The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-04-12
With Villa On Into Iorreon'

with sparse scrub. One of the Amer
lean gu..ners told me that the night
had been spent wandering from po-
sition to position. and after the
march of the day both men and ami
mails were exhausted. He had Meth
err food nor water for a long time.
His battery was not In action. The
fire of the batteries was directed
against the cerro de la Pila, for
titled ridge to the west OF Gomez
and commanding It absolutely.
The fire fr m the guns was poor
and bad ammunition made 1t slow.
Soon the federals found the range.
and began dropping shrapnei uncom-
fortably near.
The mules OF the artillery and the
czaissons were withdrawn. man was
hit by Mauser bullet. None. rs
fas as / saw. by shrappel and In a
short time the artillery was moved
to a lesg exposed position. This was
how the artillery was handled as
long as tho fighting continued. "A
few shots would be fred then the
guns moved when the better served
federal cannon found them out.
Throughout the fighting the consti-
nationalist artillery, though outnum-
was almost ludicrously ineffective
The federal fire was better but the
guns were poorly placed, as a. rule
and the Are usually directed TO va
cant places Some $50 or Niiias ar
my were wounded by shrapnel how
ever. and proportionate NUMBER
killed.
The second attack on Gomez was
made as the first had been. at night.
a.
troops. the detachments sent cast
and west having effected juno
ton. and a body under Contreras.
and some of Jrbinos men, having
come in.
The heaviest attack was made on
the left and the outskirts Of the city
| fell to the rebel forces. The firing
| was heavy, the federal volieys being
distinguishable from the constitution
| a1ist individual firing Gomez. pro-
| tected by the cesro de Ia Pila, and
deep irrigation bitches. seemed i'm
! pregnable Had the federals really
! fortified the place 1t might easily
| have proved so. On the Cerro, the
| key to the whole position. the Key
| to Torreon also. the fortifieations
consisted of a few stone breastworks'
able to give protection to compare
lively few men. Many federal dead
I
ed except by the natural roughness
| OF the stony hillside. The foruhca-
| tions on the north and east of the
| city consisted of few ioopholes IN
| the adobe walls of houses, large
| horse corral and line of very sinai
| low rifle pits, spaced far apart. ana
suggesting haste. Yet, the federals
had weeks in which to make prepa-
ration. Yet these fortifications,
(
break through cost him some ooo
| wounded, and almost half as many
killed
! The evacuation came to most as
| surprise / had seen movement
/ OF troops In the center of the CITY
! In the afternoon. and when In the
| evening the first firing brought no an
swer l went to the Curatei general
and asked whether they had heard
vet of the evacuation of Gomez. They
knew nothing about 1t and scoffed at
| the idea Finally a messenger came
| and I was allowed to file my story.
The messenger stated that Torreon
was also evacuated and the censor
| insisted on my incorporating not 1T
! Ia reported" but simply to state the
| facts.
| II took almost two hours to get the
story on the wire, and there were
! endless tralnps dn the dark from
| Headquarters to the telegraph ofiice
| under a tree, 10 persuade the officials
| that the embargo was lifted. Walk
! ing in the dark was extremely disa-
| greeable, so the sentries insisted on
shouting, "quien vive," stopping me
| In spite If nay saying. "gffHHe~ cores
pondsal." and sometimes holding a
cooked and loaded rifle uncomfortably
near my stomach while L explained
that I was In hurry.
! After Gomez Palacio fell there
was no visible enthusiasm among the
troops Villas worried look passed
away and he became boyishly genial
| again. The only enthusiasm | saw
| In all the campaign was in the cura-
| tel general car when the news or
the fight from the federal side was
brought in. A list of two generals
killed and one said to be mortafls
wounded created quite bit OF In
terest, and when the death of TENT
| ente Cornell Huerta. said to be
son of the usurper, was announced.
| the officers could fairly be said to be
| enthusiastic. Hatred and love of the
| warpath are the common emotions
in the army.
| The battles at Torreon were prac-
| tically duplicates of those Of Gomez
Palacio. The left center and right
| attacked ana Stroye hy Sneer WelEHt
| TO beat down the federal defenses.
In the first attack a Judgement in the
| town was affected by the extreme
left, and from their positions the
TROOPS were driven The right actu-
ally captured and for short time,
the constitutionalists held Calabasas
mountain, which meant mastery of
the city. and should have been an
llmpregnable fortress. They were not
reinforced and abandoned the place.
Their advance up the mountain could
be told by the incandescent sparks
Of rifle fire coming close to the crest.
while the Canton de la Guarache re-
verberated with the sound OF cannon
shot and passing shell
The positions that the constitu-
tionalists took were only less sur
prising than their abandonment OF
them In the second attack little
tnroguees was made on the rfght.
but both center and left fought their
way TO the middle early, and the ad-
vance OF Villas forces was checked
only about $50 yards from the feder-
al Headquarters. For the first time
the constitutionalist artillery sneIled
the city and was used at night As
examination showed subsequently lit
tie damage was done. The consti-
| ha tfHht mis- M