The enterprising brigands were not content with robbing people on horseback or in carriages, but occasionally devoted their energies to kidnapping residents and holding them for ransom. As an illustration of their performances Frank made note of the following story:
"One evening while a gentleman was at dinner with his family, in the suburb of Tacuba, a party of brigands appeared and commanded silence on the part of all under pain of death. They harmed no one, and did not rob the house, but they hurried the gentleman into a carriage, and drove away with him. It was naturally supposed that he had been taken to a place of concealment among the foot-hills of the mountains that encircle the valley; but it turned out that his captors drove directly to the city and secreted their victim in the cellar of a house. There he was kept for several days, until the police were so closely on the track of the kidnappers that they fled and left him to make his escape. Subsequently they were captured and executed; but the circumstance was not at all a pleasant one for suburban residents to contemplate."
Fred observed that the Paseo de la Reforma begins at the equestrian statue of Charles IV., very nearly a mile from the Plaza Mayor. It may also be said to begin at the Alameda, a beautiful garden of poplar and other trees, and occupying a historic site. The Alameda includes the ancient Indian market-place and the Plaza del Quemadero, where the victims of the Inquisition were burned to death on a stone platform which was long since removed. Successive viceroys improved it, and within the last few decades it has been planted with flowers and otherwise beautified, so that it is now a very attractive spot.
The statue of Charles IV. is a fine work of art, and notable as the first bronze casting of any magnitude on this side of the Atlantic; Humboldt pronounced it second only to the statue of Marcus Aurelius, and it has received the unstinted praise of many critics who have seen it. It was cast in 1802, and placed upon its pedestal in the following year. During the War for Independence it was, in 1822, covered with a large globe of boards painted blue, and in this condition it remained for two years, when it was taken down and placed in the court-yard of the University. In 1852, when the hostility to the Spaniards had somewhat abated, the statue was restored to its pedestal, and has peacefully rested there ever since. The casting is in a single piece, and weighs thirty tons, and the height of horse and rider is only a few inches less than sixteen feet.
STATUE OF COLUMBUS ON THE PASEO DE LA REFORMA.
From the foot of the statue to the base of Chapultepec is a distance of 3750 yards; the Paseo de la Reforma runs straight as a sunbeam along this measured length, and it has a width, including the sidewalks, of fifty-six yards. At regular distances there are glorietas, circular spaces like the Rond-Point of the Champs-Elysées, in Paris, which are intended for statues of men eminent in the history of Mexico; one of them is already occupied with a statue of Columbus, who is represented drawing away the veil that hides the New World. At the corners of the pedestal are four life-size figures in bronze, and Frank and Fred were pleased to observe that one of them represented the good missionary Las Casas, who labored earnestly for the protection of the Indians. A statue of Guatemozin, the last of the Aztec kings, is destined for the next space, but had not been erected at the time of the visit of our friends; the third space was intended for a statue of Cortez, and the fourth for one of Juarez. The occupants of the other glorietas had not been named, but they will be men famous in the history of Mexico. From present indications Maximilian is not likely to be chosen as one of the heroes to be preserved in bronze. The glorietas are 400 feet in diameter, and surrounded with stone benches for the accommodation of pedestrian visitors.
The Paseo is lined with shade-trees, so that it affords pleasant walks; the centre of the road-way is reserved for people on horseback, while the carriages move along the sides. On pleasant afternoons the vehicles are so numerous that the police have sufficient occupation to keep them in proper line, and the turnout is a fine one in every way. Frank and Fred compared the display one afternoon with that of London, Paris, and New York, under similar circumstances, and after careful consideration they agreed that the Mexican pageant was more attractive than any one of the rest.
"The ground is level, the road finely macadamized, and the way perfectly straight; the horses and carriages are the best that can be procured; the equestrians are splendidly mounted, and their apparel and equipments are picturesque; the ladies are handsomely attired, and many of them have pretty faces; the panorama of hills and mountains loses none of its grandeur, and altogether we are in love with the Paseo de la Reforma."