The Yaqui (1916)

Col. Martinez, commander of the Mexican troops, is in partnership with Flores, a brutal slave holder, who owns large tracts in the Maguay fields of Yucatan. Flores comes to Martinez and enlists his aid to secure peons to labor in the fields. Army headquarters are in the center of the Yaqui Indians' lands and Tambor is one of the leading spirits among the Indian tribesmen. Col. Hernandez is second in command to Col. Martinez, and both men are in love with Ysobel, daughter of Esteban, a rich land holder. In order to instigate a reason for enslaving the Yaqui Indians. Col. Martinez involves a scheme to insult Tambor's wife. At the feast of Santa Catalina, the Yaqui assemble in the plaza before the church to hold their ceremonies. In the midst of the revelry, Martinez approaches the wife of Tambor and taking her in his arms attempts to kiss her. This action proves an incentive for trouble, which Martinez anticipated, and as the result of the ensuing trouble, Tambor was sentenced by Martinez to die. The younger and able-bodied Yaqui are declared prisoners and are exiled into slavery. Tambor is supposed to have been executed by a man who expresses such hatred towards him, that he wanted to kill Tambor himself. In reality the bullet which struck the Indian on the forehead, was only meant to stun him. Tambor falls into the open grave and his executioner fills in the dirt. Late in the evening, the man who had shot Tambor and buried him, returns to dig the Yaqui out of the grave and revives him. The slaves of Flores are loaded onto cars and sent to Yucatan, but not before Tambor had secreted himself under one of the cars. Upon arriving in Yucatan, Flores entices the wife of Tambor into his home, where in frustrating his assault upon her, stabs herself. Tambor arrives too late to prevent this deed, but gets revenge by drawing the knife from his wife's breast and sinking it into the heart of Flores. Tambor escapes and eventually reaches his tribesmen in Santa Catalina. The suit for the hand of Ysobel progresses. Ysobel loves Lieut. Hernandez, but her parents urge her marriage to the Colonel. Lieut. Hernandez is meanwhile becoming sympathetically inclined toward the Revolutionists and means to overthrow the military rule of Martinez, and to this end the Yaquis join in revolt. The concluding scenes illustrate the sensational battles for supremacy between the Revolutionists and the forces of Martinez. The ultimate result is victory for the Yaquis; Martinez's death at the hands of Tambor in deadly duel, and the marriage of Ysobel to Lieut. Hernandez.