The chief criminals were the Texans,[A] who felt that barbarities committed by the Mexican on their soil during the revolution warranted the crudest retaliation. At Matamoros they had been the fiercest of the volunteers, and now--stationed for a while at the town--they found a still better opportunity.[31.7] Other volunteers aided them. To say nothing of robberies and minor outrages perpetrated "in the broad light of day," it was thought, noted a regular officer in his diary, that not less than one hundred Mexicans were slain in cold blood, and out of about 7000 still in town, 5000, more or less, fled. A citizen cannot take his hat off, wrote a Mexican, without some American's saying, "That is mine"; and if the owner denies it, he gets a bullet. Strict regulations[31.8] were soon framed, however, and under Worth's command the volunteer learned what they meant.[31.10] [Footnote A: These men have to be called Texans because they hailed from that state, but it should be remembered that nearly all of them had come from other parts of the Union.] To a large extent, if we leave the Texans out of the account, the Mexicans themselves were responsible for the worst outrages of Monterey and the vicinity. They sold liquor to the troops persistently, and retaliated indiscriminately for the excesses that resulted. The Americans then took vengeance, and in the end some ghastly deeds on rather a large scale occurred. Singularly enough, too, the punctiliousness of our officers contributed to the same end. They would not convict a Mexican without legal proof of his guilt, and when soldiers saw a man, who was almost certainly the murderer of their comrade, let off because a drove of Mexicans testified to an alibi, they were likely to steal out after him or make some one else pay his forfeit.[31.9] Still, the many injunctions to be fair and kindly toward the people were not without effect. One soldier used to sit cross-legged in the square of Monterey, and play his rickety accordion for the benefit of the populace.[31.10] [AFFAIRS AT SALTILLO] At Saltillo strict police regulations were made. As had now become the general rule, to provide soldiers with intoxicating beverages, except by special permission, was forbidden, and fifty lashes were made the penalty for disobedience. The troops had to seek their quarters at retreat, and the Mexicans go home when the ten o'clock bell rang. But in spite of every precaution the "lawless volunteers," as Worth called them, were guilty of many offences, and--with the perhaps excessive emphasis of a high-minded regular officer--he wrote to his daughter, "The innocent blood that has been basely, cowardly and barbarously shed in cold blood, aside from other and deeper crimes, will appeal to Heaven for, and, I trust, receive, just retribution."[31.12]