Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-07-03

opments showed that the so-calIed
fpaciffco' Yaquis were working in
conjunction with their 4broncho" or
| wild, brothers in their lifelong attempt
| to regain the valley farming lands now
developed to a high degree by the
! American farmers. The American col
| onists had bought the land from the
/ Mexican owners, who in turn had Sc
| cured it through government or pri-
! pate concessions in about the same
| manner as the American Indians ter
/ ritory In the United States was colon
| ICED and developed. The state gov
| eminent found itself powerless TO pre-
| vent the raids by the "broncho' In
dams on the American settlements
since the large proportion OF Indian
troops would not permit warfare
against their hill tribesmen. This led
to the sending down the west coast
of American marines with orders to
land if necessary to save the lives Of
the American settlers who though in
grave danger would not leave their
farms in fear of losing their crops
and property.
The Yaquis' rival, but first cousin,
is the Mayo Indian whose lands close
~ adjoin the Yaqui valley The Mayo
though of good lighting ability and
frequently victorious over the Tagui
tribe, is Of q more peaceful inclina-
ton and has retained by diplomatic
means some valuable farming land
The Mayo also entered the revolution
airy struggle Large numbers of the
Mayo braves Joined the Carranza
ranks, and have been assisting mater
tally in the Obregon victories over the
Villa army in central Mexico. This
left the Yaqui In undisputed control in
Sonora. The plan, formerly suggested,
of playing the Mayo against the YaqW
could not be employed since the bulk
of the Mayo fighting men had been
removed.
The racial characteristics Of the
Yaqui are similar those of the Apache,
who caused continued warfare in the
early development of the southwestern
United States. The Yaqui is credited
with direct relationship to the Apache.
Like his northern cousin the YaQui
has been guilty of all manner Of bru-
tally directed against his prisoners,
and is known to have employed modes
of torture as skillful as those of the
ancient Chinese. This has caused a
fear of the Yaqui which was not due
entirely to his military ability. The
Yaqui was the first Mexican tribe to
become fully armed with rifles, and
to become skillfHl in their use. Other
tribes along the west coast still en-
ploy the bow and arrow for hunting
and In some cases in fighting any |
alien invaders,
While retaining his tribal tongue |
and savage costumes, the Yaqui be- |
came sl1illful in military methods. He |
kept his skiilful manner of guerilla
warfare, but adopted to large extent /
some European methods. In the as !
saults on the Carranza trenches, /
charging the positions much in the I
manner of the European soldier. 1t /
had been difficult to make the Mexican /
troops do this |
The Yaqui in his natural stage of /
military development had used small |
drums on which he gave simple /
marching orders These drums took
the place of the voice or trumpet, and
had the advantage by their peculiar
noise OF making it difficult for the
enemy to locate the source OF the
sound In military service with his
Mexican neighbors the Yaqui devel-
oped a more extensive system of drum
signals, until his officers could COM !
- .Iya |
all manner of movements The Yaqui |
unlike other Indians always had
marched in military formation until
deployed for action. Many battles Il
were won merely by the noise OF their
Yaaui drums which seemed to terror +,
lie the enemy when the sounds OF the
beats appeared 10 come from all d.
reetions. In some cases few Yaqui /
drummers would crawl to the enemy's Il
tanks and by beating out soma signal
make II appear that the position was
being surrounded, II
No reliable information is available !
as TO the Yaaui's actual numerical =
strength so varying are the reports OF
the Mexican military authorities and
American settlers Bnt it is known (
that several thousand rifles mostly Of I
military model, are in the hands OF the
Indians. and that large amounts Of j,
ammunition have been obtained by the !
hiII tribesmen. The Yaquis manner s
Of warfare, and familiarity with the s
country would make most difficult, il /
is believed by the valley settlers, his ]
compiets defeat and disarmament &c
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All fNa WARS afl fra alma Tna / =