The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1921-03-05

forays and m%assacres, appear to have
been turned to the fertile fields swept
Clean for the pillow by the scythe of the
nlachete and the machine gun. Ever
since white men came to the new world
there has been trouble with the Yaqui,
that branch of the great Ataplascan
migration which halted-both actually
In point of movement. and In point of
progress In civilization-in the noun
tains of western Mexico more than ten
centuries ago. Discussion Of the rights
and wrongs of the quarrel Is beside the
question, now that peace has been
made. but the first historical mention
of the Yaqui Is In the Sixteenth cen
fury, when the first band of ConQuis-
tadores came into what is now Sonora.
After continuous small wars, the first
treaty was made when Don Francisco
Ybarra brought my people, nominally,
under the Spanish crown.
"One hundred and thirty years
passed, a long period of broken agree
ments. and in 1740 another treaty of
iSuNC was SiSICb, ullu IL DultuilOu Vi
faqui soldiers, Incorporated. just the
sane as now. in the governmental
army. tried to bind the wild race to the
royal rulers. This peace. however, did
not last long, for the Yaqui demanded
absolute control of their tribal lands
IN the Yaqui river valley and. failing
10 get this, again took the war path.
IN 17GS there was an outbreak which
Exceeded any preceding 1t. and the wal
lasted three years, when both sides be
ing exhausted and the forces Of the
crow far from their base, peace vas
concluded, which lasted until 1871.
During this period of quiet, towns
sprang up In the YaQui river valley. and
plantations blossomed all over the
lower part of Sonora. Gradually, the
Yaqui saw their lands slipping away
from them, and once more they began
war, without warning. Within the next
year they destroyed more than a score
Of towns and villages, virtually all of
which, except Altar and Alamos, are
still In ruins, the white people having
feared to rebuild them during all the
140 years which have succeeded since
that time.
The Twenty-Six Years War.
up to 1882 warfare was intermit-
tent. but constant, not a year going by
without its foray by the Yaqui, or an
expedition against them by federal
forces by the many governments which
alternately ruled In Mexico. The fight
against the Spanish governors was
transferred, whOle-heartedly, and with
the unanimous consent Of the tribe, to
their successors Of the Mexican gov
eminent. when the nation won Its indie
pendence from Spain. and continued
until the powerful Gen. Jose Urea
patched up another peace treaty, which
held until the French invasion. Inter-
nal Quarrels kept SO many troops In the
field that no further attempt was made
to take lands from the YaQui, and they
remained quietly In the Yaqui river
valley, mere watchers of the cOnfic
for state control on the plains and II
the valleys below.
I'm 1860, however, the Yaqui agaiI
went on the war path, and stayed Their,
until after Mexico had disposed o
Macmillan and the Napoleonic dream
Of new world empire, and a governo
appointed by Benito Juarez had take
his seat in Arizpe. then capital Of Son
ora. Gen. Ambrosio Pesquiera, VIII
had almost as many 'ups-and-downs' a
Francisco Villa, being n day dictate
and the neXt day revolutionist, oil
tanned a treaty with the Yaqui, but tn
coming of Francisco Serna to super
Sede ~Pesquiera ended that period 0
peace, and small combats continued
until 1894, when the best-rememberec
Of all the Yaqui outbreaks took place
to continue, to all practical intents al
purposes, until May, 1920.
Through this period, however, tv
men had beer rising slowly to consider
able strength in western Mexico-A
raro Obregon in Sinaloa. and Plutarc
Elias-Calles in Sonora. The forme
made personal friends Of the Yaul
chiefs, and when he became militar
governor of Sonora let them alone
merely repulsing their raids, sometimes
s%wooping down on them just as they
were preparing to start a raid. but
never molesting them while they re-
manned quiet on their own lands. They
began to respect Obregon, then to fear,
him and, finally, to admire him, as a
man who. as you Americans say, al
ways beat them to It,
Comes General Oregon.
Gen. Elias Gales succeeded general
Obregon as governor of Sonora In 1917,
but, largely because the Yaqui did moi
know him personally. he was unable to
arrange a peace, though the forays be
came much less destructive and fur
Their apart. Meanwhile General Obre-
gon. who was wen then preparing for
his own revolutionary movement. in
corporated a regiment Of Yaqui SOL
diers into his army, and invited me to
represent the Yaqui on his staff. After