The Washington herald., 1920-09-26
EXILES DRIVEN OUT BY BANDITS RETURNING TO MEXI(
.NeW Regime in Southern Republic Holds Out A
Men of Vast Estates May and Are NoW Going I

decreed the end Of banditry and Outrage
His outlaw army, long formidable threat
in the path Of peace at home and intercourse
with the outside, has melted away and ceased
to exist as an independent fighting force.
The former bandit chieftain, himself the
recipient of a 20O, 900 acre hacienda at
Canutilla, Durango, promises to have no
more significant part in the shaping OF
Mexican destiny than a country squire. No
war cloud, therefore, troubles the outlook
of these distinguished refugees bent on an
early return.
MORE than 200 families, representing the
A'1 proudest blood Of Mexico, the sap Of
her social nobility and wealth, suffered the
direst penalties of these ten years Of lust
and revolution, according to conservative
Mexican estimate. Flight following the ruin
or coniscation of their estates was the por
ton of some; death, swift and silent, at the
hands of enemies, or while fugitiyes IN
foreign asylum was the fate of others.
During the dark days of the turmoil, life
was the cheapest thing in Mexico; blue blood
flowed with as little regret as did that
from the forgotten clod.
OF those Mexicans of lesser social and
financial degree who were forced to fee the
same torments, several thousand found
refuge in towns scattered along the Amer
ican border, while many who were fortunate
enough to save something from the wreckage
established homes in Los Angeles, far from
the area of violence. While the vendettas
Of this unleashed outlawry scourged the
country any conspicuous member of the old
Diaz political regime who remained to brave
the turmoil was simply dsllying with death.
Illuminating proof of this is to be found in
the roll of distinguished unfortunates, manv
OF them props and pillars of those thirty
five years that marked the life-work Of
Diaz, whose fate was submerged in the suc
cessive plots and counter plots that gave
fieeting sway to Msdero, Yictoriano Huerta
and Carranza
Ot all the notable personages to SURVIVE
the nigrescent passage of the Mexican revo.
lutlonary drama, the most desolated is nor
haps General Luis Terrazas, in his dav tb.
richest land baron in all Mexico ubosa
family has been styled 'the most nitifuI
victims OF Villa banditry" As the nossessor
OF principality whose actual and notor+;oI
wealth formerly made him the most imnosin.
parsonage allied with the Diaz cause he ba,
more to claim in landed property in tho no,,
order of restoration than any of his eriIed
compstriots. To General Terrazas this
nome coming means more than mere words
possibly can convey.
His feelings are indeed dificpIt n tron.
late, though their epitome as exnressad :,
high hope does not fall short of tho aIn,ost-
ruined player who, stalking his life's all on
4aS' throw, sees that fortunes wheel has
hnany turned in his favor. His experience
ana the burden Of affection he has carried
would nave deferred less determined soul
FOR ten years he has suffered the trial Of
oanlshment, and the persecution of his i'm
Piacaole enemy Pancho Villa has reduced
MN and his high born family from a posi-
uon pre-eminent in the sense of social author
lty and financial power to know the meaning
OF poverty in an alien land; yet this brave
cid knight cannot be prevailed upon to re-
main away.
The powerful urge of his beloved Chihua-
hua is upon him. He wants another trv at
fortune-in the bountiful land where he
once ruled as master, there to reassemble his
scattered and involved fortune while life's
skeln Is running to its end and he, as
silent watcher, is marking the events now
shaping to give Mexico a restored and
sobered reality in the family of nations.
GENERAL TERRAZAS is old now-has
VI reached that ripened age when men cal
Culate their final score with fate. Bowed
by the weight of ninety one years, the prey
of physical infrmities and saddened by a
train of experiences that long since would
have crushed a less intrepid heart, yet his
vision is that of a patriarch while his spirit
rides on the wings of youth. Mvst men, un-
willing to believe themselves the authors of
their own downfall, lay the blame at the
door of fate and whine for the sympathy of
the world. Such a conception of this famous
old Diaz cansman is the fartherest from
the truth. He neither courts sympathy over
his plight nor invites outside help to win
his former empire back. Running warmer
through his tired old heart than any other
emotion is the impulse to be back in his
native chihuahua, with all its former splen-
dor restored to him and his. Despite his
great age, the recrudescence Of valiant and
kuightly mettle is unmistakable in this dis =
tinguished outcast of the revolution. Few
men at his time of imposed inaCtion have
either the will to work or the pioneers thrift;
to replenish; yet both these qualities belong
to the Terrazas spirit to a rare degree.
Robert Louis Stevenson fixed the Terrazas
character in our minds eye when he said in
his "OId Mortality of the man he rated as
ssxss~sssaassx.uzs,ss, Ss.szzssss,.s