Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1915-01-14
AMERICAN TELLS
Of CONDITIONS
IN OLD MEXICO

from his frlenO, OLCO ". CdrSCeuS, Oo1o
de Vega, Oaxaca, Mexico, which reads
. in part:
When the trouble started last spring
with the landing of the American troops
in Vera Cruz, we had to leave Nina Fl
Carmen and go into Oaxaca for safety's
sake: not that we considered that we
were in any danger from the people
around here, but our arms had been
taken away from US by the government
and we had no way of protecting our
selves against marauders. What made
us more uneasy was the fact that there
were two women here, so when the
government sent US an escort we went
into Oaxaca where we arrived without
any mishaps; in fact we were treated
with the utmost respect and courtesy.
Once on the way in got separated from
the rest and was stopped by bunch of
DRINKS and thought was in for bunch
of trouble, but after stopping me they
told me how much they thought of all
Americans and of me in particular,
and, after an exchange of compliments,
thew bid me an affectionate farewell
and went on my way rejoicing.
Most of the Americans left 0axaca and
either went to the States or Vera Cruz
and some of my friends tried to get me
to DO likewise, telling me all kinds OF
| en..e,,I Golo, of xuho& mould bonvao m
me otherwise, but couldn't see it
their way and decided to stay in Oaxaca
with few of the others that were too
old to run. The latter part of May the
railroad out of Oaxaca was cut and then
we had to stay whether we wanted to
or not. We were practically five months
without any railroad service and the
mail service was next to nothing. that
is the reason that ] wrote no letters
during this time.
1t was mighty dull for these five
months in Oaxaca as there was nothing
we could do except have daily spats
with the Britishers and some of them
were rather exciting, but we never got
to the point of blows. We told each
other in pretty plain language what we
thought of the other, but it helped to
pass the time away and therefore was
welcomed. AS there was no way OF
getting anything to read we amused
ourselves by reading the advertisements
in the old magazines, which was rather
instructive, but not very exciting.
There was bunch of US that would
stay up every night until midnight, at
least That was the hour that our club
closed its doors, so thatwe could sleep as
late in the morning as we wished, that
way cutting down the length of the
day.
Besieged by Indians
About the middle of July the town
was besieged by about 5, 600 Serrano In
dams who had come in with the express
intention of running out the governor
AMI putting in one to suit themselves.
We thought sure we were going to have
a little excitement as those Serranos
are sure scrappers, but after a five
DAYS siege, during which there wasn't
even a shot fired, the governor gath
cred up what money he could and lit
out in the middle of the night for the
coast. He is now in the United States
where he had better stay if he wants to
80 30 e
The Serranos marched into the TOW n
and put in their governor and then
marched home again as if nothing had
happened. We Americans knew that
we were all right as soon as the Ser
ramos showed up for they are our par
ticular friends Their leader was
picked up when a boy and given an
education by an American so somos
muy amigos.
The first day of the siege word was
sent into US privately by them that If
we would let them know where we
were living they would see that we had
all due protection if there was any
street fighting, Viva Los Serranos.
The latter part of May there was
quite bit of excitement for several
nights as an American war biplane was
seen circling around over the town at
night and the first night the soldiers
were out shooting at it, but there was
a corresponding slump in the excite
ment market when it was discovered
that the biplane was nothing but flock
of wild geese bewildered by the city
lights. The Mexicans, as rule, saw
the Joke was on them and we had a
good deal of fun with them about it.
We were treated extremely we'll by
the Mexicans and l never had an in
sulting word said to me and a good
many of the Mexieans of the
better class went out of their way to
come around and thanking US privately
: for staying in the town, when so many
had loft tharahv showing them that we,