The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-06-30

Rio Grande River. All cars, auto
mobiles, buggies, ETC., are stopped
and inspected at the bridge by the
Customs officers, both American and
Mexican. With the exception OF
cigars, each person is allowed to
bring S1.OO worth of Mexican goods
into the United States without
"Duty." We visited the Old Mis-
sion. AS they were having a spe,
cial service we hesitated at the door,
but a church Guide offered to show
US through. He was most pleasing
in his ann and gave us all infor-
nation concerning the Mission. 1t
was on the top of this building that
a garrison of soldiers were stationed
when the Madero forces bombarded
the town. Very little harm was
done to the building but places where
the bullets struck were to be seen.
The work of construction was done
by the Indians and the carving of the
designs on the walls and ceilings was
done by hand. From the bell tower
a good view of Jaurez was to be had.
The home of the priests or Monks,
was adjoining the church and a little
park was in front of this. A charge
of ten cents for ladies and twenty
cents for men was made for going
through the Mission. We wanted to
visit the Jail but they have certain
hours for visitors to 60 in. We
looked in through the door and saw
a number of the prisoners walking
around in the courtyard. One of
the soldiers near the Jail gave Mr..
Rogers a cartridge from his belt as
a souvenir. 1t is about two and a
half inches long. The gambling
houses were wide open and men and
women both were playing the game.
1t was very interesting to me to
watch them. In one place I dropped
a nickle in a slot-machine and won rs
cents. We visited the markets and
here we saw women selling most of
the produce. Peppers, onions, and
carrots were in the largest quanti-
ties, some cooked meats and other
things. An eating place where each
woman had a special table or stand,
was in the real of the building. The
odors were sickening so we didn't
stay long. The town vas filled with
people walking about aimlessly.
About two hundred (200) soldiers
who had been disarmed and turned
loose were held as prisoners and their
families had come to Jaurez to be
with them. A genial young man
from Illinois was engineering the
construction of a sewer system. He
said they were rushing the job while
the president at that time was in
power so they would get their pay.
New Mexico.
Leaving Ell Paso Sunday after
noon, we travelled through New
Mexico at night, passing Deming at
$40. 1 wanted to see this town for
the reason that I had friends that
lived there until recently.
The SCENERY is so different from
what we are used to that it alone is
worth taking a trip to see. Arizona
is truly dry. Only the places where
irrigation is used do you see vegeta-
ton fourishing.. At one town the
train made a stop and we saw a
most interesting sight-there were
about fifty Mexican women and chill
dren with as many large washtubs
and buckets sitting on the ground at
the depot, they were waiting on a
water train.
Grease weed, sedge grass and cacti
are about the only things that grow
out in the desert region. One va
riety Of the cactus which in certain
places grow to the height of fifteen to
twenty feet looks very much like a
telephone pole. Some would have
two OF more branches on one stalk.
For as many miles, as far as we
could see on either side of the train
the cacti, grass and sand covered the
mountains and plains.
At Yuma we stopped long enough
70 ,,,o1l- o,,o,,oJ ooJ ,oe+ =, ,I.,r-