Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-04-10
MEXICANS FLEEING
FROM SOMETHING
They Know Not What--El Paso a
Town Suddenly Sprung to
First Page Prominence.
SAD DEATHS OF SOLDIERS.
The Soldier of inheritance Only When
Buffer to Bullets The Sad
Eyed Mexican Women.
Especial to the Evening Capital

III FaSO, Texas. April 3. 19l6-It is
hard to realize that this is the town
so suddenly sprung into first-page
prominence as a war news center. for il
IS peaceful valley except that there
are many soldiers on the streets until
one draws near to Fort Bliss. on the
heights above the city.
The first young soldier met has
hole through his hand. which was put
there ten weeks ago by villa sharp
shooter. He is a North Carolina lad,
and far from home ami never again.
will the hand be Of use to him. He was
| an outpost and challenged a moving
| figure crawling near.
The reply was the shot which grazed
his side and ploughed through the
bones of his hand. The second soldier
met in a fiYe-minute walk bad no hand
at all. His adventure " as almost sim
ilar-a shot from ambush-now an
empty sleeve. They were burying
Private J. p. Wakeley. of Troop X.
Thirteenth Cavalry, who died at the
fort hospital on Monday evening from
heart disease, after being brought back
from Mexico.
saw him ride away so happily for
the front" just twenty days ago. The
service was from the assembly hall
of The Fort. the Eighth Cavalry attend
ing in as full force as could be mus
tered, the post band playing Nearer.
MY God TO Thee as the body was
borne out TO the post cemetery not
far distant
Yesterday the funeral procession
went through El Paso carrying the sol
der who had died from pneumonia to
the station and the hurrying crowds
hardly noticed the passing. hardly
hat was doffed. though the soldier had
as truly died for his country as if he
| htd fallen with a gun in his hands.
An emergency ordnance was rushed
| through today which makes it an Of
Tense for any cafe or hotel or public
| place of business to refuse service tc
| any soldier in uniform, provided that
the uniform is the only objection. This
| 9ction has been made necef sary by the
! difficulty soldiers hail in getting need
| ful articles and food. as the proprietors
of various businesses refused harshly
| to permit service to the wearers of the
| United States badge of honor.
One bright American soldier said
that he could appreciate what Mr. Kip
| ling meant when he wrote the verses
| about IT'S Tommy do this, it's Tommy
get out" but it's Mr.. Atkins" when
the drums begin to play / don't be-
| lieve the quotation is according to
Hoyle, but the spirit seems the same on
| both sides the pond. the soldier is of
| Importance only when he is a buffer
to bullets.
| The saddest thing in this part of the
country seems the big brown eyes OF
| the Mexican women. The coach from
San Antonio was filled with Mexicans
who seemed to be fleeing from some
| thing. they know not what | chanc-
ed to be the only American in the
coach and when an Englishman was
brought up to my chair by San An
tonia newspaper man, who seemed to b.
a bit nervous about my Going West"
| just now, | had not felt any timidty.
| but | was not sorry to have some one
to talk to in "a hour journey
One does not realize how big the
| Lone Star State is until one calculates
that it is twelve hours from Galveston
| TO san Antonio and twenty-four hours
| from the city until the pass Of the
great Continental Divide is reached at
| this western limit OF the State
The MeXicans looked like Belgian
| refugees, only more So One family OF
two children father AMI mother had
no wraps, no baggage and only jug
of water and box of ginger snaps foy
food for all for a day and a night
had still a serviceable Brooklyn Alco
stove and milk and tea and things. and
was cook-in-chief for most of the
babies in the car. And how they dai
roll their little eyes and stick out their
tongues for more hot tea cooked by
magic. ] believe the mothers consider
ed hard alcohol. One old woman has a
lamp and pillow; another a dish and
a broom.
There were men of the better class
Mexicans and young Mexicans of the
peone class. Why they were speeding
to El Paso with their evident poverty
and the expense of the Journey SIS
was hard to understand. unless it is
| something in the nature of conscrip-
| tion on foot and the better grade men
paid the way of the families for the
sake of the men able TO bear arms
among them.
At Toyah. Texas. where claims have
recently been opened by English in
vestors, there is something of panic
over the Mexican menace ana one wo-
man and her husband joined our train
:. bearing almost as picturesque a bag
gage as did the Mexicans. She had 3
ticket TO this place. but not cent OF
money that wyRs not Canadian. But
my English escort was SO patriotic
that ne took every bit from her. Civ
ing American gofi in place.
The Englishman in question was
bound for California, but he got the
war enthusiasm frsm eur travelling