Evening star., 1915-11-21
THE MEXICAN MIDDLE
III.-The Bandit War.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

Since the first of August Brownsville
| is a war center. Scarcely day passes
without it's alarm of raid, sk1rmlsn OF
robbery The troops at Fort Brown
are always ready to start at moments
notice. and when civilians; go from
| town to town they go armed and reaoy
| for trouble.
| This is the bandit war--the myster1-
Gus outbreak of lawlessness that has
| terrorized a district as large as the
| state of Maine. Terrorized 1T, because
no man knows where the bandits will
strike next No man knows their
numbers or even who they are. Your
| Mexican neighbor, or your Mexican
man of -all-work, may be the one who
| shot your friend last night.
| 1t began as far back as July, with an
epidemic of petty thefts. Rifles and
horses began to disappear from outly-
ing ranches. There was no stealing of
other valuables, and no destruction Of
property 1t was put down to the un-
| usual number of shiftless characters
driven across the line from Mexico by
the fighting around Matamoros.
*
On the I'd of August came the re-
port that Mexican bandits had in
vaded the south
Report of Raid end of Cameron
Early in October. borders ] aionr
both the Rio Grande and the gulf.
southernmost county in the United
as close as three miles to Brownsville,
| an American city of 10000 with an
army post. They stole horses, saddles
and rites On the same day v. Conrad
| civil engineer, with a party of sur
| veyors in an automobile. was fired on
thirty times from the brush lining
| country road. Conrad opened the
throttle and went through closed gate
| at forty miles an hour. He took the
| gate along with him, but he and his
party escaped untouched. War was on.
| Next day troopers and county officers,
searching for the trouble makers, en-
gagged a party of Mexicans in the brush
near the Scrivener ranch, eight miles
north of Brownsville. Two troopers
were killed and a river guard, who was
one of the party, had the saddle liter
ally shot from his horse. Two Mexicans
were killed and two captured. The re-
mainder of the band, estimated at
about twenty. disappeared in the brush.
| That is sentence that occurs again
and again in the annals of the bandit
| war, the report of irregular fighting
gle bandit to a pitched battle from
trenches. The Mexicans disappeared
| in the brush To a great extent the
! brush, the tangled thickets of mesquite
and chaparral is the crux. the heart of
the whole situation. Without the
| brush the war would have been over
| long ago. The brush is the bandits
| strongest ally. The iron tough mes
quite hourishes in the rich soil all the
| way from a little bush to a tree two
feet in diameter. 1t Is dense and i'm
penetrable from the ground to a height
of thirty feet. Scattered through it are
great piles of the broad-leaved cactus
and hundreds of the swordlike yuccas
perched on their prickly pedestals like
| little palms. Where the ground is
| moist this confusion is worse con-
founded by luxuriant growth of
than an African jungle.
To the Mexican native of the section
| the brush is haven of refuge, an
| ideal rendezvous,
Brush Is Haven home If needs
| =. A. 1S:. be. and a perfect
TO the Mexlcans. bush from
which to attack. He can live safe and
| unsuspected within mile of a regi-
! ment of troops. One Mexican prisoner
told of camp of a dozen bandits
where the brush was so dense that 1t
was impossible to carry a water keg
| from the nearby spring Two men
had to push the little kegs along the
| ground through the tangle of veeeta-
| ton.
| Once the bandits had begun opera :
( tions trouble came thick and fast.
They attacked worktrain on the
| railroad. burned a trestle and set an
| ingenious mantrap on the automobile
bridge over the same stream. Wires
| were strung across the bridge at a
height of mans neck so that any
motorist crossing by night at speed
would be neatly decapitated. This
same device has been used in the war
| zones of Europe.
Then came the first of the deliberate
murders. when two farmers near the
town of Sebastian were led into the
brush and shot with high power rifles
The American population of the section
was now thoroughly aroused Secret
meetings were held and stringent
measures advocated. The famous Lone
Star ranger force was increased BY
twenty experienced men
| +
| The next move of the bandits was an
attack on ranch at Las Norias. a
point which is
Fight With Bandits also a section
Lasts for Hours. roaa ne rail-
and county officers had wind of the
project and were prepared. The bandit.
took position in the sectionhouse. and
a battle lasting for hours followed. Five
Americans were wounded and a mum
ber of Mexicans killed. The bodies O,
four were found near the track, which
they had used for breastwork. The
Mexicans concerned wantonly murder
ed an old Mexican woman in the sec
tionhouse. They asked her how many
Americans were hidden in the ranch
house and she replied that they would