Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-07-11
HAVE
MEXICAN COLONY
Americans Find Much Priva-
ton Among Poems In Effort
to Avoid Draft.

Ell PASO, Tex, July 11;-Ragged
and starving, sweating out q bare ex-
istence on the Mormon farms of
southern chihuahua, Mexico, Is a COL
ony of a hundred deserters from the
American army, exiled from civiliza-
ton and home.
The story of the privations endured
by the expatriates Is told by Garland
Whit, a deserter, who has returned,
sick at heart, to take his medicine"
Clad in ragged c~orduroys, with little
left of his old uniform ave his shoes.
Whit, who is only Is. is now IN mill
tary prison.
Walked Into Mexico.
Whitt's regiment was stationed at
Ell Paso, and one night in September
he. with two comrades, slipped away
and started on their hike into the
heart of Chihuahua.
Sleeping by night in any Mexican
howell they could find, living on beans
and tortillas, riding burros when they
coral, walking when they could not,
and occasionally getting a ride In a
wagon or on a freight train, they
drifted into the land of 'manana.'
One day they emerged from the
mesquite through which they had
hiked for days, and came out upon
q harvest field. Hammering on a
fence post was a man. dirty and
ragged, but an American. He also
was clad in the remnant of an army
uniform, and proved to be another de-
serter.
Reach Mormon Colony.
They had struck the outskirts Of
one of the famous Mormon colonies
of Mexico. The Latter Day Saints
knew hat the occasional wanderer
who drifted down from the north
probably had a past he did not care
to rehearse, and they offerd him a
chance to make a living, but that was
all.
For three months Whit and his
comrades were members OF the col
ony within a country. the group of
men without a country, herded to-
gether because of their common
crime.
Their homes were barns and sheds.
Their amusements were sheds. Their
wages were their board, and Just
enough money to keep them in to-
bacco.
Few words were ever spoken OF the
great country to the north.
Whitt's knowledge of Spanish
raised him somewhat above the level
of his fellow deserters. and he Sc
cured a Job in a Mexican store at Ell
Vale, once occupied by the American
punitive expedition. For this he got
his board, a place to sleep. and $40 a
month.
Held As Horse Thief.
Three months Whit spent In Ell
Vale, and then one day he went to
work for a Mexican cattle corpora
ton as vaquero at fifteen "dobe' dol
lars a month.
One day Whit rode into the Nor
mon colony to see the two men with
whom he had deserted. Only one was
left, the other having been starved out
and gone back to take his medicine.
While he was in the community, a
white man rode up and placed the two
under arrest on a charge of horse
stealing.
81 know you're not horsethieves."
he said. but you're deserters from
the American army, which is a sight
worse. I'll dismiss the DEMONSTRATING
charge II you will go back to the
states. If not, I'll see that you get O
good term in the Mexican pen, which
isn't nearly as nice as Leavenworth."
Two days later the deserters were
bound for Juarez on foot. At Juarez,
Whit walked across the International
Bridge and surrendered.
"I suppose I'll get q heavy turn in
the MILL" he said. i've got II COM
ing. I guess, but IL I get out before
this war is over, I'm praying for a
chance to go to France. Nine months
In Mexico will make a patriot put of
any man."