The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-06-29
GENERAL VILLA
HIS
CAN NEARBY AT THE KILL
ING OF BENTON.

Aberdeen, June 29.-William Pow
ell, one of the nine America machine
gun operators with Gen. Villas army
in Mexico, is in the city to take a
position here with the Milwaukee
road as switchman. Mr.. Powell was
nearby at the time of the killing of
Benton on February IT, and states
that Benton was stabbed by Villas
guards, but that If he had not been
that he would have been shot on leav-
ing the palace by Powell, Mcdonald
and the other Americans, who were
on the tops of adobe houses around
the palace with their Winchesters in
case the guards did not get the Eng
lishman.
Powell states that Benton was a
large man and a regular bulldozing
bully who got all of his land in Chi
huahua by taking it away from the
poems and then turning around and
hiring them to work for him at a
mere ~pittance per month. 1t is
claimed that a man can start from
| chihuahua and ride south on horse
back for four days without getting
off from the land formerly owned by
| Benton.
"Benton's last trip to Juarez was
his fifth visit" said Powell. Every
| time he went to Gen. Villa he would
stir up the whole headquarters staff
so hat there was no harmony among
them for a week after. He would
threaten and try to bluff Villa to get
out of the territory, and throw every
body into a horrible temper for the
rest of the day.
ION February IT he came to the
palace again. Mcdonald and | made
up our minds that that would be his
last visit there. and that If the guards
did not get him we would. Benton
walked back and forth in front of the
palace for nearly an hour before he
was admitted. We waited on the tops
of the houses nearby until We saw
Benton's auto drive away without
him in Ii and then we went owe to
the palace.
II asked one of the guards where
Benton was, and he told me that
there was no use looking for him any
more. l later talked with one of the
generals body guards, and he told
me that Benton entered the presence
of the general with his hat on his
head, an objectionable offense in that
country.
After clustering around a while
Benton ended with the statement: i
own the greater part of chihuahua
district, and | am going down there
and establish myself as governor.
want you and your ID men to stay
out of them, and IL you don't do it
will have the British army over tC
clean you off the map
THAT Is as far as he got. Tbs
the men carrying the body out on
rug.
There was a price on Villas heaC
of ~$150,000 at that time. the none!
lying in a bank at Ell Paso for tn,
man who would pull the trick. Thii
and the fear that a man with Ben
tons wealth and disposition coult
l easily organize an army of 5000 O
10000 poems and attack us in tn,
rear on our march. were attendan
. circumstances which prompted hi
4 death.
Benton got just what he deserved
III any millionaire in the United
s States who owned practically all o
the land in one of the states shoult
r go TO President Wilson in time o
' war and talk like Benton did to viii;
| he would have been dealt with al
| Benton was"
j Powell has some very interesting
t facts to relate in connection with the
many engagements he was in, tn,
true character of Gen. villa, whom
he greatly admires. the constitution
alist army and Mexico in general.
, THE world at large does not un
derstand Villa or his motives" Wen
on the speaker. villa is a pool
Mexican peon without education anC
can neither read nor write. 1t is al
poppycock about his being a former
American soldier. is he was only in
this country on two occasions, anC
can neither speak nor understand
English outside of a few scattering
phrases. Despite his lack of educa.
ton, he is a great leader, and is be
loved by every man who ever served
with him. This popularity is showr
by the way the people at Juarez eel
ebrated the capture of Zacatecas or
"Wednesday of last week. Villa:
heart is rs big as his body, and he
is out TO establish a government that
will stand by the following plat.
form. which is the slogan of the con.
Istitutionalist army:
No liquor to be manufactured oil
sold in Mexico
"'All churches, regardless of de,
| nomination, can enter Mexico If they
will establish free schools which will
! be maintained by the government
Equal rights for all. Liberty
justice and peace
For 400 years Mexico has beer
ruled by IN church, the policy o.
? which has been to keep the poor HON
bres in ignorance. Villas watchwort
is for free schools for the education
of the masses of the common people
He does not expect that this can b,
done In the present generation, blu