Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-10
IS OLDER
THAN ANY j. S. CITY
Settled by Spaniards twenty-five
Years Before St. Augustine
Was Founded.
Center of Great Mining District and
Has Had Stirring
History.

chihuahua City is figuring with al
most much persistence in the news
dispatches of today as did Vera Cruz
during the 'Tampico incident yet the
average Americans only mental asso-
citation with the name OF the capital
of the largest state in the Mexican
republic is that it's the place the funny
little dogs come from" says a primer.
issued by the National Geographic So
ciety of Washington. which tells of the
importance of this city OF 10000 in
ha bitants. whose history antedates by
more than a quarter of century the
first permanent settlement made by
Europeans in the United States-at st.
Augustine, Fla, in 1865.
THE march of Gen. Pershine's puni-
tive eXpeditionary force. marks tho
| third visit of body of United States
soldiers to this center of the mining In
dustry of the state of Chihuahua. which
| is as large as the combined areas OF
| Ohio and Pennsylvania" continues the
bulletin. During the Mexican war
that unique Missouri lawyer. Col A.
| w. Doniphan, captured the city with
| force of less than thousand men in
! 1897. and in the same war II fell again
before the Americans under Gen. Price.
Hidalgo Executed There.
| chihuahua is more accustomed, how
ever, to seeing it's people engaged in
! uternecine strife than in opposing "A
| foreign foe. II was here, for example,
| that the patriot priest. Hidalgo. was
| executed in 1911, following the failure
of the revolution which he led in effort
| to throw off the Spanish yoke. The most
i,,,y, f.{fN 10 IL.
| memory of this beloved national hero.
| the incidents of whose death are pa
| thetic as the passing OF any martyr
| since the days of Joan of Arc The
priest was condemned to die at dawn.
While being led to the place of execu-
| ton he remembered that he had left
some sweetmeats under his pillow. He
| asked one of the soldiers TO return for
| them. and when they were brought he
| distributed them with his blessing
| among the members of the firing squad.
! Knowing that the misty light of dawn
| would make it difficult for the soldiers
\ to aim accurately. the priest calmly
| plac his hand over his heart against
| the black robe, SO that they could To-
cate the vital spot.
| While the mining industry in the
territory contiguous to Chihuahua city
is four times as important as the agri-
cultural interests. nevertheless tho
raising of corn, fruits and cotton is
| important. and an interesting featur.
| manufacture into cloth dates back to
the days of Cortez. who sent to his
sovereign. the King of Spain. some of
| the finely woven material from the
land which utilized cotton for clothing
| even before Europe knew its uses.
Cotton of All Colors.
| Legends of the Toltecs. recorded
in their sacred books. tell US that
Quetzalcohuatl, god of the air, grew
cotton of all colors in his garden. and
taught its many uses. AS to colored
cotton, the Mexicans have never felt
| the pinch of a dyesfuff famine. at least
red dyestuff, for this country is the
home of the cochineal. that odd insect
whose dried bodies furnish such a won
derful and lasting scarlet coIorng mat
| ter.
I'm some parts of Chihuahua cotton
is perennial and it is unnecessary to
plant it oftener than once every ten
years
| The spinning of wooden yarn and
| weaving of wooden cloth is one of the
| industries of Chihuahua City, dating
back to the Importation of the merino
sheep by the Spaniards in 1911. 1t
should be remembered. incidentally.
that all the domestic animals of Mexico
date from the Spanish conquest. and
The herds of cattle. goats. sheep and
SN iHe " llitH NOW HHu eAcellenI pas.
turaEe on the plateau surrounding
Chihuahua have sprung from the orig
mai Spanish stock. except for the few
strains introduced within very recent
standard.
of the 23,191 mining properties list
ed in Mexico in 1906 five-sixths of them
product silvtr. and of these the Santa
Eulalie, twelve miles outside Chihua-
hua. is the most famous. 1t has pro-
duced as high as 10000 tons of silver
| bearing ore month. The handsome
parish church in the capital which
was in the course of construction for
three-quarters of century, was built
from a tax levied on the output Of
this mine.
Bronze Made by Aztecs.
when the Aztecs worked the Chi
huahua mines their skilled artificers
used reed blowpipes in melting the
metals. They also made a bronze,
| much the same as that used in Europe
but they did not know the uses of iron.
even though there was before them
| that mountain of almost solid iron
only few miles outside the city OF
Durango. Il mountain nearly mile
long. a third of mile wide at the base
and nearly 700 feet high, worth, ii is
estimated. as much as all the gold and
silver produced in the mines of Next
co in two centuries.
1T seems practically certain that
some of Gen. Pershins's soldiers viii
spend Easter week in Chihua hua. wher.
they will have an opportunity to wit
ness one of the oldest customs prac-
ticed in any civilized country-the
hanging of Judas Saturday before
Easter Sunday. This ceremony is per-
formed in many cities and usually
takes place before a pulque saloon. A
rope is stretched from an upper win
IntU nf n a
the street. 1t is lowered and an etfigy.
a curious affair. usually with
grotesque nose, like our comic valen-
tines, high hat and a long tail coat.
is tied to il. Then the rope is drawn
taut as soon as a match has been ap-
piled to the coat-tail fuse. The crowd
assemblies as the figure burns. Sud
denly there is loud explosion as the
fuse burns to the center of the figure.
and a wild scramble follows for the
hat or the shoes, or perhaps the coat
"a prize for some lucky onlooker"