OCR Text |
Show 58 BY PATH AND TRAIL. on the slightest provocation he breaks faith and becomes worse than before." When I returned to Guaymas from Torin I learned that a desperate engagement between the Mexican troops and the Yaqui Indians, in the mountains southeast of this city, had taken place. I have already mentioned a raid made by the Yaquis on the railroad station of Len-cho, Sonora, in which the station master was killed, four men seriously wounded and three girls swept to the mountains. Since then the Mexicans have been on the trail of the Yaquis ; now and then exchanging shots, with an occasional skirmish, but not until the day before yes terday did the enemy and the Mexican troops come to close quarters. One cannot place much confidence in the. wild reports now circulated on the streets of Guaymas. A Mayo runner, who came in with dispatches this morn ing, is reported to have said that the Mexicans lost twenty men in the battle, and that many of the wounded were lying on the field, still uncared for, when he left. He says the Yaquis were defeated, but as they carried away their dead and wounded when they retreated, it was not known how many Yaquis were killed. Owing to the inaccessible nature of the country and its remoteness from here, we do not expect further particulars until to- morrow. If the Yaquis had time to carry off their dead and wounded, depend upon it, the Mexican troops gained no victory. I had a talk this afternoon with a governmental official, who had no more information than myself, about the engagement. He declared in the course of our conversation that it was the purpose of the na tional government and of the state of Sonora to exter minate the Yaquis, and that the troops would remain in the mountains till the last of the Yaquis was bayoneted |