The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1928-01-19


for change l will act in the capacity
of a pencil shower for a short time,
and hope that l may be able to pre-
sent some information that may be of
interest to some of the readers of The
Republican.
arrived in Ell Paso, Texas, Deem
Der % and was met here by my son
and his wife with car and motored
forty miles over a, good concrete road
to Las Cruces, New Mexico. The pop
ulation of this town is 1000.
The city is thoroughly modern in
every respect, with paved streets, ad-
equate water supply, sewerage and
lighting systems, hotels, restaurants,
tourists camp grounds and other civic
Improvements and necessities.
1t is the county ST. of Dona Ana
county. Las Cruces is situated on the
Santa Fe Railway. Here are located
huge cotton congresses which press
the original cotton bale to one-half its
original size in order to save space in
cars for shipping purposes and also
the cost of shipping. In the town are
cotton gins and cotton seed oil plants.
An oil refinery and other things in
connection with the cotton growing in
dustry is also in operation here, thus
making a good payroll for labor.
T ho.- o,+,,oo y+ CT
as well as stores of all other kinds
handling the different lines of mer-
chandise to satisfy the human needs
and demands.
The town is we'll supplied with pub
lie school buildings, all being large
brick structures and located in the
center of city block, the unoccupied
portion of the ground being used as
a campus. l am told there are seven
of these buildings in all with one high
school building costing S150,000. Lo-
reta Academy is an excellent boarding
school for girls, it being under the di-
rection of the Sisters of Lereta. New
Mexico Agricultural College, at Mes
silla Park, is three miles south of Las
Cruces.
1 am told there are ten churches in
Las Cruces, all of different denomina-
tions. Among them is Spanish M.
! E. church where l attended service.
am not Spanish scholar, nevertheless
was an interested listener.
When l entered the church the Sun
day school was in session and the
minister met me in the aisle. He shook
hands and showed me to a seat. l
noted that he acted in the capacity of
Sunday school superintendent, organ
list and leader in the singing. He is
man of small stature, light brown
complexion, black hair and neatly
dressed. Prior to the preaching service
testimonial meeting was held. All
present spoke without hesitation and
were apparently sincere in their faith.
l suppose the preacher delivered
splendid sermon if 1 may judge from
his gestures and the earnestness with
which he spoke. The singing was
| beautiful but somehow | could not get
the rhythm of the notes.
Old Mesilla, three miles from Las
Cruces, is the spot where the Gads-
den purchase was contaminated. 1t
was also at one time the citadel of the
Southwest Territory when that was
vast empire of legend and mystery.
In this town, Stephen G. Elkins,
of West Virginia, practiced law in his
early life and it is said he was great
friend of the common people. After
he became prominent as national fig
ure he made occasional visits to this
locality and when his coming was an
nounced the people turned out in great
numbers to do him homage.
Albert Fall, former Secretary of the
Interior, also practiced law in his
early career in Las Cruces and was
rated as shrewd lawyer and was also
an athlete. On one occasion, 1t is
said, that when he was in his office and
unarmed, a man came in with pistol
in his hand, threatening to kill him.
Fall sprang at the man and said, Il
will kill you," and it so unnerved his
assailant that he failed to use his
weapon. Fall disarmed him and
threw him from the office and his
method was not unmixed with pugil-
istic maneuvers.
Falls parents resided in the next
house to that occupied by my son. His
mother died here and the father NOV
ed elsewhere. l am told that he also
is dead. About 25 miles north of
Alamargordo, New Mexico, l passed
through small town in New Mexico
called Three Rivers. In the immediate
vicinity is located Mr.. Falls much dis
cussed cattle ranch.
On account Of the lightness of air,
distance in this locality is very de-
ceptive. Organ Mountains, 16 miles
distant from Las Cruces seem to be
only two miles away. With some