1916] War Fury 



During the day I was occupied with a constant 

 stream of correspondents wanting to secure my point 

 of view, and the two local journals treated me fairly, 

 with a single exception on the part of the Times. 

 But both papers were hot for war, looking forward to 

 intervention to end bandit invasions, riot, robbery, 

 and murder, and thus make the border safe and 

 business in the interior once more as profitable as 

 in the palmy days of Diaz. 



The populace was, however, less considerate than Populace 

 the reporters, most of whom were far from sympathiz- 

 ing with "the human vultures," to borrow a phrase 

 from General Funston. I received a few insulting 

 and threatening messages over the telephone, and I 

 learned that it had been arranged to greet Bryan with 

 rotten eggs, had he appeared, because while Secre- 

 tary of State he opposed war with Mexico. 



On the first evening, moreover, two gatherings 

 were held to work up a scheme for giving me tar and 

 feathers, and riding me out of town. But Judge Clark 

 took a very, strong stand against such procedure, say- 

 ing that it would disgrace El Paso and make the town 

 a byword throughout the nation. Others also rallied 

 to my support. James P. McNary, whom I had 

 known as a boy in Bloomington, now president of the 

 local First National Bank, was very courteous, and 

 with two friends, members of the Chamber of Com- 

 merce, frequented the lobby of the hotel during my 

 stay. I also learned afterward that he kept a watch- 

 man on guard, both day and night, to prevent the 

 possibility of violence. 



There were a number of loyal Stanford men in 

 town, and Mr. A. J. Robertson, a member of my 

 Botany class at Cornell in 1870, arranged a Cornell- 



C695 3 



