Perth Amboy evening news., 1914-04-04
Dead Piled High in Torreon.


Torreon, Mexico, April 4. - Peace
reigns in the midst of the wreckage OF
war in this captured stronghold of
Huerta's northern army, and General
villa is Issuing his orders from this
city.
After almost twelve days Of fighting,
engagements and one pitched battle
with only n single reverse, he has all
northern Me:sico at his mercy. or to
the eastward Generals Herrera and
Ortega are chasing the remnants of
the federal troops who escaped from
the doomed city and are trying des
perately to reach Monterey, 200 miles
distant Other commanders are press
ing hotly on the demoraliZed forces
which attempted to re-enforce the city
Villa himself, showing his mixed blood
in his smiles and his loosened cartridge
bet, sits back in his chair and waits
for reports while he watches the blue
denim clad regular soldiers of Mexico
pile dead bodies high in the streets to
be saturated with petroleum and burn
ed. He knows only regular soldiers
among all those captured are alive.
Those who fought with the irregular
troops at Pascual Oro2co and Ynez
Saazar, the men against whom he has
blood feud, are among those whose
bodies lie In the streets while he die
q ~ t11tn fnY nd
triumph to General Venustiano Car
rama, his titular chief at Jnarez He
has no worry over Monterey, third
largest city OF the republic, or over
SaltiIlo. They will fall into his out
stretched hands whenever he extends
them.
Greatest Battle of Revolution.
The history Of Mexico contains no
record of harder more desperate fight
ing than that which ended in the fan
Of Torreon. Every tradition of Mex
lean warfare was violated in the cam
paign. Mexican soldiers, repulsed in
one charge by the devastations of ma
chine guns, repeated at once. and they
fought at night, which was without
precedent. From the day the advance
guard went into Bermejillo. now
twelve days Ggo, until the remnants
of VelascO's command stole from the
city in dust storm there was every
sort of fighting known, long distance
artillery fighting. machine gun sorties
In automobiles, cavalry charges. in
fantry charges and sharpshooting
hand to hand combats in streets, snip
ing from roofs, hand grenades from
windows. but always steady, inexor
able advance toward the goal.
Villa may have had 10000 men
against 5000 of the federals, but STRAIT
egically he was always at a disadvan
tage. His men charged over level
ground broken by irrigation ditches
against artillery behind ramparts; his
cavalry went against infantry and ar
tillery intrenched on mountain sides
Until his men under General Herrera
on Sunday crept under the cover of the
adobe huts in Torreon they had fought
morning, noon and night in the open
but they always fought. The history of
that six days fighting in the city where
one side 7as lodged on one side of n
street and the other side on the other
has few counterparts in the history OF
the world
The losses cannot be told tonight
Villa says that he has at least 500 men
killed and at least 1900 wounded.
Those figures are not official, and the
truth may never be known. 1t has
been said that 1000 federals are lying
dead in the streets OF Torreon now
or in the wells and cisterns where
their bodies were thrown, while $500
are wounded. The truth of this cannot
be vouched for