four hours, under PEN
atty of being shot. A committee of
the priests went out through the city
begging from house to house, and
accepting even pennies from the chill
dren. A girl was forcibly violated by
one Of the soldiers in the room adj