Censorship of a 1915 Sonora Letter

[Mike Ludeman]

Farley and Fernando,
Thank you for your inputs.
There was at least one group, I think, based around Orizaba, which prepared paper censor labels with "REVISIDA / POR EL CENSOR" in both red and black ink.  I assume these were by the same group, just printed at different times and perhaps different printers.
I will try and post an example of each.  Images are from my "harvested from eBay" files, as I don't have any of my own material scanned and this is faster.
The original post was from some group in Northern Mexico, along the Arizona/Sonora border, and probably based in Magdalena.  I assume Villa operated in the area, but were there others?
Mike

[Fernando P-M]

The core of the plroblem was the different factions of the revolution that occupied certain regions; thus when mail traveled from territory dominated by one of the leaders into or trough another, they checked mail trough censors for information that might be leaking.
Remember that when Victoriano Huerta was defeated, and after the Aguascalientes Convention, the revolutionary leaders started fighting one another and only three of them survived the fighting to become Presidents; Plutarco Elias Calles, Lazaro Cardenas and Manuel Avila Camacho. The rest killed each other; Villa, Zapata, Carranza, Obregon, etc.

[Farley Katz]

Mike - I don't know anything about this, but I did find a newspaper article from this time period referring to letters marked "Revisada por el censor."  The newspaper was from Veracruz, about as far from Sonora as you can get in Mexico, but perhaps this helps.  As I read it, the article supports the Revolution and complains that the people do not appreciate it.  Here is the relevant paragraph and my preliminary and rough translation:

El Pueblo (Veracruz   Mar. 15, 1915)
On page 3 an article appears, the first paragraph of which refers to the censorship of letters at this time.  Unfortunately the title of this article is cut off, but it is signed by Jorge Useta. 


Uno de los enemigos más poderosos que tiene una Revolución tan transcendental como ésta, es el egoism ambiente.  (Con permiso de la Física, le tomamos el adjetivo.)  Uno de los enemigos más poderosos que estorban incesantemente la acción revoluncionaria, es la exigencia perentoria que la Revolución se le hace por el vulgo, de los frutos de bienstar que la Revolución tiene prometidos.  El vulgo razona así con mucha frequencia: “Tú, Revolución, me ofreces libertad, y me abres las cartas poniéndoles con toda frescura un ‘Revisada por el censor.’  Luego no me das libertad.” …

One of the most powerful enemies a Revolution as momentous as this one has is ambient egoism. (With permission of physics, we take the adjective).  One of the most powerful enemies that incessantly hinders Revolutionary action is the peremptory demand made by the people for the fruits of well-being that the Revolution has promised. The people thus reason with much frequency: “You, Revolution, offer me freedom, and [yet] you open the letters to me, putting [on] them with much cheek ‘Examined by the censor.’ Then you do not give me freedom.” … 

[Mike Ludeman]

With no response in five years, I thought I'd stir the pot a little.
A recent purchase included the cover attached below.  It was mailed from Nogales, SON, with what appears to be a railroad cancel on the stamps.  Addressed to Magdalena, SON, it arrived on JUL 20, 1915 as evidence by the back stamp.
A plain censor tape, with a manuscript "Revisida por el censor" in red ink is attached to the left edge of the cover.
The characteristics are similar to the original cover which was the subject of the original post by Dann Mayo.  I am hoping by now that someone else may have come across another similar cover, and can provide some explanation. 
Who would have been censoring domestic mail in that part of Mexico during the Revolution?  And why?

Mike

[Mike Roberts]

This message was received from Dann Mayo, who is interested in Censorship covers. He has asked me for help and I have nothing for him. Can someone on the forum maybe answer his questions?

Mike
From: Dann Mayo <dannmayo@att.net>
Date: November 28, 2013 9:36:12 PM PST
To: mepsi@ca.rr.com
Subject: Sonora censor(?)

Hi Mike,

It's been awhile -- I  hope you're still at this e-ddress and doing well

I'm attaching scans of a cover from Magdalena, Sonora, with what purports to be a manuscript censor tape.  I'mm curious as to whether MEPSI has any information on  it.   If not, and you want to use it for a query note, that's more than fine by me.

I'm Ccing the editor of  the Civil Censorship Study Group Bulletin on this with a request that he also run a "Does anyone know anything about this" piece.

As nearly as I can tell, the postmark date is 27 ABR 1915.  The year date is  not clean, so I am not sure on the 1915; but I am also not sure that the stamps would have been available in April, 1914.

The main issue for me is whether the censor tape is legitimate.


Dann