Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-03-25
HOW RYAN CAME
TO HIS Death
FIGHTING
One of His Insurrecto Com
mand Says Impatience and
Desire to Open Battle Has
Caused Massacre of Troops.

lmpaticnco and a dcsirc to force
tho is~u, w,rr responsible Tor the
death of Martin Ryan aud an but
three members eff his little command
OF Is men in Tho fatal battle of CHsas
Grandcs. according go one of Ryan's
soldiers who talked interestingly of
the nght with NJ. y Ross iu III paso
the other daN.
"Thr insurrccto general communal
ing the forces about Cusas Graudcs
divided his command. according go
Walter smith. one of Ryans soldiers
said Mr. Ross. "Forty-oight Amer
lean rcvoltus were placed under
Hyan's command aud Ryan was or.
dcrcd To- take them to on, side ui
Casns Graud's and await orders To- at
tack the town. simultaneously With
the other insurrcctus.
Ryan made caml. on n Hill and
waited for a day The general conn
manding wan awaiting achievements
but Ryan did not understand tn
cause for such delay IT, ordered his
men tu assemble ard told them that
there were enough 10 hIs command to
take Casas Grandcs ana drive IN" ted
erals out into the open where the
other insurrcctos would hay, to FIGHT
them The men Wcr, anxious To- open
the light. So they followed RYAN IN a
fast march uu the town Yelling and
firing until thcir guns became hot,
Ryan and his dur,d,Nl Americans
charged into tasaS Graudcs. They
took the town al right but the fcdcr-
ais began pouring out from windows.
duurWaAs. ALLEYS ana streets. They
stood ON the roofs nf IN, adobe hoascs
and poured morcil'ss ilr, into the
RYAN command. FINALLY RYAN aud
his men entered house aud poured
back hot fire from doors aud vim
duVs. They Killed the icdrrals like
rabbits bur the supply of ammunition
was not sufficient and Ryan soon saw
that be could not win the battle in
that manner.
W, might as we'll go ont and die
IN the open. n we can cut our way
through them some of us may get
away hc told his men Thcy dashed
out into the street. firing and clubbing
their rifles Tho fight vas hand to
hand affair Ryan Mas On, of the
FIRST to- gu down, his bod, literally
riddlcd with Mauscr hJllcts. smith
and two other men ran around the
house and got awa,, leaving tho 9TH
crs al the command laying dead upon
tho ground Those who were only
wounded were bsNonctcd. probably by
the f"dorals. The three men Who
escaped made their way 10 the insur-
rooto general. Ills rcinforccmon,s
had come up and nc moved upon tho
town, taking II and driving the fed
erals back. RYAN aud his American
soldiers of fortune lay where they had
fallen in IN, streets Their clothing,
guns ana cartridge bcks had been
taken from them Tho insurrcctus
buried the men with military honors
near tasas Grnndos.
smith said that had Ryan waited
until ordered To- attack the town Casas
Grnndcs would have fallen In a few
minutes The trouble with Ryan was
that n" had "a firm belief that his
littlr command could whip all the fed
erals there were In Chihuahua, smith
says they probably could have done
10 had their ammunition lasted
smith told me" said Mr.. Ross,
that he was going 10 SAN Antonio
Ia Join the regulars in the hopes that
he would be sent into Mexico and
that he would have "a chance To- even
the score with some of the men who
Killed RYAN ana his soldiers.
smith said that Ryan had an irish
brogue. was always playing Jokes and
was popular with his men and the In
surrcctos