El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-03
Mercado Says Paper Insulted Him


agreed gtO issue wales which would
save the critical existing condition
and should avoid greater dangers ana
this action being against the law,
stated that I should assume the re-
spOnsibility therefrom.
The wales were issued and put on
the market and the desired end was
4 reached by means Of their clrculauOn
Z as the Banco MinerO was not bothered
/ any longer and the retail trading was
! made easy. The benefits, if any, were
I not in the least in favor Of the d.
vision under my charge as did not
I receive any sum at all and conse-
I Quenuy the hard condition for the
I army went on as before. The man
/ ager of that bank. Martin FaIomir,
/ VINO is at present there, car. can tell
: az any time whether 1 am telling the
/ truth or not"
/ Says OrOzcO DisObeyed Orders.
The second charge that the paper
! makes against me in the same issue IS
/ still more absurd. as it says that villas
/ through my wrong orders a statement
! that am going to refute, not sophls-
! tically, but by telling plain facts and !
rellerating what stated in my first
When PascuaI Orozco Joined the di-
vision del NOrte and informed the pres !
ldent Of the republic and the secretary J
or war, they ordered that OrOZcO should /
remain in charge of the operations in ]
the southern part of the division, with |
headquarters at JimeneZ, and as Oroz- I
co did not comply with this order, l /
ordered him to 20 to the line OF the I
North Western railroad, stopping at I
san Andres with q view to cOnc1ll0te {
the personal reasons of this general 4
with the necessities of the campaign, !
and also with the intention to inherent /
and beat the outlaw Villa. who had al |
ready left Palomas.
I put under his command for this 7
purpose 1000 men of his own brigade {
and a section of SOmm field guns. Orozco (
altered these orders. though sent 500 !
men instead Of 1000 and did not go him (
SELF but sent In his place cen. Felix /
TerraZas. As it had been fOrseen at /
headquarters, the enemy appeared on
the line Of the North Western, and
when he stopped at Bachimba ordered /
OrozcO. through Jose Maria Ponce de
Leon secretary of the government to
reinforce Gen. TerraZas. and this order
was not complied with by OrOzcO. who I
said that it was not necessary, con-
tending that Gen TerraZas had there
1000 men and excellent positions.
Orders Sent to Terrazas.
When Gen. TerraZas notified the |
headquarters that the enemy had ap- !
peared in San Andres, he was in
structed anew and was informed that
it had already been ordered another
column to join him if needed. Shortly I
afterwards we wished to ascertain his
condition and the arrangements were
made. but it proved to be impossible
as the telegraphic line had been al
ready cut off.
"On this account Gen. ManciIIa was
OLQeIEQ TO proceed naSLllX TO nelD san
Andres with the 800 battalion, a sec
ton Of mountain artillery and machine
guns. 1t took about three hours to get
ready, as it is a difficult task to ar
range a military train and the shipping
Of equipment At 11::30 a. m the
column set out but it had to stop as
they found out that the bridges were
DurnI az SANTA Isabel IN such q con-
dltion, at p m, the column was in
klIOmeter 70, near a large bridge that /
had been dynamited.
nc Lao nd J T
the bridge to be repaired PROMPTLY (
and that Mancilla's men should wait 1
there for another column that I sent !
IN Charge OF Gen. Antonio ROjas which |
Joined the former at o'clock in the I
morning, but two hours before Gen
Terrazas had Joined MancilIa at San
Andres.
Terrazas Is BIamed
Investigations made later by head [
quarters made clear that said Gen Ter
razas had not taken positions in the
heights nor any other military ar
engagements to protect his soldiers
When he appeared before me at head [
quarters, / blamed him strongly by
MS behavior and he excused himself in
a rough manner and explained in his
favor that the total of his men was
only Of 500 instead of 1000, this being ,
confirmed afterwards at headquarters Z
This m1sadventure made it neces- y
sary to form two cavalry columns I'M I
der Gems CaraveO and MancilIa, which ] /
were ordered to pursue Villa. This Z
proved unsuccessful, as Villa frustrated 4
the effort placed himself at the rear of I
the two columns at Bachimba, avoiding :
them hastily, as he had good cavalry 6
/ then reluctantly had to draw out ali
nose men, as the two generals stated =
mat their horses were in a very poor }
condition.
This was what afforded Villas nra-
1onderancy, and so informed the pres-
dent Of the republic and the Secretary, :,
y ) VA, aoylsing them that the outlaw f
lad proceeded to TOrreon, which. if not ]
conveniently fortified, would fan &c II .
happened i, also fOreseeing that he O
would 60 on towards Chihuahua If t
vas necessary to send a column under Z
zen Castro to watch Villa. but fine {
column had to retreat towards Cbibua- il
iuas not being able to fight alone with s
superior enemy and for other res- b
.ons' o. which only the secretary of
var is aware
Says Juarez Was AsIeep.
Chihuahua was attacked and evarv
'ody saw the results The eneroI5,s
'eLsecullon was Immediately arranged
ma II would have been successfuI ss / o.
Ve could have reached them. for thew u
we're fleeing disOrderly and yyi+bo11t
-nlin ulllon towards the north bnf
nelr good luck put in their yvav a
'oal train at Terrazas, which tbe9 q te
.elzed, and using it took bv surnriso
uarez, which was asleep without T1fii tr
qulpment having been conse0uenfIy1
acrltlced almost without figbtiner
Federal Defeat at Mess. ~,
The pursuing column consistir.- oe in
900 men, eight field guns ana %
Machine guns that. is, almost the
Whole division, was routed at RTees
.aVlnS lost the two batteries fbs
. Ie5 part of the machine guns and and pi
Says OrOzeo's Men Not Fighters M
On returning, the aenereis IN
oTmed with the proper official rec
rds that Orozco's men were the first
o commit detection and that If -
impossible to make them fight Tbis wi
Explains the subsequent failures 80 fl
If that can be said in the future iii vii
e UnfOunded and criminal fo, - 81
Ihlnklng- people .scrutinize the facts f.,
HIey WI come to the conclusion that
II military operations carried ~, -
he division del Norte were ordered M
y me and accept the resDoneibiiifU
heTefrom. But, the first and 5irict wa
ullty are those intrusted with - az ~
ulfillment of the orders SbonI5 NJ Al
hese fatalities be attributed +o +tlajr
Notwithstanding, inability ana of iISlr
"Reminiscences O'iI0L 70