It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
Sabino Osuna’s, “Felicistas in the YMCA,” ca. 1910-1914, photograph, courtesy of Sweeney Art Gallery and Special Collections Library, University of California, Riverside. Click to big up
Note the German-made Modelo 1895/02 “small ring” Mauser rifles with 5-round stripper clips and French-made Hotchkiss Portative light machine guns. Both were in 7x57mm.
The 1895s, made by DWM, were what many consider the finest Mauser action ever designed and are prized for custom rifle production. It should be noted that they still appear from time to time in the Mexican countryside in the hands of rural forces and hundreds are still probably in the holes they disappeared in to across Durango and Chihuahua.
The Felicistas, by name supporters of Félix Díaz, nephew of former president Porfirio Diaz, opposed the Madero and Carranza governments in Mexican rebellions between 1913 and 1920. They were a relatively minor and ineffective counterrevolutionary force, but they will live on due to images such as the above.
Some 427 glass negatives of Sabino Osuna’s documentary photographs of the Mexican Revolution are contained in the Sweeney collection, part of which, including the above image, are on tour.
