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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1911)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXTAX, FOItTLAXD, MAT 14, 1911. ABQR AdlTATQ General Stanley Williams, Leader of Mexican Insur recto Force, Who Was Lately Shot Down in Spectac ular Charge on Superior Federal Force, Did Service in City as Soap-box Orator and put in Brief Period in City as Soap-box Orator and Put in Brief Period Establish Domain for Socialists. - it ebel Leader umce Pobujssjjl ... ' x- . - i i - i loaEr ' r(dv-'i- urn -ptHERE la a, brief but Stirring Port I land chapter to the tense career of General Stanley 'William, lAmeiican chieftain of Mexican Insur re' toa. whoee course was cut short re cently by federal bullets, as he was leading a mere platoon of his a-uerril-Jas against a full regiment of regulars. He came to this city during the "free speech" disturbances of three years ago and was one of those to be ar rested by the Portland police for -blockading; the streets." Ha spent but brief period In the City Jail, as ball was furnished by local Socialists. In reading of the stirring escapades of the Intrepid rebel chief there were few. even among Socialists, who rec- mimed In General Williams the man who eo bitterly denounced the police and the city officials who endeavored o break up street meetings at that time. It was not until a short time before his death that. In going over his career, he told of his Portland ex perience a. Frlends of Williams in the Mexican Junta, at Los Angeles, say he was In the Couer d'Alene district when the free speech" campaign opened In Port land. Evidently the real magnitude of those really insignificant difficulties (rare exaggerated abroad at the time. Anyway, acting on Information regard ing conditions here. It Is shown mat William Immediately hastened to Portland and got Into action aa i street-comer speaker. Naturally thla waa followed by ar rest on a charge of blockading the streets. Several other arreata were made at the same time. His Fight for "Free; Speech." Tha contention of Wllilama and his fellow Socialists waa that the atreeta were the people's natural place of aa em blag a. City officials urged that by folding crowded street meetings the t-ociallste were Interfering with trarnc and the rights of othera In the legal fight that followed the Socialists got considerably the better of the argu ment. When thla matter waa disposed of .Williams left the city and prospected until a "free speech" campaign opened at Fresno. CaL Here the adventurer not only got Into the hands of the po lice because of his activities, but apent St daya In confinement. On being re leased he went to Los Angeles and. In Dopes of being able to find the way for establishing a Socialist domain In Mexico, associated himself with the cause of the Mexican Insurrection. It was with this dream In his mind that be Jumped Into the fight and be cause of a considerable military know ledge he soon became a leader of troopa Just where he got his military training la not certain. Some say ho was a deserter from the United States Army, others that he was "cashiered" from the Northwest Mounted Police. These things are disputed by hla friends In the Junta, but Just where be learned the soldiering game Is not yet explained. His exploits front the time be en-1 tered the rebel service were many and daring. He arranged early In the pres ent year to Join the command of Gen eral Leyva. who was then encamped about 10 miles southwest of Mexican In the Plcacho Mountains. From the time he got to Mexican aoll up to the time he -got under" the soli he kept things moving and the press dispatches bristled with his exploits. It was no easy task to reach the Dyva camp to which he was assigned, or in deed to get out of Los Angeles. The fed eral authorities knew all about the Jun ta and Its work of forwarding recruits and arms to the rebels, and were watch ing every more of the Insurgents with hawklike vigilance. Nevertheless a large party of recruits, of whom Williams was one. says the Boston Herald, left there on the ntg-ht of February 2 bound south'. The plan for eluding the authorities was simple. Each recruit had a ticket to a different point In the Imperial Val ley. Williams was directed to leave the train at El Centro. Cal.. where he would find a horse and outfit waiting for him. and to make hla way alone through the mesqulte to the boundary line, there to await his chance to dodge the patroL. Jump across Into Mexico and ao to the camp. After much difficulty and many trials the coup was successfully effected. There waa a body of about SO Ameri can and English soldiers of fortune with Leyva at the time, and to this was Wil Hams assigned. His knowledge of soldier ing and campaigning soon won him rec OKnltion. and when the rebels went out on the evening of the i:th to attack Governor Vega, of Ensenada. he had been elected Captain of the weird Jumble that called Itself the "American Bat talion." Train robbers In Ranks. From all accounts it waa a, motley crowd. There were self-confessed train -robbers, a couple of bandits and a tele graph operator who could not sleep be cause he kept remembering a mistake that had run a train Into an open awith with many resulting fatalities. Williams, however, took charge of them all and whistled them to heel without apparent trouble. In the fight with Vega that followed. Williams and hla band of military hobos acquitted themselves well. Vega was driven from the field, his force practical ly wiped out. and be himself mortally wounded. After that engagement the names of Williams and bis oompalon commander. Berth old. were worth 100 men In any fight. Leyva detached Williams on spechau duty with his command, and they were set to work blowing up bridges, cutting the communications of the federals, and their base of supplies In the City of Mexico. A score of Important and unim portant bridges were destroyed In this manner, and hundreds, even thousands, of miles of track rendered useless. Scores of carloads of supplies were diverted from their original destination, the fed eral camps, and many hundred Mausers and the ammunition found their way to the commands of Berthold, Leyva. and II llV I l ' j " ''I 'm''-'J'--Jg3 a Ljasy-.'. jsiss's j ? s - - 'Tsa.1 e-. ywMvs&awe im irn tar W ' - v V . '; kf - - i ,-- I I ZTJtXLEYmLUfm? II I - , -"v vex Vs? ...... . , iJL-safeiy i ' v. , liiiiii Madero through the efforts of this "Dyn amite Captain." It was early In the morning of April S that Williams set out on his final desperate mission the attack of the fed eral commander, Mayol. who had TOO men. three field rifles and three rapid fire guna. all firmly entrenched at Pack ard. General Williams' force waa TO men one man for each ten of the fed eral fighting force. Late In the afternoon 20 stragglera bore their courageous leader to the Custom-House. He was shot down while leading the futile charge and died the next day. American Army officers who viewed the fight from the house tops of Calexleo, called It foolhardy. It would have been heroic only had he won. Lieutenant Lo pes, who was with Williams aa hla aide. has since told the story of the attack as he saw It from the heat of the engage ment. Here is his story as told news paper men at Los Angeles lately during a visit made by Lopex to the Junta at that place: "There were 27 cavalrymen with us that morning. The rest were dls- 1 mounted. Wen we started out I begged General Williams to stay be hind where he could watch the fight with field glasaes and direct It as a commander should, but he laughed at me. 'If I had 1000 men I mighty do that. he said, 'but aa It is I have got to lead the boys. Come on.' "Well, we sailed out of Mexican Just as If we had the thousand men he spoke of. We knew of course where the Fed erals were camped and we went straight at them. "We had not gone far when we stum bled over a detachment that had moved forward In the night and hidden in the arroyo. The banka of the arroyo on our side were covered by a barley . field, short but thick, and the first thing our advance knew they walked right Into the thick of it. "They began the shooting, and soon It was so thick that our boys began to fall. I counted three dead on the edge of the barley before Williams gave the order to charge, and we drove them out of the arroyo on to the bare plain oppo site. "There we had the best of them, for our boys could shoot, and, besides, the soldiers of the Federals don't want to fight. I could see the officers beating them with their swords. Facing a Machine Gun. "We kept on after the. retiring Fed erals, crossing the arroyo and following them to another barley field on the out skirts of the little ranch. There they made another stand and a field gun and a machine gun came to their rescue. "The guns held us off for a time, but we drove the Federals out of the gully they hid In and got some shelter from the shells. Then Williams ordered a flank move, and we captured the ma chine gun. The field piece retreated out of range and we let it alone. "As we had no ammunition for the machine gun. Williams tried to break the breech mechanism with his rifle, but I warned him that he would dam age his own piece and not hurt the gun. Then he began using a rock, and Boon ruined -the machine gun. All the time he was at work with the gun the Fed erals were firing upon us, but he paid no attention to the-bullets. "As he finished wrecking the grin we heard shots coming from another direc tion, and, looking up the arroyo that is, to the west we saw a, detachment of- about 200 Federals come out of an arroyo that ran at right angles with the one we were in. In a moment pur men began to fall fast. " "We'll have to get out of this,' Wil liams said to me. Then he ran among the fellows, shouting to them to re treat, and soon he had them falling back steadily. In order to get a bet ter view of what was going on in the barley he took the horse of one of the cavalry, and with several others of us fell back to protect the rear of the force from the Federals, who were now coming on fast. "I was hit slightly in the upper leg, but nothing to speak of, and we were, falling back in good shape, when sud denly we heard the boom of a field gun and a shell burst a few yards away to our left. It killed two of the boys and one horse. "From then on the retreat became a run, Williams, myself. Lieutenant Smith and one of the men named Mc Donell, who had shot himself in the foot the day before and now was riding-, kept hanging in the rear. "We were all clumped together about the entrance to a path leading into an arroyo when the end for General Wil liams came. There was a flash under the feet of McDonell's horse, and I re member seeing the animal rear up and back until I thought Mac would tumble off. "Then I saw Williams fall forward on the neck of his mount and Smith caught at him as he slid oft to the ground. A bit of the shell had hit him In the head and other piecs had'erushed his chest. He was horribly hurt, and seemed nearly dying as we lifted him on his horse and carried him a mile or. more toward Mexicall. "By the time the Federals, apparently afraid to follow further, had left us alone, and we rigged up a litter In which he was taken to Mexican, and later to Calexleo, where the American Army surgeons cared for htm. He died the next day." JUiV llr"E'75T n vra -r Ai AnirnA'til 7vria'irB l5. .T-M - : a p n I - t . . . . PrnHf B. ill MUM --" y '.v n - aT. " S' ' 1 f The Four Feminine Members of the Gen eral Assembly-Have Different Motions as to Important Legislation Mrs. Riddle for the Farmers Mrs. Lafferty on the Sacrifices Necessary in Politics United on Bills for the Benefit of Women and Children. DENVER. Colo, May 1$ There are four women members of the pres ent Colorado General Assembly Mrs. Agnes Riddle. Mra Alma V. Laf ferty. Mrs. Louis V. Jones and Mrs. Louis M. Kerwln. All xcepUnc Mra Riddle are Democrats, and are from -Denver. Mrs. Riddle Is a Republican, and represents th farming community Immediately adjoining Denver. Th cares of offlc weigh rather tieavlly on all these women but Mra Rliidl. Th end of a long, grinding session, with Its continued Senatorial deadlock, has found this cheery Ger man hausfrau as ready with her smile as on th opening day. Sh Is always In her seat promptly at th fall of the gavel, desplt th fact that sh has to drtvs from bar dairy farm, six miles from Denver, and that after having ! rises, bator oatUj-ht In order to set most of her hossehold duties out of tba way. -What legislation has Interested me particularly 7" repeated Mra Riddle, on being asked as to her alms In the Leg islature. "Anything and everything af fecting th farmers and women and children. I am a representative of the farmers. I hav lived for SO years on th farm, and hav studied dry farm ing and irrigation and dairying. I be lieve I know th conditions and needs of th farmers In my district. That waa why they elected me a Republican In a Democratlo year. They knew I would try to represent all th farmers, whether Republicans or Democrats. Working for the Farmers. "There is so much to b don for th farmers In my district," continued Mra Riddle, earnestly. "Ther are many dry farmers those who have, no water for Irrigation, you know, but who have to depend on the rainfall for their crops. They need help In many ways. I have seen that part of Colorado populated and depopulated twice, and It Is on the verge of being depopulated a third time unless something is done to better con ditions among those farmers. I want to hav a demonstration station estab lished, to show them how to farm sci entifically. Health conditions are bad, and I want to have the state send In structors among the farmers' wives to teach them the laws of health. "I have been fighting what Is known as the reservoir bill, because I believe It is something that is going to work great hardship on th small rancher In Colorado If It becomes a law. I believe In the storage of water for Irrigation purposes, but the farmers should' al ways have control of th water. This bill I have been fighting states that the farmer may have water on proving that he needs it, but how is he going to make such proof at once? He cannot go into court, because his crops would be ruined before a decision could be rendered. When reservoir companies. Instead of the farmers themselves, con trol th water, trouble Is going to re sult. Shorter Honrs for Women. "Then I have been deeply Interested In the bill establishing an eight-hour working day for women. I hav been criticized because, as a farmer's wife. I hav not observed th eight-hour day 1 myself. That does not matter," said Mrs. Riddle, with her ready smile and humorous twinkle of the eyes. "I can quit any time I want to but the girl in the shop or factory vcannoL I have worked long hours because I love work. I saw an editorial in soma paper not long ago, in which the editor said that, being away from home so many hours, I must neglect my children while do ing this political work. The editor did not understand. I have raised six chil dren but they are not my own. When my sister died. I brought up her chil dren. The youngest are twins of 14. Tou see even they are old enough to shift for themselves pretty well. I get up early, get their breakfast, and send them to school. Before I leave home I start dinner. The children would eat their lunch at school, anway, even If I were home. I am back In plenty of time to get dinner for them and to at tend to the rest of the' evening work on the ranch. "Why is It so terrible for a woman to have a part in this?" queried Mra Riddle, motioning toward the cloak room door, thro ugh which came tke hum of the Colorado House of Repre sentatives In action. "It is only turn about and turn about is always fair play. Do you know" and here the smile came into play again "I know that the wives of some of those men out there are home running the ranch. They are doing men's work, while the men are down her in Denver having a good time. Why shouldn't the women come down here and sit In the Legislature once In a while and let the men run the ranch?" Behind Mrs. Riddle's pleasantry, how ever, there rests serious intention. She has been actively interested in politics ever since Colorado became an equal suffrage state. 18 years ago. "The first women's political meeting In my part of the country was held at my house." sale' Mrs. Riddle, proudly. "I have always been trying-to teach the farmers to stand together and to take a practical Interest in politics. I have tried to show them the necessity of attending conventions and primaries, and have endeavored to get the young people to take the Interest they should In political matters." Mrs. Alma V. Lafferty has had more legislative experience than any of her sisters in the Colorado Legislature. She Is now serving her third term, and says she Is tired of it. Sacrifices for Politics. "Oh, the sacrifices one has to make!" exclaimed Mra Lafferty. "I have had to give up everything else for this work. What do I consider the greatest qualification for a woman legislator? Open-mlndedness. A woman who can set aside her, personal prejudices can do much." Mrs. Lafferty has been chiefly Inter- ested in her own eight-hour bill for wo men. She has also drafted an educa tional bill providing for "humane and moral" teaching in the public schools. As chairman of the committee on edu cation, she has Introduced other meas ures relating to - educational subjects In Colorado. Mrs. Lafferty might be picked anywhere as a typical club wo man. Her gowns are modish, and she lends a bit of color to the floor of the House. She Is a skilled debater and fluent speaker, and it is said of her that defeat has never made her lose her temper. Perhaps that is why she 1b so successful as a lawmaker, for Mrs. Lafferty has secured the enaction of more laws than all the other women lawmakers of Colorado combined. Twe years ago five of her bills became laws a record of which any man might be proud. Few women have been so suc cessful, as shown by the records of one Colorado General Assembly, which Indi cate that of 29 bills Introduced by three women members, not one became a law. Mrs. Louise M. Kerwln and Mrs. Louise U. Jones make up the quartet of women lawmakers in Colorado. Both are from Denver.- Mrs. Kerwln has been interested In Denver politics for several years, and when she gained a place on the Democratic legislative ticket she was elected easily. She has interested herself In leg'slatlon affect ing women and children, but has Intro duced few bills. Mrs. Jones has made an enviable rec- ord as a business woman. She la pro prietor of a large and fashionable rooming-house in Denver's downtown district, but has always found time to take an active Interest in politics. She Is a quiet, small-featured little woman who usually dresses in black, but she has "gone after" the corrupt politicians In a manner that shows she has plenty of spirit. She has introduced a corrupt practices bill aimed at those who prac tice election bribery. Under its work-, lng, any person found guilty of election bribery will spend a good share of his life in jail. Mrs. Jones has introduced a child-labor bill, modeled after the Il linois child-labor law, and also a bill to control the salary and appoint a guardian for the head of a household who squanders money that should rightfully be spent on his family. She is also interested in a bill to prevent the marriage of criminals or diseased persons. The contest over the Colorado Sena torshlp has played havoc with the leg islative ambition of the Colorado wo men. The long-continued deadlock on this question has resulted in "side tracking" many bills that otherwise would have become laws. But the four women have united on legislation per taining to educational matters, and that Intended to benefit children and work ing women. In this way they have succeeded In making themselves a power.
