Free Republic

Full Title: Texas lawmaker dropped a sealed envelope at the airport. It was filled with four bags of cocaine, police say. A stray envelope may end the political career of Texas state Rep. Poncho Nevárez. As the Democratic lawmaker, 47, was leaving an airport in Austin earlier this year, he dropped an envelope bearing his official letterhead, police said, citing surveillance video. Inside, investigators now say they found a revelation that would lead to an apology, a decision not to seek reelection — as of Thursday afternoon — and a warrant for his arrest: The sealed envelope, they said in...

WORCESTER, Mass., May 5 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts man who was drinking during a Saturday afternoon pub crawl in Boston was allegedly found “surfing” on top of an MBTA commuter train while wearing a sombrero and poncho that night. The train's engineer stopped the train between Southborough and Ashland after being told someone was on top of the train while it was traveling 40 mph.

FREDERICKSBURG — Pancho Villa's death mask, featuring the famous Mexican outlaw's prominent mustache and eyebrows, sold at auction Sunday for $17,000. The mask was sold to a private collector who wished to remain anonymous, said Scott Franks, owner of Waco-based A&S Antique Auction Co., which held the auction. The mask was among hundreds of eclectic items from the collections of Charles Trois, an eccentric retired artist who built a European-style village across from Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg. The Villa death mask is said to have been made the day after his assassination in 1923. Villa, born Jose Doroteo Arango Arambula,...

Pancho Villa Used Marketing Savvy to Sell Himself to the U.S. Way Before Reality TV Long before MTV's "The Real World" set off the modern reality television craze, Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa fought battles with an American camera crew in tow, in 1914. He hoped his $25,000 deal with the Mutual Film Company of New York would get him good publicity in the United States and money to buy arms and supplies for his Northern Army to continue his fight against nationalist Huerta forces. The exclusive battlefield footage created the first U.S. newsreel, but like most reality shows, all was...