The courier-index., 1919-11-21
IN old Mexican Landowner
F"y Hates Villa and Prdys for His Death
From the Literary Digest.

wages, made them spend all tbov
mace at his stores, and so, while
ne was constantly getting richer, the
poems were growing poorer. Saws
Mr. Roberts:
/ He had some 80 ranches for his
own personal use, most of them
palatial, and one of imperial splen.
dor, where he entertained large mar
ties, sometimes as many as 100 for
weeks at a time. Into this UNEQUAL
state of affairs entered Francisco
Madero. Madero was a zealot. and
probably one of the sincerest of an
Mexico's patriots. Some day a
sympathizer will tell the true story
OF the Mexicans; he is not so black
as he is painted, and his excuses
can usually be traced to outside in
fuences.
"Madero preached revolution. but
constitutional revolution. He want
ed to be elected president so that
he could accomplish these reforms
he saw so necessary for Mexican de-
yelopment. He made pilgrimage
through the vast Terazas estate. ar
guing, lecturing, persuading the
poems that hardship, exactions and
extreme poverty did not represent
their proper position. He told them
/ the land belonged to them and that
they should arm themselves and
compel their employer to pay them
wages of dollar day, instead of
30 or 40 cents, which was the max
imum paid on the Terrazas estate.
He explained to them , that while
they were being taxed to support
the government, Luis Terrazas was
paying no taxes at all.
Finally he said: Elect me pres
ident, and will change all this; /
will give everybody a farm; | will
increase your wages to 81 a day,
and divide the cattle and sheep
among you
"lncredulous at first, they came
to believe him; so was the seed of
revolution sown. The vacqueros
and poems for the most part had
been loyal to their master, their
loyalty being based on ignorance.
The Mexican peon is illiterate, but
by no means untintelligent. They
began to. think; the possibility of
each having farm of his own and
a share in the masters cattle and
sheep was a strong appeal. The
unrest became pronounced; loyalty
disappeared; directly the revolution
of Madero broke out and gave them
their opportunity, they avenged
themselves on tough old Terrazas
Nv init he Ir
and plundering the Terrazas vii
lagos and ranch houses, burning his
buildings, killing his cattle and do
ing him as much damage as posi-
BILE. Terrazas, heading the aristoc-
racy of wealt hand welding an au-
tocratic power unexcelled in the
civilized world, was the logical tar
get for revolution based on social
conditions. The worlds largest
landowner had reached the pinnacle
of his career, and his descent was
rapid.
I'm all the disorders following the
Madero revolution, whoever SUI
fered, Terrazas was sure victim.
His herds and his fortunes alike
were depleted and when Francisco
Villa began his march from Juarez
south to Chihuahua City, General
Terrazas fled from his home in Chi
huahua City, on horseback, and al
though past 81 years at that time,
made the entire trip to the border
that way. Since that day he
reached Ojinaga on the border, De-
cember 8, 1913, he has never re-
entered Mexico"
1t was after the old man had fled
from Mexico that Villa descended
on Chihuahua. He captured one OF
the generals sons, Luis, Jr., and
demanded ransom of $65O,OO0
for his return. Villa also ordered
young Luis to turn over all the
resources of the Terrazas bank. The
Junior Terrazas did not seem par
ticularly willing to comply with the
bandit leaders demands, nor was
the ransom forthcoming. Villa
thereupon proceeded to give DEM