BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 97
And I was repeatedly told that the women who enter
that foul hole all become common to the men, not because
they wish to become so, but because the overseers do not
protect them from the unwelcome advances of the men!
On the "Santa Fe" ranch the mandador, or superintendent,
sleeps in a room at one end of the slave dorinitory
and the cabos, or overseers, sleep in a room at the
other end. The single door is padlocked, but a watchman
paces all night up and down the passageway between
the rows of shelves. Every half hour he strikes a clamorous
gong. In answer to a question Senor Rodriguez
assured me that the gong did not disturb the sleeping
slaves, but even if it had that the rule was necessary to
prevent the watchman from going to sleep and permitting
a jail-break.
Observing the field gangs at close range, I was astonished
to see so many children among the laborers. At
least half were under twenty and at least one-fourth
under fourteen.
"The boys are just as good in the planting as the men,"
remarked the Preside' nte, who escorted us about. "They
last longer, too, and they cost only half as much. Yes,
all the planters prefer boys to men."
During my ride through fields and along the roads
that day I often wondered why some of those bloodless,
toiling creatures did not cry out to us and say:
"Help us! For God's sake help us! We are being murdered!"
Then I remembered that all men who pass this
way are like their own bosses, and in answer to a cry
they could expect nothing better than a mocking laugh.
and perhaps a blow besides.
Our second night in Valle Nacional we spent on the
Presidente's plantation. As we approached the place we
lagged behind the Presidente to observe a gang of 150