The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1914-05-26
ARE DARING FIGHTERS.
ATLANTA Journal.) J.

with the rebels in Mexico. No one
knows the Mexicans better than he
no one knows the country and the
conditions of warfare better.
1.-TWO things we must keep in mind
the Mexican climate-the heat that
withers white man. and the certain
ty that MeXicans, instead Of fighting
in the open, will take to the noun
tains, where artillery can't penetrate,
and there are the places men afoot
must pick their way said Wylie
Smith.
Reaching down into Western Mex
leo are the Sierra Madre Mountains,
the Mothers Teeth they mean liter
ally, which are a continuation of the
Rocky Mountains. They rise in bro
ken and high peaks in the counties of
Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa
and Guerrero.
During a let-up in our fighting,
when | was down there | got news
that the Pacific Coast Magazine could
use a story about Zapata, name
which means Shoe the man who
made it his business always to fight
against the Government, and the fell
low who had himself fortified in the
hill in a way that reminded me of
the Doones. But | didn't see any
Lorna there.
He had $500 men camped in a
place in the mountains that made a
perfect dipper There was only one
way of getting in and going out, and
| it was passage only about SO feet
wide, narrow, rugged, steep, up which
a man could climb only slowly. And
Zapata had machine guns trained on
this mountain pass and obstacles in
the way until he, with his $500 men,
could have held off 100000.
81 don't see how you could attack
the fellow, except with airships. They
are about the only way of getting at
him.
"And believe me he's a fighter. His
trade is fighting, just as that of the
other mountain bandits. When a re
bellion is started he joins with the
rebels. When it succeeds he starts
another rebellion.
ION the way up guide / had told
me story about the Shoe that
wasn't nice to hear when | was soon
to be Zapata'S guest
"Zapata demanded tribute from q
rich rancher in that neighborhood
The fellow answered with courtesies
but no money.
He woke up next morning with
Zapata at his front door. He found
himself the next afternoon tied to q
post in the middle of a bull pen, his
body out of reach, but his legs low
enough to be gOred.
"Red cloth was tied around the fel
lows legs and soldiers were set tt
torturing bull. The beast was turn
ed loose in the pen and saw the rec
cloth on the post. Maybe you car
guess what happened. The flesh was
gored from the mans legs and he
died as he hung on the post
did l say that Zapata had brought
the rancher's wife to the edge of the
pen and made her sit there?
THAT explains to you what those
fellows are-utterly merciless, some
of them not human. But this fellow
Zapata was partly Guerro Indian
and that helps to explain him.
"a dry, dark-faced, meager, i'm
passive and yet nervous man | found
him. And he insisted-it seemed
funny to me-that he be quoted cor
rectly. He didn't want people to get
a wrong impression of him.
Il want to impress the fact that
MeXicans are not cowardly; that they
fight we'll in their own way, and that
they can shoot
ITO illustrate: I'd been with the
rebels about year when they chose
me to pick out 80 sharpshooters from
! 100 soldiers. had them set up ira
get at 1000 yards and put them to
firing at it. Not a man made less
than 80 per cent. Over half of them
got better than As per cent. and the
fellow who was selected as Sergeant
got 70 per cent. That man would
have killed seven out of ten soldiers
at 1000 yards.
IL remember "a time when small
force of our rebels attacked town
as ruse, then retreated, and the Fed
erals came after us. Our men drew
the purSuerS into small, narrow
pass with thickets on both sides.
"They swarmed into the pass, pack
ed it full of men, then we opened fire
Not one of them got away. We shot
down 800 in that place. It's some
thing like this the Mexicans would
like to try on our men,"