LITMIR.BIZ

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This stretch of fifty miles was considered the most dangerous for travelers on the frontier of Mexico. From Villaldama the road passed through a valley near the base of the Sierra Madre and another range of mountains enclosed it on the east side. The valley was from ten to fifteen miles in width, and thirty miles of the distance was through a palm-tree forest with a thick undergrowth of brush that in some places grew so close to the road it was impossible for two vehicles to pass each other.

      The heights of the Sierra Madre were constantly infested by Indians, and the road that lay below them could be observed for miles. When travelers were seen approaching from either direction, they would descend to some suitable place in the valley and waylay them in ambush. The most dangerous place was about six miles from the Palo Blanco Ranch, where the road was confined to a narrow pass, between hills that rose from twenty to thirty feet high for a distance of about one hundred and fifty yards. Here and at other places they would make

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      a sudden attack, with the result that the travelers were murdered generally before they could offer the slightest resistance. I was told by the people at the ranch that more than seventy-five people had been killed in the pass in about twenty years, and I had personal knowledge of a family with their children, and several other persons that were killed there at different times. After perpetrating their murderous work, the Indians would flee to the mountains, where they were safe from pursuit, and it is doubtful if large bodies of soldiers could have dislodged them from their place of refuge.

      One of our stations, where we changed horses, was Palo Blanco Ranch until it was removed elsewhere. On one of my trips westward, in 1867, when I reached that point the people informed me that the Indians had come out of the mountains and were depredating in the country along my route. They begged me to stay with them, as they thought it probable that the Indians would attack the ranch; but as I was not looking for Indians, and did not wish to have trouble with them, I only delayed long enough to change my team.

      When I returned I learned that, after my departure, about five o'clock in the evening, the Indians appeared and took three children into captivity, after killing two men and one woman who were traveling the road I had passed over, on their way to the ranch for protection, but those at the ranch were not molested. My good friend Jose Sanches was in charge of it at the time, and I believe he is still alive.

      The custom of showing respect for the last resting-place of the dead prevails in Mexico, where it has been observed for ages. Wherever a murdered person has been interred near the roadside, a cross is erected, and many travelers stop there to pray, but before leaving they always deposit some token, even if it is a stone, at the foot of the cross, though many cast a stone on the accumulated pile as they pass. In the valley referred to, at one

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      of the places I passed, I counted as many as twenty crosses, some of them showing the marking of age, but many, and sometimes ten near together, were secured to palm trees and others to bushes. An appropriate name for it would be, the Valley of Death, and I always felt relieved after passing through it. On such occasions I usually adopted every precaution to guard against surprises, and when passing the most dangerous places I and my armed passengers rode on top of the coach.

      CHAPTER VIII

      FROM Morales to the beautiful town of Selinas Victoria, on the Victoria River, is seven miles over a less dangerous road. The town has a neat appearance, the streets are well paved, and it has a fine church. There are rich mines in the vicinity that give the people employment, and in the country many horses are raised on ranches that are devoted to that business. From Selinas to Monterey it is twenty-five miles. The capital city of Nuevo Leon is situated on the Rio de Santa Catarina, and it is about six hundred and twenty-five miles from the City of Mexico. Many beautiful buildings of cut stone adorned the city, and the streets and squares were well paved. The principal plaza was the most general place of resort, and it was provided with stone benches for the accommodation of the public, who congregated there for social purposes and to listen to the music. The cathedral is one of the attractions of the city, and the theater and Plaza de Toro are the most popular places of resort. About that time the city had about forty thousand inhabitants, and its citizens were esteemed for their enterprising spirit which kept them abreast with the times.

      The climate of that region is justly extolled on account of its temperature, which is rarely cold enough in winter for frost, and as fire is seldom needed for warmth, the majority of houses have no fire-places, but in summer it is sometimes quite warm, though the nights are cooled by the refreshing breeze that passes through the valley from between the Sierra de la Sileria or Saddle Mountains and the Sierra Madre. Vegetation grows to perfection under irrigation, and the products of the soil are

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      raised in abundance. Tropical fruit, especially orange trees, need no protection and give large returns for the little attention they receive, and I realized many dollars from the sale of oranges brought from there to San Antonio.

      There are many places of historic interest near the city and the most prominent is the Bishop's Palace, which is situated on one of the foot-hills of the mountain, beyond its southern limits, that was the residence of the Catholic bishops of Monterey a long time after it became a diocese, but it has been abandoned for years. When the American army invested the city in 1847, the place was occupied by a detachment of Mexican troops until they were forced to surrender by a battery on Independent Hill that commanded the position from the opposite side of the valley. The battery is said to have been in charge of Lieutenant W. T. Sherman, who was afterwards a general in the United States army.

      The mother of Peter Bass, my station-keeper at Villaldama, gave me some information relative to the siege and capture of Monterey by General Taylor, and I will relate a few facts in this connection. She had resided in the city from early childhood and was about twenty years old when the operations of the American army occurred in that section of the country. She pointed out the place, on the east side of the city, where the Americans gained their first success in the fight of Casa Blanca, and the site is now occupied by the Monterey brewery, one of the largest establishments of the kind in Mexico. She related what her father had told her about Mexican horsemen lassoing straggling soldiers from the American army and dragging them to death. She showed me the place where Captain Gillespie was killed, on the street called Mar Prieto, or Black Sea, when the Americans were entering Monterey; also the place where he was buried after the battle ; but his remains had been removed some time before and were carried to San Antonio, Texas,

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      where they repose in the Odd Fellows' Cemetery. She was present when the body was disinterred and heard a Mexi- can remark to one of the party of Americans who were performing the duty assigned them, that very few men were killed in the capture of Monterey, compared to the number engaged on both sides; and also the American's reply that, " If those who were killed could be estimated at their actual worth all of their virtues combined would not equal those once possessed by the man who lies before us." A monument was erected over his last resting-place ; and, unless I am mistaken, Texas has perpetuated his memory by naming a county in his honor.

      A national prejudice against Americans was entertained in Mexico long after the termination of that war, and the feeling was not only justified by its results but it was aggravated by the threatening schemes of filibusters in the United States for the conquest of that country prior to the Civil War. The friendly attitude of the northern republic through that period, and its more recent position with reference to the empire under Maximilian, quieted all apprehensions in official circles, although, perhaps, it lingered to some extent among the people ; but it was never manifested in my case, because I was always treated with uniform courtesy in all my travels among them, and every facility was extended to me, both by the government and the people, to insure the success of my business.

      The interest manifested by the Mexican government in our stage line through its employees was never as great as that displayed by the citizens along the route, who neglected no opportunity to express their appreciation of our services. The most conspicuous among them was Joe Maria Perez, of Piedras Negras ; Santiago Tomas, of Santa Monica, who is the father-in-law

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