BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

THE EXTERMINATION OF THE YAQUIS 45
tain heights, but they could wait for the Indians in the
gorges and shoot them as they came down in search of
meat, of clothes, and of other comforts which they
yearned to add to their existence.
Many small bands of these so-called renegades have
been killed. Others have been captured and executed.
Rumors of peace have traveled the rounds onl y to prove
untrue a little later. Peace conferences with the government
have been held, but have failed because the
"renegades" could secure no guarantee that they would
not be either executed or deported after they laid down
their arms. In January. 1909, the report was officially
sent out by Governor Torres that Chief l3uIe and several
hundred of his warriors had surrendered on conditions.
But later troubles showed this announcement
to have been premature. There are at least a few hundred
Yaquis among those Bacetete crags. They refuse
to surrender. They are outlaws. They are cut off from
the world. They have no connection with the peaceful
element of their nation that is scattered all over the state
of Sonora. Yet the existence of this handful of "renegades"
is the only excuse the Mexican government has
for gathering up peaceful Mexican families and deporting
them—at the rate of 500 per month!
Why should a lot of women and children and old men
be made to suffer because some of their fourth cousins
are fighting away off there in the hills? The army physician
with whom I talked in Mexico City answered the
question in very energetic terms.
"The reason?" he said. "There is no reason. It is
only an excuse. The excuse is that the workers contribute
to the support of the fighters. If it is true, it
is true only in an infinitesimal minority of cases, for the
vast majority of the Yaquis are entirely out of touch