Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-01-20
GEN FRANCISCO VILLA
Mexican Bandit Who May Be Next
President.
LIFE RECORD OF CRUELTY and crime
Even Huerta is a Dove of Peace in
Comparison With the Outlaw Who
Is Now in the saddIe-chanses His
Faction to Suit His Conscience.

Imagine q vicious-faced man Of thir-
ty-fve, very much in need Of a shave;
| a person Of big muscles and swagger-
ing gait, unkempt Of dress and body
and crude Of speech, in every way un-
| attractive and even repulsive-then
You will have picture Of the type to
which belongs Gen. Francisco Villa, or,
as he Is better known in his home
state of Chihuahua, 'Pancho Villa, the
bandit" says a writer in the New
York Times
In the last month the news from
Mexico has been news Of the victories
Of Villa in northern Chihuahua, OF
his capture Of historic old Ciudad
Juarez, the adobe city opposite Ell
Paso; his butchery Of captured Fed
eral troops, and the capture of a
few days ago Of Chihuahua, capital Of
the state Of the same name. Now 1t is
said Villa has determined to keep on
going south, with Mexico City his OBJ
| jective point. II he wins Mexico City
it is as certain as anything can be that
he will demand the reward that every
Mexican conqueror demands and re-
ceives, the presidency Of the republic.
And what a president Villa would
make! Even the thought Of 1t makes
every decent minded man in Mexico
shudder, for Huerta, though cruel and
brutal, is saint compared to the out
law Of the mountains of Chihuahua.
AS has so often been the case in
Mexico's revolution cursed history,
Juarez was the place from which be-
gan the triumphs Of rebel chieftain.
Three weeks ago Ciudad Juarez fell
for the sixth time in less than three
years, and this time it passed to the
tender mercies Of Pancho Villa, upon
whose head Pcrflrio Diaz placed a
price in an effort N bring him to JUS
tice to answer for score Of crimes,
some involving murder. These crimes
were committed in + ering sue
cession in the days " lila was an
out -and-out bandit, b. blowers then
numbering a hundred or more Of the
worst characters to be found in Mex
leo.
When the Madero revolution started
Villa was a hunted man in the fast
ness Of the Chihuahua mountains. His
was the most hated name in that part
of Mexico. Half Indian and half
beast is how an Ell Pasoan once de-
scribed Villa. He Is half Indian, and
whether the other half is beast, let the
record tell. '"
The complete list Of murders the
responsibility for which directly or
directly rests upon the shoulders Of
Villa has never been written. 1t prob
ably never will be. 1t can be stated,
however, that a score Is an estimate so
moderate that it would make any or
binary Chihuahuan laugh. Villa start
ed his killing Of men about nine years
before the fall Of Diaz. They tell a
story in Chihuahua that he killed his
first man because that man had in
suited a woman member Of the Villa
clan. But not many people believe that
yarn for Villa Is not the kind Of man
who kills for matters Of simple honor.
When he fights it Is for reward, and
the reward, IL he can manage 1t, must
be paid in gold, preferably American
gold.
Was Hunted for Ten Years.
Before he became an outlaw Villa
owned a small ranch in Chihuahua
about 200 miles south Of FL Paso, Tex.
AS a ranchman he was failure, and
so in the course of time he became a
bandit. Such he continued to be until
the advent Of Francisco I. Madero, Jr.
At that time Villa was bandit out
law, and the rurales Of Diaz had been
chasing him without success for near
ly ten years. 1t was said that there
was not water hole, nor a trail, nor
cave big enough to hide in throughout
the Businesses of the Chihuahua
mountains that Villa and his men did
not know about. It was an impossible
task to capture him, as Diaz's men
soon found out. But old Porfirio ap-
preciated the menace Of a live Villa,
and so the rurales kept on chasing the
outlaw.
When the ll-clad veterans of Ma
dero switched the war against Diaz
into Chihuahua, Villa came out Of his
retreat and sought an interview with
the rebel leader. Madero was impress
ed with the man, and though appre-
ciating to the full the bandits vicious
nature, he decided that Villa was a
good man to have around, IL for moth
ing else than his hatred Of Diaz. So
Madero took Villa into the insurrecto
army and commissioned him a colonel
That commission made possible the
capture Of Juarez three weeks ago and
the investment Of the city Of Chihua-
hua. Villa, who had left Chihuahua as
a fugitive wanted for murder in the
first degree, because Of that favor OF
Madero was abe, ten years later, to
re-enter it a conqueror
Once in the Madero fold, Villa be-
came one Of the fiercest Of all the Ma
dero subordinates He is Of jealous
IdluTe, anu lie Wdllcu oil Tic 6iOiy loi
himself That was why he soon be-
came the bitter enemy Of Pascal Oroz-
co, another Madero lieutenant, and Of
Garibaldi, the young Italian, whose
ability as an artilleryman did so much
in the accomplishment Of the Madero
triumph.
In those days Villa was unheard Of
on the American side Of the Rio
Grande. He was just an ordinary
Mexican outlaw, with an unusual
number of murders and robberies to
his credit, and that was all. Under
Madero his fame, If such it may be
called, spread across the border. In
the spring Of 1911, when it was seen
that the days Of Diaz were numbered
and that the triumph Of Madero was
certain, Americans began to hear
about the bandit chief who was fight
| ing with Madero.
In battles fought in and around
Ahumada and Casas Grandees, en-
gagements that preceded the final
and decisive battles that were to COM