The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-16
SEEN IN MEXICO CITY.
Among Other Experiences an American
business Man Meets 1lncrta.

|
| business Man Meets Ilucrta.
To THE EDITOR OF THE sUN-sir:
reached Mexico city a few days ago
straight from New York and have al
| ready reen and heard many things of
| timely interes. that some of them, ' be-
lieve. are worth printing. An encounter
| with Huerta HIMSELF within few hours
| after leaving the train Is. they tell me.
rather a good beginning for New York
business man on his first trip to the glorl-
| GUS land of Cortez.
The first thrill got was view OF Vera
Cruz city and harbor by moonlight.
stood at my window ON the top floor of the
| Plaza Hotel. have tramped pretty much
| all over the world. but never have found
moonshine more mysterious. bewitching,
| Transforming than here in sub-tropical
| Mexico. Vera Cruz before the reform
act must have been one-half converts and
churches. to Judge from the way they
| still crowd upon one another here. All
are OF tho media naranja," or half
orange. style. On the top Of the dome Of
one Of these churches roosts n great
| flock Of buzxards. which are the street
cleaners OF the city. The king buzsard
roosts on the cross. while all his sub
jects" perch below him There IL ira
dition among the natives here that
change in the king buzxard portends a
change in Presidents In Mexico. There
has recently been a coronation among
the unsavory birds.
The day I left Vera Cruz had dinner
under the portales tarches over the
| sidewalk, as In Hongkong), where ] first
realized the rare delights Of Mexican
cooking. The Ash especially and the
pitaque made Of beans are worth exile
to partake OF. Vera Cruz at midday
seemed to be a typical Spanish colonial
town. somewhat dirtier than those In the
mother country, much like the better part
Of Manila before the American invasion.
As we ate. 200 volunteers who have en-
listed ito defend Vera Cruz against the
foreigner" as the papers declare, slouched
by. one diminutive. wild eyed soldier
at the rear saw me, shook his rifle and
| shouted "lIa, you see this gun? II
shoots Americans as well as Mexicans :"
! Then looking out to the harbor saw the
great gray hulks OF the New Hampshire
and the Michigan bristling with twelve
! inchers and-well. II was one OF those
little incidents that make one believe no
American can be "a real American who
| has not gone beyond the borders OF his
| own country.
The great feature of the ride from Vera
Cruz TO Mexico city Is tho distant view
OF splendid Mount Orizaba. on which the
sun shines several hours before II reaches
| the lowlands. On this thirteen hour ride
a New Yorker finds endless fascination
| In the red. ripe coffee berries smuggling
| under broad banana leaves. the undulating
plantations OF maRuey. the orange trees
bearing ripe fruit and blossoms, the white
walled patios, and lastly the famous
| Aztec pyramids.
The American friends who met me at
the station In Mexico city drove ms up
Gale de, Puente de Alvarado the scene
| of the fabulous pole vault made by
Alvarado In 152D to the aristocratic
, Bach's restaurant. Imagine my satsfac
ton and amazement at finding the notori
lf,t 4 cad hat Ia H. hut
iiuerta sitting at the next table to ours.
He was surrounded by six of his friends
and private guards" ! had full face
view OF him and examined him carefully.
lie is much handsomer than any pie
lures I had seen OF him He strikes one
| as being more figure of the tented
field" one used to "roughing H." than a
man used to refined and ennobling en-
vironment Yet by his quiet and deliber-
ate manner he displayed a personality far
greater than any OF the forces that had
| produced IL He looks the leader the
possessor OF 'kngly thoughts" the genius
who knows neither hatred. fear nor
vacillaton. As he left ne passed close TO
me and looked me square in the eyes
From his expression I Judged he was
thinking to himself: Another of those
| meddling Yankees 80
The lover of the exotic and OF the pic
lturesque memorials OF a romantic past will
find no richer territory for exploration
In all America than that about the Mexi-
can capital. My several days of sight
seeing were like RELYING those intense
moments of boyhood spent In reading
Prescott. Cortez's old palace may still be
seen at Coyocan. II being now used as n
town hall. At AtZcapotzalco I examined
4 the famed arbol de la noche trfste t"tree
Of the sad nIght"). under which Cortez Is
said to have sat and wept RS he watched
his troops file past Oh the night of his
-. N....u a
how many friendly faces were missing
From that particular spot ne must have
been able to see the fires faring up on the
great Aztec "Tcocalli' pyramid which told
him thai At that moment some OF his
former companions were having their
hearts cut out. At the National Museum
indeed. the visitor Is shown the stone
of sacrid fees" into the hollow centre of
which thousa rds OF human hearts freshly
cut out OF victims bodies were thrown
10y the native eNecutioners one OF the
paintings in the museum also shows
Cortez burning the feet OF the last Aztec
ruler, while others Of his men are praying
that God may quiet the passions of his
enemies
| The ride out 10 Penon de los Banos nj
the edge OF Lake Texoco whence one can
get magnificent view Of the volcano
popocatepetl. is full of wonder and nov
city. The explorer Humboldt said that the
1
| overwhelm all Mexico. II IL almost in
credible that 100. 600, 600 tons Of sulphur
have been taken out of old "popo" since
the time of Cortez.
The wonderful things about Mexico city
after all Is said are its climate and the
beauty of it's women No one. dare
say, has ever exaggerated the charm OF
either, The variety of complexion of the
women IN astounding; II has grades all
he way from taleum powder 10 the rich
brown of the sun baked Indian squaw A
| Mexican beauty sitting in chair and
talking with her eyes is absolutely In
vincibe. But when she rises 10 walk IL Is
another story. When II comes 10 grace
in activity the American girl holds the
palm over them all. But with business
paralyzed and the fate OF a nation hang
ing In uncertainty from hour to hour
this subject becomes one which may well
wait for further elaboration
| j. y. BARROW.
| Nrx ru,