El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-04-07
FIGHTING At
THE HOME OF
PANGHO MADER0
Federal Volunteers Hold 1t
as Fort-A Hot Battle
East Of TorreOn.
BY EDWARD EMERSON.

runner arrived at Villas field head
quarters in the suburbs Of TOrreOn
with the information that a large force
OF federals were advancing along the
unbroken railroad line from the east,
where lay SaldnO, San Pedro and
Rancho Bueuo Vista. The relief col
umn was made up Of six tratnlOads
of federals, including 25UO infantry of
the regular army, 500 mounted rurales,
one battery of four three-inch
Schenider- Canet field artillery and
battery Of four HOWitZer and six rapid
fire machine guns. Two ammunition
trains followed the troop caravan, ali
in command OF Gen. Emilio Campo,
the boyish looking federal Irregular
who led OrOZcOs troops at Parral
when villa defeated and drove them
A stop at 1IaderO's Home.
A brief encampment was made at
Ciudad san Pedro, the ancestral home Of
Francisco J. MaderOs the dreamer who
became president While encamped
there to water the animals and give
the men a brief rest before pressing on
toward TOrreon, a "COnstitutiOnalist'
column of 500 well mounted men under
Col. ToribiO Sanchez succeeded in dy-
namiting the big steel bridge over the
San Pedro river. They were engaged
by the federal flankers and were driven
back but not until after their work
was completed They drew the feder-
ais out and continued to burn and dy-
ward Torreon.
ReinfOrcements Are Sent.
When the indian arrived with the re.
port of this engagement, was on the
firing line with Villa and Gen. Felipe
Angeles the artillery commander. They
conferred a minute and dispatched two
brigades Of 1000 cavalry from the re-
serve corps in command Of Gen. RO-
saliO Hernandez and TOribiO Ortega
They were ordered to stop the enemy
before they advanced further towards
Torreon at whatever cost Of men and
elements. I went with Ortega, having
been given a horse by Villa when 1 ex-
pressed my desire to see some of the
fighting to the east. The Ortega bril-
gade, to which I was assigned, carried
a section of three mounted Colt ma
chine guns, in charge of American ad-
-VenturerS who were so begrimed by the
10 days Of fighting and covered with
the mud and slime of the Nazas low
lands that they could hardly be de-
tected from the MeXicanS except fOf
their rough sweaters which they wore
in place of coats. One was Greg Ley
va, an American indian, who was for
merly a football halfback at Carlisle
indian school at Carlisle, Pa, and who
scored on Yale when he was in col
lege. Another was long Tom Gildart,
graduate of the louisiana university,
and a third was Jack Kinney, a Cali
part with his high heeled boots and
inevitable cigaret
Riding Into Battle.
Leaving the long, crooked firing
line which marked the rebel positions
in TOrreOu, we rode at a raclzing gall
Top on the desert until dark, reaching
Sacramento, on a branch of the Inter-
national railroad running to Tlahua-
lllO, where the foreigners were to have
been segregated during the battle of
Iorreon This was approximately
half way to San Pedro, across the des-
ert waste and we made another day
Of the hardest kind Of riding.
me rebel trumpeter who rode along
side Of Gen. Ortega kept blowing the
advance all the way and the men rode
So hard that many of their horses
were killed under them and they had
to renount fresh ones and ride even
harder to regain their positions in the
ranks. We reached La COncordia, a
village settlement six miles west OF
San Pedro, where the troops met Tor
lbiO Sanchez's brave little band Of 500
which had been harrassing the enemy
like hornets These scouts were dec
mated and completely exhausted
their ammunition was exhausted and
would no doubt have persisted had the
achievements not arrived when they
did They were still holding the
enemy from advancing further toward
Torreon and their work was accom-
plished.
The Engagement Opens.
The next morning the combined
forces of Ortega and Sanchez formed
IN open skirmish order for the battle
and the engagement started. Ortega's
brigade was on the right, the machine
gun section in command of the cow
puncher, the indian and the college
graduate, was in the center and Brig
ada hernandez was on the left with
SancheZ's exhausted fighters held in
the rear as reserves.
The federals were entrenched IN the
irrigation bitches which watered San
Pedro's irrigated fields and vineyards
This was mile west of the town
proper The battle started at 10 o'clock
with ROSal1O Hernandez'S column
leading the attack in a thanking eff
fort The federals sent out 200 ru-
rales to attempt a counter thanking
movement. The machine guns ratified
and swung around TO catch the rurales
bI oadside and many dropped from
their saddles or fell with their horses |
a great cloud Of desert dust envelOped
the remaining ruraIes and permitted
tnem 10 strike the main battle line of
the rebels on the left flank before
they were seen plainly or could be
ilred at with any degree of accurate
shooting.
Hand to Hand Battling.
When the pail of yellow dust finally
lifted, the battle was being fought at
close contact and hand to hand. Mach
eteS, SaberS and revOlvers were being
used to carry on the conflict hand
grenades adding to the confusion. The
colonel commanding the rurales was
killed IN an engagement with one of
hernandez men and his trumpteT was
killed at his side while blowing a..
charge. The "Constitutionalists" lost
eight men, including a major in Her
nandezs brigade and one lieutenant.
Two wounded rurales were captured
and held while the center column pur-
sued the remaining rurales to the fed
eral trenches.
The the rebel right wing in COM
mand Of TOribio Orteea circled and
swept down on the federal entrench-
ments The action then became gem
eral and the machine guns were
brought up and used with good effect
in dislodging the federals from the
trenches or keeping them down so low
that they could not shoot accurately.
StOrminE MaderO's Home.
At noon the Constitutionalists stormeu
the ranch houses Of the Buena Vista rancn.
which 81 the property Of the late president
Madero, and is located half mile north
of San Pedro. After driving the tedera!s
out Of these houses, Ortega established nus
battle base there and with his staff directed
the fight from the roof Of the little rancL
church until it became so hot from 1edeI5l
artillery fire that it ha6 to be abandoIe.;
Two officers Of Ortega's command anu i've
soldiers were killed near headquarters D.
fore it was abandoned. There were 1"
wounded there and the country home OF tHe
little dreamer MaderO was converted lhIO d
field hospital.
As there was but one surgeon in the. en-