FIGHT BETWEEN REGULARS AND INSURGENTS.
"This is the place," said he, as they reached the deep barranca of Malpais. "The railway was opened on the 18th of June, 1881, and there was an excursion from the city, with a grand banquet at Cuautla. President Diaz and nearly all the notable men of Mexico were on the excursion and banqueting party; in fact there was hardly any government left in the capital on that day. The banquet was given in an old convent, which had been converted into a railway-station, and a very good station it makes.
"There was a regiment of soldiers at Cuautla at the time, and just six days after the excursion and the opening of the line it was ordered to the city. The soldiers were placed on platform cars, and several other cars loaded with barrels of aguardiente were attached to the train.
RAILWAY CROSSING A BARRANCA.
"It was dusk when the train started, and the night came on very dark and rainy. The soldiers broke open some of the barrels of the fiery liquid, and drank heavily to keep out the effects of the rain. The foundations of the bridge at this barranca had been badly built, and were made unsafe by a flood; when the train came along, the bridge gave way and the cars were thrown into the abyss. The barrels of aguardiente took fire, the cartridges in the belts of the soldiers exploded, the men who were not killed outright or stunned by the fall were crazy with drink and excitement, and shot and stabbed each other; many were swept away by the torrent, and altogether the accident was the most horrible ever known upon a railway, so far as I have read or heard. More than three hundred lives were lost, and many persons think the real number was not much below five hundred."
A PRODUCT OF CUAUTLA.