The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-07-05
M0THER-|N-LAW
Of gen. HUERTA
She 10 Ninety-eIght Years Of Age and
Has a Whole Army Of
Children and Grand
children.
IS A HAPPY FAMILY
Huerta Family Welcomed With Open
Arms Into the Best Society
Of Stricken
Mexico.
IS A HAPPY FAMILY
by William G. Shepherd, United

1
by William G. Shepherd, United
| Press Staff Correspondent
| VERA CRUZ. July 4.-(By mail to
New York. )-One OF the most interest
ing facts about victoriano Huerta is
that he has q mother-in-law. and that,
contrary to the usual run of such af-
fairs, she is thoroughly In sympathy
with him. In a rather plain house at
I5s1 Avenida Chapultepec, Sonora
Aguila. who Is now SO years old, holds
forth for all her children and her
lchildren's husbands and wives.
Scarcely day goes by that she does
not cnat with least 20 Of her chill
dren or grandchildren, holding family
court in Mexican fashion. listening TO
stories of troubles or joys and giving
such advice as she sees fit Not In
frequently the great dictator of Mex
leo himself. breezes into her quiet
room with joke and laugh. You
rascal" is his mother-in-law's name
for him, and he is always sure of
WELCOME. There was a time, 1t is,
said, during the old days at Monterey,
Mexico, when Huerta was only
sewer building contractor and money
was scarce and Huerta's habits none
too steady, when Sonora Aguila acid
forth no kindly greeting for her daugh-
ter's husband. The children were COM
ing into the Huerta home rapidly, and
such debts were piling up on the
Huerta household that it is only since
he has been president" that Huerta
has been able to pay them of. But
all that Huerta mas done in the last
year or so has wiped or the score
with the bright-minded old lady and
she takes great delight In seeing her
daughter, Mary. the FIRST lady of the
land"
AS for. the daughter, herself, being
"the first lady Of the land" is not SO
much pleasure. Mrs. Huerta is q
bright spot in the Huerta family;
though she is 4S years old-being 16
years older than her eldest child, she
is every inch, q mother. The society
folks of Mexico say Of her that she
does not scintilate in society because
she tries to brood. To be mother
has been her life training; to be
society woman is a thing she has new
soldier and, by the strange rule OF
things in Mexico, soldier has no So
cial standing whatever. At the bril-
liant social reception which "Presi-
dent Huerta has always insisted shall
be given monthly at Chapultepec, Mrs.
Huerta Is never at ease and Mexican
society folks laugh in their sleeves att
her habit of herding In corner with
her immediate relatives, while her
husband, disregarding all the finesse
of society man, fits about the rooms
from group to group, coaxing men to
the sideboard or punchbowl and max
ing stinging jokes. Mexican society I
never took up Madero, after he be-
came president, because. society I
folks said, he was q poems presi-
dent"
On the contrary, after Huerta took
the presidential power, society folk
Diaz regime, found 1t necessary to
take in Huerta and his family because
Huerta was putting the poems where
they belonged-into the army" All OF
this is joke to Huerta, who sees the
inside of society's idea. He knows.
well enough, why he and his family
have suddenly been elevated by the
aristocrats of Mexico. There Is moth
ing he loves better to do. in his role
OF dictator, than to threaten, tactifully,
in banquet speech, to place the men
of Mexico's aristocracy in the army.
The face. of more than one aristocrat
has, blanchedt at Huerta's suggestion
of this, sort. : In the exclusive Jockey
club, in the capital, where Huerta was
never admitted before he seized the
presidency, he delights to stand at the 1
bar and, in sinister tones, grumble out
his threats to seize all men In Mexico,
rich or poor" and place them in the
field. Analysing the Huerta family,
socially, their standing is nil and.
what's more, neither the dictator nor
his wife care for society Or its grad
lngs.
The eldest child Of the Huertas is
Sonora Francisco Colon, Of Monterey,
wife Of civil engineer. The Colon
family is now in the capital. having
fed from Monterey just before the
rebels seized 1t. shes q woman-no
nore," is the way Mexican society men
describe woman who has no social
or brilliancy in conversation
and l have mad the Huerta girls so
described to me by a Mexican club
man. Under that same rating society
people OF the capital place Luz Huerta,
who is Is years old and who. in De-
cember was married to an old sweet
heart Of hers whom her father Inn
made . colonel In the Mex