"Which Ever Side Does Right"

Things were not always fun and games at the Kennedy ranch during the Carranza Revolution. About 1920 the Revolutionaries themselves were beginning to fight among them selves in factions. Huerta’s supporters were skirmishing with loyal Carranza supporters and things were unraveling.

Carranza had been recognized as President of Mexico since 1916. “Although his intentions were good, Carranza was not able to stay in power long enough to enforce many of the reforms in the Constitution of 1917. There was greater decentralization of power because of his weakness. He had appointed General Obregón as Minister of War and of the Navy. In 1920, Obregón with other leading generals Plutarco Elías Calles and Adolfo de la Huerta led a revolt against Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta. Their forces assassinated Carranza on May 21, 1920.”

One day Rollie was riding the ranch and as he ambled along his way he looked up and saw a sizeable group of Mexican “warristas “as grandma called them riding toward him.  The leader of the group pulled along side him and greeted him in Spanish.  Grandpa greeted him in return and sat back in the saddle knowing full well what was on the man’s mind. These men were scavengers of the revolution looking for supplies for the army. They had a simple tactic to get those supplies. They would ask for your willing support and then ask you to donate saddles, blankets, bridles, guns any provisions they deemed useful. If you refused they would simply shoot you and take what they wanted anyway.  Grandmother told a story about an incident that took place during this same time of a neighboring rancher, an old gentleman who owned a sizeable place that was anticipating the arrival of these warristas.  He knew that when they came that they would clean him out of everything of value so he simply dug a big hole in the ground in the brush behind his barns and wrapped his saddles in their blankets and buried the lot of it in the hole.  In short order the warristas arrived and asked their customary donation of supplies from him. He insisted that he had nothing of value and declined to offer anything to them.  The warristas of coarse did not believe him and decided that he needed a little persuasion to remind him of his loyalty to the revolution.  They put him on a horse, threw a rope over a tree and threatened to hang him if he didn’t reveal what he had done with his tack. The old man was resolute and refused to speak preferring to die rather than to turn over the tack to these bandits.  The old man had a young son that could not stand to see them hang his father so he ran up to the leader and begged for his father’s life. “ I know where the tack is.  I will show you if you please just don’t hang my father.  He is an old man what value is it to you to hang him? He said.  The leader of the warristas agreed and added that if he tried any deception, if he held anything back that he would have his father hanged immediately.  The young boy agreed and led the men out to the place where his father had buried the supplies.  Fortunately the leader of the band was true to his word.  When they had recovered the buried treasure and scavenged the barns and house of everything of value they released the old man and warned him sternly that if he ever again withheld anything from the Presidente’s soldiers he would find the rope unmerciful the next time.

I’m sure this incident was fresh on Rollie’s mind as he casually conversed with this man who began turning the conversation around to probe grandpa’s views of the war. Sometime during the conversation the man asked grandpa point blank about which side he was on and where his loyalties would lie.  Grandpa not wanting to get backed into a corner he couldn’t retreat from simply answered. “ Which ever side does right I suppose.”  Sizing up grandpa’s answer the fellow smiled and informed grandpa that he would be along soon to the ranch house and that he would like to enjoy the hospitality of the rancho for a few days.  Grandpa tipped his hat, spurred his horse and headed back to the ranch.  Rollie knew that he was in a precarious position.  If he refused hospitality and held back supplies to these men then they would surely take whatever they wanted any way and probably kill him and perhaps Pearl and baby Helen as well.  He decided the better part of valor was to just play along and allow them to take what they needed in hopes they would just move along.  That is pretty much the way it played out.  True to his word the warristas showed up the next morning.  They camped there on the ranch for a day or so, cutting out some beeves for food, and going over the barns and ranch house with a fine tooth comb taking everything they thought was of value to them.  They did not harm grandma Pearl at all but were focused far more on the saddles and bridles than anything else.  After some time the men went their way and rode off into the countryside with their loot.  Grandpa now had a problem.  He couldn’t run the ranch without the things they had taken and so he had to go to Eagle Pass to get to a phone to try to call Mr. Kennedy to inform him of what had happened.  Finally getting Mr. Kennedy on the line Rollie told him what he had done and asked what he wanted him to do.  Kennedy told grandpa, don’t worry about it Rollie there was nothing else that could have been done.  Just go into the city and buy anything that you need to replace what was lost and sign for it and that he would make good on the bill.  Grandpa did as he was told and soon they were back in business on the ranch.  Not long after that incident grandmother told me that she and grandpa were sitting on the front porch of the ranch in the evening.  In the distance they could hear canon fire and rifles shots.  It was a good distance off but they knew that there was war all around them.  Rollie looked over to her and asked, “Pearl what do you think, are you scared, do you want to get out of here?” She said she just looked at him and said, “I think it’s time we get home. “ That night they loaded everything they owned in an old beat up car and headed out for the boarder.  They went back to the ranch in Sabinal and thus ended their adventure living in the midst of the Mexican Revolution.

The Resurrection

   A few years after they married , sometime in the early 1920’s, grandpa Rollie  was offered an opportunity to be a foreman for a large ranch over the border in Mexico.  Mr. Kennedy who was a neighboring rancher owned large land holdings on both sides of the border.  He offered Grandpa the opportunity to run one of his ranches about 80 miles over the border from Eagle Pass not far from a little town called Rosita.   Grandpa took up the offer and  they moved to Mexico .  Those days were treacherous days on the Mexican border.  Revolution had plagued the land since 1908 and Carranza and Zapata were battling for power along with Pancho Villa.  Bandits and gunrunners abounded in that country in those days but in spite of it all Grandpa was not going to be put off by a little Revolution.  Rollie spoke fluent Spanish and he had a large cadre of Mexican cowboys to work the stock.  One day he was riding the ranch with a dog trotting along side next to the horse, when suddenly the dog perked up and took out after a type of wildcat the Mexicans called a Tigeria.  The dog soon treed the cat and grandpa rode up and pulled his pistol and shot the cat right out of the tree.  He picked up the cat and slung him over the saddle horn and turned the horse to home, back to the ranch house.  Grandpa figured that an old couple that lived in a little jacal on the ranch might like to eat that old cat and so he rode up to the little mud hut and called out to the house.  The old woman walked out of the front door and greeted grandpa. Grandpa just asked her if she would like to have the tigeria and upon getting a hearty “si si,  senior”, he threw the cat down at the doorstep and then sat back in the saddle and began striking up a conversation with the lady. After a moment or two to the amazement of them both the old cat suddenly stood up, took one look at the two very surprised onlookers and immediately bolted into the little jacal hut running madly around the walls wailing and screaming like a banshee. The old woman got very excited, took up her broom and went in after the old cat doing plenty of screaming and howling herself as she tried to chase the frightened cat out of the house. Finally after tearing up the house the old cat found the door just in time to come muzzle to muzzle with grandpas old dog and then the chase really began. The old dog ran the cat up a tree in no time and this time grandpa rode up and dispatched the cat soundly with a shot from his pistol. That old cat caused quite a lot of excitement all right but grandpa always mused over what would have been the excitement if that old cat had come alive while he was draped over his saddle horn. I’m sure it would have been a lively resurrection.