Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 218, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1913 — ERECTED BY DEVOUT INDIANS [ARTICLE]

ERECTED BY DEVOUT INDIANS

Statue In Village of Jamay, Mexico, Unique Among the Monuments of the World. In the heart of the main plaza of the little Indian village of Jamay, on the shore of Lake Chapala, in the state of Jalisco, Mex., stands a remarkable monument. The pedestal is built of brick and concrete, while the statue of Pope Pius IX., which crowns it is made of concrete. There are two noticeable features about this monument. Firstly, the pope faces in two directions, having no back to his figure; and secondly, the monument, costing something like 15,000 pesos, was erected in fulfillment of a vow made by certain devout Indians of Jamay some 50 years ago, when a terrific pestilence, probably smallpox, carried off more than half the inhabitants of the village. The survivors prqfyed to the saints to avert the pestilence, but apparently without result. They then prayed to the pope at Rome, vowing to build the monument should the curse of the plague be removed. The pestilence disappeared soon after, and the monument, the result of the contribution of some article of jewelry or a day’s labor of every Indian left alive in Jamay, was promptly erected.— Wide World Magazine.