“SHE” GENERAL

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 51, Issue 3139, 10 July 1942, Page 3

“SHE” GENERAL

THE WHITE TIGRESS BANDIT OF MEXICO WAR OF REVENGE STAGED Mention recently of (Belle Starr, the bandit chieftainess, whose gang of outlaws terrorised the State of Texas, recalls another woman 'bandit whose band was almost large enough to be called an army and who was powerful enough to force a Government to come to terms "with her.

The woman was known as The White Tigress, and she formed her own army of which she was general and commander-in-chief. she and her soldiers were proclaimed outlaws, and for her capture dead or alive was offered what is believed to have been the highest regard ever placed on a woman outlaw. The Amazon’s name was Bargarita Neri, and she was a beautiful and intelligent half-breed Indian girl, one of the belles of southern Mexico, • where she lived on her father’s ranch. She was born in 18'87 and was the elder of two daughters. When she was about seventeen her mother died. Thereafter Margarita remained in charge of the home until she was twenty, when there occurred a tragedy which altered her life. One day during her absence at a neighbour’s ranch three notorious Mexican bandits, who had been terrorising the countryside for some time, raided the homestead, killed Margarita’s father and sister and looted the place. Vowed Vengeance When Margarita returned and heard the story from a servant who had been hiding in an outbuilding, she vowed vengeance on the murderers. Twenty male Indians, who had been employed on the ranch for years, begged to be allowed to help her, and after she had sold the ranch to a neighbour and bought a quantity of arms and am--munition Margarita and her companions set out on horseback to track x down the killers. One by one the three bandits were located and one by one they were shot, the killing in each case being done by Margarita herself.

The murderers accounted for, Mar-, garita sent her companions home and went alone to Mexico City, where she obtained employment in a fashionable cafe. She had been there only a few weeks when one of her former companions arrived with the news that the police were hot on her trail, intending to arrest her for the killings. - Margarita lost no time in leaving the city, and after several narrow escapes from the police she reached her native district, where she quickly collected her former companions and made for the safety of the mountains. There she began to build up an army of her own and six months later had nearly one thousand well-armed and devoted Indian soldiers under her command.

Work of Revenge

With this army Margarita embarked on a war of revenge against all Mexicans. She became known far and wide as The White Tigress, and

always led her soldiers mounted 1 on a fine white horse.

The young women’s first daring exploit was the capture of.the town of Chilpancingo. This was a remarkable feat, for at the time the town was guarded iby 1500' Mexican Government soldiers, who, equipped with machine-guns, were stationed as a garrison.

Margarita’s reason for capturing the town was because she had heard rumours that the Government soldiers were preparing to make an attack against her army. Realising that her own soldiers could not hope to defeat the Mexican troops in open battle, she planned a novel method of attacking the garrison. One very hot day, shortly after noon —a time when she knew that most of the Mexican soldiers would be resting in the barracks compound —she sent thirty of the most youthful members of her army into the town, each with a bomb hidden inside his shirt.

The youths were instructed to lounge about outside the barracks, smoking cigarettes. At a given signal they were to light the fuses of the bombs from their cigarettes and throw the bombs into the compound. A rifle .shot fired by Margarita was the signal for the release of the bombs, which exploded with deadly effect. The garrison was taken completely by surprise and almost on top of the bombs, which killed scores of the Mexican soldiers, arrived The White Tigress and her army. After a fierce fight the Mexican soldiers were routed; all those who did not escape were shot down, and after the fall of the garrison Margarita gave her soldiers permission to loot the town. Arms For Her Men This raid enabled the woman to provide her army with a formidable quantity of arms and ammunition, and thereafter she became more daring than ever. In the months that followed several other towns were captured and looted. At one town— Telaco-tepee—she met with such stubborn resistance from a small garrison of Government troops that more than 200 of her soldiers were killed and she herself was wounded in the left arm.

This resistance annoyed her so much that when the garrison surrendered she had every Government soldier shot; the entire population of the town was then driven away and after her men had looted the place all the buildings were burned to the ground! As a result of her terrible exploits the Government of Mexico proclaimed Margarita and her followers outlaws and offered 100,000 pesos (approximately £20,000)' for the capture of the woman, dead or alive b The reward was never paid. On several occasions detachments of the Mexican Army were sent to capture the notorious woman, but on each occasion, after weeks of skirmishing in the mountains, Margarita and her men gave the troops the slip. For nearly nine years Margarita remained an outlaw, leading her army throughout southern Mexico,.fighting, killing and looting. She indeed took a terrible vengeance for the murders of her father and sister. Many other t Mexican outlaws endeavoured to win

the reward of 100,ODO pesos offered

for her capture, but in almost every case they lost their lives in the attempt.

Tamed White Tigress

Strangely enough, it was not warfare that finally tamed The White Tigress, but a big Irishman with whom she fell in love! A wealthy man named O’Day, he lived on a large estate on which was one of the finest country homes in southern Mexico; an ancient castle which stood on the summit of a small mountain. When Margarita first saw the castle she thought it would make an admirable place for her headquarters and learning that only the Irishman lived there with a few servants she visited the place to see if she could persuade O’Day to sell her the castle. Leaving her army stationed some distance away, Margarita, accompanied by one of her officers, rode up to the front of the castle.

The visitors' were not unexpected. The Irishman had witnessed the approach of the army, and as Margarita and her companion reined in their horses at the front door of the castle a dozen rifles, held by the Irishman and his servants, menaced them from nearby windows. As O’Day called on the visitors' to surrender, Margarita’s officer pulled out his pistol to fire. As he did so two shots rang out from the castle. One bullet struck the officer; killing him; the other mortally wounded Margarita’s horse. As the animal fell, throwing the woman heavily to the ground, O’Day rushed out, seized her, and dragged her into the castle, bolting the door behind him.

Although enraged at the reception she had received, Margarita explained to the Irishman the reason for her visit. He thereupon apologised and invited her to stay at the castle for a while. She accepted the invitation, and O’Day, who became very interested in her, tried to persuade her to give up her lawless ways. She at last agreed to do so, and as a result of the Irishman’s representations' she was granted a pardon by the Government on condition that she disbanded her army. She did this, and the day after the pardon was granted she married O’Day. Thereafter Margarita became deeply religious and led a quiet life at the castle until her death in 192'4, aged thirty-seven.