14 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
THE SELF-TORTURERS OF 
BARBAROUS OLD NEW MEXICO. New Mexico has done and is doing 
A Relic of Savagery of the Middle Ages Almost Incredible. 
A Wonderful Fanaticism in our Country To-day. 
[By M. J. Brown, Editor Little Valley (N. Y.) Hub.] 
I see by the newspapers New Mex- 
ico is clamoring for statehood. 
Let me tell you something about 
New Mexico and you judge if the 
territory should be another star to 
our flag. 
Let me tell you some conditions 
and things that you can hardly be- 
lieve exist in our country—tell you 
of the barbarism and savagery back 
in the mountains of northern New 
Mexico that will make you shudder. 
Down in Washington the reason 
for refusing statehood is because 
there is a probability of a couple 
of Democratic senators as a result. 
I hope some of the boys who hold 
our country in their hands may read 
this. They will have real reasons to 
oppose statehood. 
I want to tell you of a state of 
barbarism that exists in the moun- 
tains of northern New Mexico, so 
incredible and so improbable, so cov- 
ered with an ancient fanaticism and 
a more ancient secret organization, 
that you can hardly be blamed if 
you doubt these statements. 
But every word is true, and every 
condition literal. You may see these 
things today as I have seen them. 
Out there in the mountains of Taos 
county, south of Taos and west of 
Espanola, from 30 to 50 miles from 
the railroad, one may see more 
strange sights, and more wonderful 
fanaticism than in the heart of Af- 
rica or India—and practiced by men 
who according to our constitution 
are citizens of our country and 
whose votes counts as much as yours 
or mine. 
In company with a U.S. marshall, 
who was serving juror summons, I 
drove out of Espanola into the 
mountains west—out into a coun- 
try where 97 out of 100 are Mexi- 
cans, where the English language 
is seldom spoken—into a locality of 
Penitentes, Flagellants, self-tortur- 
ers—the most wierd and strange in 
the civilized world. 
The second day out snow began 
to fall in the mountains and soon the 
trails were covered to a depth of 
several inches. All along the way 
IT noticed, at distances of perhaps a 
quarter of a mile, trees covered with 
wooden crosses, nailed on. Some 
would have one or two and others 
a dozen. 
The driver explained to me that 
this road was the favorite route for 
the Penitentes, and these trees. and 
crosses were where they laid down 
their loads when the torture became 
unbearable. 
It was Friday, the day when the 
Mexicans redouble their ghastly tor- 
ture ,that we made the drive, and my 
eyes saw these incredible sights. To 
be sure I did not converse with them 
or witness these horrible rites at 
close range, for as soon as our rig 
would appear, the-Flagellants would 
dump their loads at a tree of crosses, 
and disappear in the woods. 
What are the strange rites? Well, 
thousands of Americans will ask the 
same question, and many will doubt 
the truth of the answer, simply be- 
cause they know so little of our 
country. 
During Lent, or for 33 days, these 
people practice self-torture in com- 
memoration of Christ’s fasting. 
Naked to the waist, barefooted, and 
running over the lava beds, which 
cut like glass, in a blinding snow 
storm, these men run up and down 
the mountain roads to appease the 
wrath of heaven, calling on the peo- 
ple to repent, and proclaiming that 
Christ is to come back, ete. 
They scorge their naked backs 
with quirts made from aloe fiber, pile 
on loads of prickley pear cactus, 
with needles an inch and a half long, 
bundle of cat claw and then wooden 
crosses. With feet cut open from 
lava stones and the blood dripping 
off their heels from their bleeding 
backs, these men earry the loads un- 
til exhausted with pain. Some will 
lie down with their naked bodies on 
beds of cactus, the horrible torture 
of which will make any person shud- 
der who knows what prickley pear 
is. 
I dismounted at one of these trees 
of crosses and saw the load of tor- 
ture which a fanatic had just dump- 
ed on seeing us coming, and the 
snow was covered with the red blood 
of the self-torturer. 
And New Mexico wants statehood! 
The eneyclopedia tells me that 
way back in the Middle Ages nearly 
all of Europe became possessed of the 
strange epidemic of self-whipping, 
and it took centuries for the Catho- 
lic church to eradicate it. From Eu- 
rope it went to Mexico and into New 
Mexieo. The Catholic ehurch in 
everything to stamp out this say- 
agery, but in northern New Mexico it 
still exists in the out-of-the-way 
_mountain sections and hamlets. And 
I was told by an American who lives 
in this locality that in that part of 
Taos county, 97 out of every 100 
Mexicans. were Penitentes, active 
self-torturers, and that it was a very 
dangerous proposition for an outsid- 
er to pry into the matter, and that 
his life would be in grave danger 
should he attempt to photograph 
anything in connection with these re- 
ligious rites. -He said the order dat- 
ed back to 1056, in Italy, and it was 
in a way more secret and fraternal 
than the Masonie order. 
Up until 15 or 20 years ago this 
sect annually crucified, on a wooden 
cross, one of their number, drawn 
by lot, and it took the United States 
troops to put a stop to it. 
And these bands of Penitent 
_Brothers are real and are active in 
their savage rites today in north- 
ern New Mexico. . Don’t take my 
word for it—go and see them. Skip 
a trip to Chautauqua and go down 
in the mountains and mix with a 
people who parallel in self-cruelties 
the Fakers of India. They are there 
and to be seen for the effort and the 
expense. They have their own Peni- 
tente churehes of adobe brick—a 
brotherhood of the middle ages— 
more strange and more wonderful 
than you can comprehend. 
Some time ago I read an article on 
these strange people by 
Lummis, an instance of 20 years ago, 
when he endeavored to write up a 
history of the Penitenties, and to use 
his camera during their exercise. He ~ 
is probably the only man who ever 
snapped a camera on these strange 
rites, and he relates that he made 
the exposures with one quaking 
hand on the camera bulb, a locked 
six-shooter on the camera box, and 
two big peons holding back the mur- 
derous mob. He states that he also 
procured some of the blood stained 
scorges, the price of which was a 
bullet in his throat, and that many 
months thereafter repeated attempts 
were made to assassinate him. 
I was curious to know much of 
these strange people, and used every 
means to gain information. We 
stopped over night with an Ameri- 
ean, who conducted a little store in 
the heart of this Mexican community 
—and by the way the only white 
man in business I ever found in any 
of the Mexican hamlets. The store 
was full of Mexicans and I was busy 
Charles 
Ba en 
