BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

170 BARBAROUS MEXICO
a lawyer and publisher of "El Estandarte," was beaten
so severely that he became a life-long cripple. Another
attorney and editor, Francisco de P. Morelos, was beaten
in the city of Monterey for writing against the government
in his paper, "La Defensa." In Guanajuato, Jose
R. Granados, editor of "El Barretero," was beaten for
writing against the government. In Napimi, a lawyer,
Francisco A. Luna, was beaten and wounded with knives
for writing against the government.
And so a list could be given pages long. Ricardo
Flores Magon, Jesus Magon, Enrique Magon, Antonio
J . Villarreal, Librado Rivera, Manuel Sarabia and
many others spent months in prison for publishing opposition
papers. Others were assassinated. As I said
before, autocracy feeds on murder, and the rule of
Porflrio Diaz has been one long story of murder. When
assassination, imprisonment and countless forms of persecution
had destroyed their organization in Mexico, the
leaders who still retained their lives and liberty fled
to the United States and established their headquarters
here. They organized the Junta, or governing board
of the Party, established newspapers, and it was only
after the agents of the home government had followed
them here and succeeded in so harassing them with
false charges which resulted in their imprisonment that
they abandoned all hope of doing anything peaceful for
the regeneration of their country and decided to organize
an armed force for the purpose of overthrowing the
Mexican dictator.
The story of the persecutions visited upon the Mexican
refugees in the United States I will detail in another
chapter. It is sufficient here to pass over them
and point merely to the result of their attempts to bring
about a change in their government by revolution.