The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-08-11
YAQUlS OF MEXICO
An Indian Tribe Notorious For Its
Savage Practices.
EVER DEFIANT AND WARLIKE.
Never Thoroughly Conquered, They
Have Been FanatcaIIy Fighting Four
Centuries For the Land They Held
Before Columbus Was Born.

Have Been FanaticaIly Fighting Four
Centuries For the Land They Held
Before Columbus Was Born.
The story Of the Yaquis of Mexico is
one of the most remarkable narratives
In history. 1t has never been told fn
English except in more or less frag-
mentary fashion, and the English
speaking world has missed thereby a
romance worth reading.
The tale is literally blotted with
blood and stained with incidents of
savage torture and treachery, for the
Yaquis are a savage people, but run
ming through it from beginning to end
are a fanatic love of country, an indom-
table courage and a hardihood that
have never been eXceled.
In certain parts OF Mexico the name
of Yaqui has acquired terrors almost
legendary among the ignorant classes
1t has become a term with which to
frighten children. Even on the Ameri
can side OF the border the Yaqui often
gets credit for being Il more terrible
person than lie really IS. In point Of
fact the Yaquis are the Apaches Of
Mexico, with rather more than the
Apaches' ability for organization and
stubborn resistance.
Aided by the fact that the govern
ment opposed to them has always been
considerably weaker than that of the
United States and by the inaccessible
nature Of the country that they love so
deyotedIy, they have the distinction Of
being the only Indian tribe that has
never been thoroughly and completely
conquered by the whites There have
always been defiant Yaqui outlaws In
the hills.
The story of the Yaquis is the story
Of their wars Almost a century before
the landing of the Pilgrims In New
England an army Of Spaniards with
their Indian allies moved northward
from Mexico City, conquering every
thing in their path. When they reached
the bank Of the Yaqui river they were
met by a large band OF Indians whose
leader drew Il line in the soft earth
That line he forbade the Spaniards to
cross. The white men opened fire with
their cannon, but after brief en-
gagement the Yaquis routed them
The old Spanish chrouicler states that
he had fought with most Of the Mexi
can Indian tribes, but he says, I have
never seen Indians tight like these"
That was almost 100 years ago, and
since then the Yaquis have fought al
most without cessation. The MeXicans
estimate that there have been almost
300 years of actual lighting between
Mexicans and YaQuis.
OF late years the Mexican govern
ment had been adopting the only policy
against the tribe which gave promise
Of eventual success ia quelling their
tighting spirit. This was the plan of
deportation, BY which the Indians were
sent from Sonora to far away Yucatan
as laborers on the plantations. This is
said to be the only fate that frightens
the Iaquls.
1t is easy to idealize the Yaquis at a
distance for their courage, their hardi
hood ana their love Of country, just as
it is easy to paint them us impossible
,
They have undoubtedly practiced say
age tortures on their captiyes In the
past, just as they have undoubtedly
broken treaties with the Mexican gov
eminent, but it is just as true that
they are guided by a savage code of
ethics and are fighting for land that In
the last analysts belongs TO them, for
In flesh ANA blood the YaQui is not
particularly romantic figure. He Is the
common laboIer Of Sonora, the peon
the herder of cattle and the tiller Of
the soil In the Mexican towns of the
district many of the servants are
Yaquis One Of the chief difficulties in
subdung them has been the highly de
veloped elan spirit that prevails among
them
The outlaw from the hills, hard
pressed, slips his rife into mesquite
bush and enters some peaceful village
of his people, where everybody will
swear that he has lived there for years
The Yaqui is a medium sized indtvid
ual as a rule, rather sto kily built, with
a face broader and browner than that
of the North American Indian whom
the tourist secs in the west and who
adorns our buffalo nj .kels Ills wiry
endurance is truly remark&ble -Four
centuries of almost continual warfare,
interspersed with the hardest Of hard
work on the ranches, have made him
tough as leather. He will travel for
days at high speed through desert and
mountain with little or no food. he will
work all day In the fields under a sun
glare that reaches 80 degrees heat in
the direct rays. Ia fact, one of the
chief problems in connection with the
deportation scheme for handling the
Yaqui is that Of filing his place as a
laborer In Sonora.-Cleyeland Plain
Dealer