The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-07-24
An Appeal for Mexico

An Appeal for Mexico
An afflicted land is calling for help.
Dying men, starving children, ravish-
ed women are uplifting their voices
calling on God and their neighbor for
mercy AID assistance. The cry is real:
the voice of the dying nan is from the
heart; the ~plaintiye tones of the poor
little children, the agonized shrieks
of the abused, deflowered, ruined wo-
men are from the very depths of the
soul. Demons stalk the fair land; a
demons work of lust and carnage is
done. Life, virtue, religion are held
cheaper than dross; they are the
sport of carnal, brutal men, who res
pect nothing, not even God, nor their
country's honor, nor themselves. A
leader of the northern rebels, who is
held up to us as a liberator, has six
concubines; his men have ravished
the women of a captured city ON two
successive days; they have outraged
priests; they have treated nuns as
things of shame; they have desecrat-
ed and robbed churches, breaking
open the doors of the tabernacles to
seize the sacred vessels; they have
been promised riot and loot in abund-
ance ON reaching Mexico City. Lust
has ruled them; ruin and despair are
left in their wake. Never in the his
tory of modern times have worse
scenes been witnessed. Is there no
pity left in the hearts of mem"
The rebels of the south are sweep
ing northward as eager for prey as
yultures for carrion dead men and
women, charred houses, blighted
fields are left behind them. They raid
a hacienda, tie the men in the patio,
ravish the women before the very
eyes of their husbands, fathers and
brothers, then disembowel the poor
victims, afterwards Stay the men and
so abuse the corpse that a narration
of their deeds would disgust even a
brute, did it but understand. This
is no exa~ggeration. These facts and
others, not a whit less narrowing, r
from the very scene of the outrages.
The crime of it, the shame of it,
should make us blush for humanity's
sake, at least, if not for any other
reason. Imagine women made spoils
of war in a rebellion which is suppos-
ed to be carried on with the lofty
motive of helping a nation to a high.
er, better, more spiritual planet Yet
such is the case Women, refined
mothers, fair, tender, young girls are
made spoils of war, victims of the
lust of uncouth men of the mountains,
in the name of higher spirituality
and economic reforms. This is a
kmockery of Heaven, an insult to the
intelligence of men, a coarse iibe in
which the depraved alone can find
a meaning. Women are actually spoils
of war! America" may not be trusted?
Very well. There is a man in Mexico
one Gregory Mason, special cores
pendent for the Outlook, so ardent an
admirer of Villa that he would make
him president of Mexico. His differ
ent articles about him lack nothing
in enthusiasm; yet he writes to his
paper under date of June 20:
Following the artillery were the
women and children, four hundred of
the former being of the spoils of war
at Paredon. Those who were young
and pretty rode behind mounted men
or in buggies and other ~nondescript
confiscated vehicles, while the moth
ers and boys trudged behind, carrying
babies, chickens, umbrellas, pots,
and pans"
"Decency forbids us TO say more OF
this. But what do American husbands
think of it? What do American fathers
and brothers think of it? What do
American mothers and maidens think
of it? The women of Mexico are like
other women. They are just as noble,
just as tender, just as timid, just as
jealous of their honor as u mothers
and maidens, Yet, see to what a pass
they have been brought! They are
numbered with pots and pans and nm
brelas and chickens and dogs. Their
fate is worse than the fate of the
beasts. The white slave traffic arous-
ed this nation from end to end. The
white slave traffic was as naught to
the riot of lust in Mexico. The blood
recently shed in Colorado brought in
/, dignant protest from every part of