NEW ZEALAND INSURRECTORS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10767, 16 May 1911, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND INSURRECTORS.

WITH THE REBELS IN MEXH Events in Mexico since the rebellion broke out have-been-involved in so much obscurity that any light whL'h can be thrown upon, what is happening there is welcome. A good deal of illumination is supplied by Mr W. Bourk Fitzartha- a young: New Zealander, wlio lias just returned to England after a brief canu paign with the rebel forces. Mr Fritzartha may be described as a soldier of fortune. He went to South Africa witli the New Zealand forces, fought through the Boer War, took partwith the Natal Carbineers in the native troubles, and afterwards assisted the Germans as a special scout against the Herreros. With "nothing doing" in Africa, he went to England, and. a. few months ago, hearing that there was a possible opening for a man who was adept ill guerilla warfare, he started for New York\ "When troubles of this kind are going and' the rebels prove successful, there is always a purse at the end of it," observed Mr Fritzartha. "In New York there is a certain house which is a recruiting station for Madero's forces. I had no trouble in finding it, and went at once to New Orleans.. If there is any rebellion going on in America it is always directed from New Orleans. There I met Sonhor Madero, the woukl-.be President. He and his family own vast haciendas in Mexico, and have also much land in Texas. He spends most of his time at El Paso, 011 the Texas border. His brother sometimes leads the rebel troops. "All the big fighting has taken place in the Northern States. I made plans to capture Mil Paso, wh-ch is some way over the border, and. I took 200 men with. nle. They were rather a queer crowd, and half of them were Texans. But they were quite willing to follow anyone who they thought kuev.' anything about fighting. Wo took place pretty, easily—for the Fede- < rals didn't put up much of a show—oll December 14.

"After that I left, the town to do a bit of scouting 011 my account. And when I was asleep one morning I was surrounded and captured. I hadn't as much as a pocket-knife on me, for my horse and gear were some distance away. They decided to send me off to Mexico City to stand my trial. As a rule the Federal troops, who are recruited from the gaols, don't take prisoners, or if they do they shoot them as soon as possible. Probably I owe my escape to the fact that I wasn't armed, and after they had got me I made myself as pleasant as possible. "Of course I was looking for an opportunity to escape, and 1 got it two days later. They had put me 011 my pony, and in place of stirrup irons had tied my ankles together under the pony. Then they went to finish their coffee before saddling their horses. They were ahout 20 yards away when I saw my opportunity, and dug my heels into the pony and smac-ked her 011 the nose. I had a couple of hundred yards' start before they got to their rifles. -"They are armed with obsolete rifles, and their shooting is very poor, and it is the hardest tiring ill tin l world to hit- a man 011 horseback. I was a mile away' before they were mounted, and I saw nothing more of thern. I managed to slip over the pony's head and undo the cord round my legs, and with this I made a kind of bridle. "I suppose I was about 70 miles from the border, but by means of 'borrowing" horses when- I wanted them I had no difficulty in covering the distance. 1 had had enough Mexico, for the present, at any rate. So I beat it down to New Orleans, and then across to Cuba, and back to New York. "Nothing is going to happen in Mexico while President Diaz is alive,' said Mr Fritzartha, "but when he dies, then vou can look out for trouble. The rebels are getting a force together by degrees. When I came away they had the beginnings of a fine squad—3o or 40 strong, all picked men —at EI Paso, and there is no lack of money to finance the rebellion. But they are only on the fringe of it yet, and there will be no serious fighting for another 18 months or two years." » ;