The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-02-10
ONE BUILDING IN EVERY FIVE
OFFERS THIRST QUENCHERS
TO DRY AMERICANS.
NUEvO is PICTURESQUE PLACE
First Thing Tourists Do Is to Cross
Bridge on Arrival. Attendance at
Saloons on Sunday Larger Than at
Churches on Texas Side.

Churches on Texas Side.
On the International bridge a white
post and a crack filled with asphalt
mark the boundary line between the
United States and Mexico, writes a
staff correspondent to the Baltimore
Sun from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
The tourist who steps 142 PAGES be-
yond that to the southwark is in Nue.
lvo Laredo, which seems much Older
than the American town.
The first building is the custom
house and the next on the right-hand
side of the roadway and the first one
on the left side are saloons. The next
one on each side is a saloon, and so
on for the whole block. 1t duplicates
and doubles the once-noted block in
Highlandtown between the two rail-
roads, in which, in pre-Volstead days,
every house on one side of the street
was a saloon. There were no houses
on the other side of the street.
One House in Five Is Saloons.
| But there are more saloons in Neu-
vo Laredo. 1t is a place of about TO-
600 inhabitants and it is not an ex-
travagant estimate to say that one
fifth of all the houses in the place are
thirst-reduction plants Most of them
are small places, but nearly all of
them seem to be. we'll patronized This
was especially the case today, for Sum
day is their big day.
Festivities of the dav hepat1 with
a cooking main. There was a prize
fight in one section of the town in the
afternoon and another in the Crystal
saloon, the first building on the left
at night. In the evening the dance
halls opened up. Drinking began ear
1y in the day and was kept up until
the international bridge closed at
midnight.
Little Drunkenness Seen.
] In spite of all the drinking but lit
tie drunkenness was manifested. Dur
ing visit OF several hours only two
intoxicated men we're seen-one an
American and one Mexican. Neither
was making any trouble. The principal
dance hall was visited, but it proved a
dreary place. There were not more
than half-dozen girls about and on
ly three of them danced. AS usual at
such places the dancing was most de-
corous. No women were seen at any
of the other saloons, the wide-open
doors permitting clear view of the
interiors.
] Prices of drinks are not remarkably
/ low. A thimbleful of Scotch whisky
costs IS cents and beer is from 5 to
! 10 cents a small glass, depending on
the place All of the drinking places,
as we'll as everything else in the town,
are very tawdry. The streets are mar
row and most of the buildings are but
one story high, built of brick succeed
] over on boards, and with fiat roofs
Many of the living apartments consist
of one small room with housekeeping
arrangements of the most primitive
character. In view of the wealth flow
ing into the town this seems strange.
Vendors Like Conspirators.
! The place is picturesque, if not
beautiful. Old women sit in the curb
market, which extends along one side
of one block, with baskets of fruit
and Mexican sugar and other sweet
meats. After dark their places are ta-
ken by men, who stand silent and mo-
tionless with shawls draped about
them and looking like desperate con-
spirators. So they are, but they are
simply conspiring to extract nickel
from the tourist Some hackmen with
automobiles and others with old-style
vehicles drawn by detected horses
crave the business of driving one
around the town. If asked if there is
any reason why one should go any
where they give it up.
No formalities are required to cross
the international bridge but payment
of the toll charge, except that persons
with automobiles must register them
if they are coming back Packages are
given cursory examination. There
is no rum running across the bridge
except what has been imbibed before
leaving Mexico. The bootlegger who
would take chance with guards at
both sides would be a fool when the
Rio Grande can be crossed in a skiff
with a few strokes OF the oars The
bridge is only 352 PAGES long, includ-
ing approaches, and the river is less
than 800 yards wide And above and
below the towns is the endless thicket
of mesquite brush, which extends all
the way to San Antonio.
/ Bootleggers Unnecessary.
There is no bootlegging in Laredo.
1t doesn't seem necessary, when one
can walk $50 yards, pay a nickel for
toll and buy all the drinks desired
without running any risk, The hotel
clerks there say that many of the citi-
zens cross the bridge daily and it's
the first thing tourists do upon arriv-
ing.
I There are nine Protestant churches.
a Christian Science reading room and
several Catholic churches. 1t seems
strange that there are Mexican Meth
odists, Presbyterians and Baptists,
but they are here 1t is said, though,
that the aggregate attendance at the
saloons across the river on a Sunday
is considerably larger than at the
churches on the Texas side. Most of
the American town is very new and
prosperous looking, with well-paved
streets and street car system. Neuvo
Laredo also has street cars.
! Il