Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-03-11

Sincere Desire for the Return Of
Peace-is Proving suwark Of Civil
Government In Many Districts-viIla
10 Chief Victim.
The doom of villa and other moro
rious Mexican bandits appears to have
been sealed by the formation of the
Defensa Social.
The Defensa Social Is similar to the
famous vigilantes Of California WHO
restored that state TO comparative
peace after wild orgy of handitry and
crime following the rush for gold.
Organization for the Defensa Social
marks one of the significant extensions
of civil government. Indeed. II is per-.
haps one of the most important mani>
festations of the average Mexican's
sincere desire for the return Of peace
after the eXcesses that were a natural
by.product of revolution.
The pcfensa Social Is practically q
home guard. CarranZa has encouraged
the arming of the individual ranch
owner and peOn in order that these
people could suppress effectively pure
ly local activities of the bandits who
thinly masked their thieving propensl-
ties with the title Of revolutionisls.
This home guard Is proving bul-
wark Of civil government In many dis
tricts and has been able in many coln-
munities to suppress bandit gangs.
In the Rio Verde district of sOuth-
eastern portion of San Luis Potosi
and In that section Of the state of Que
reterO which joins it the Defensa So
clal has 10000 members. The strength
of this organization Is known.
Villa Is a Victim.
That fact In itself has restored peace
and insured the farmers and workers
and merchants Of more peace than they
have enjoyed for long time. No one.
no matter what their tendencies, has
the audacity to molest the .populace.
and government and state troops have
''een relieved for police duty else
where as result.
Villa has been the most conspicuous
'ictim of the Defensa Social movement
o date. Through Its strong organiza.
ion in Chihuahua. the state that Villa
dominated for so long time, the home
suarders have cleaned up the bandits
70 n remarkable extent in the last few
weeks.
With its advent Villas star began to-
set. The death Of Martin Lopez. VIII
as right-hand bandit; Juan Urbina.
General Gonzales and finally General
ANGELES, robbed him Of his chief aids.
lis sO-called revolutionary movement
'annot recuperate, because the people
+ Chihuahua no longer fear him.
A matter of information that is
ew to the United States, Is that ie
us the Defensa Social which captured
;cneral Angeles and turned him over
% CarranZa military officials at Chi.
uahua for court martial and execu.
ion.
So 1t finally looks as though the De-
'nsa Social was the agency through
,hich the people of Mexico would Coz
perativey put down the comparative
" small bandit leaders and their small
bands which have done so much to im-.
Dede the thorough establishment of
representative government
Sparseness Of population plus rough
ountry lending itself to the bandit
business has enabled such bandit Lead
ers as Eualio Gutierrez, Dona Juanita
and Peleaz, as well as Villa, to keep
up their harassing raids on railroads.
ranches and towns.
Butcher Becomes Bandit.
Gutierrez was a butcher who turned
to banditry when the revolution ruined
the butcher business. He has operat-
ed In the hill mountains through which
the railroad from Saltillo to San Luis
POtOsi runs
The fortunes Of the revolution which
followed the murder Of Madero by
Huerta made Gutierrez president for
90 days. He was wholly incompetent
but has kept up his outlawry IN the
hope that he might again seize the
reins of government. His band scat
ters In the mountains after each raid
and Is hard for organized troops to
find.
The Defensa Social Is after him.
however, and In true vigilante style
will no doubt get him as 1t has been
getting the Villa leaders.
Juan Juanita operates along the
Tampico-San Luis railroad. Here again
the widest and most beautiful country
in Mexico offers ideal protection for
bandits. And here again the home
guard organization is the only one Civ
ing promise Of enforcing peaceful civil
government
Peleaz has held sway In the OH
fields because troops from other Sec
tions cannot stand the climate of the
tropics Defensa Social members, made
up as they are of natives of that re-
gion, are not heir to any such DANGER
and are expected In the long run to
destroy Peleaz' power.