Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-08
PASCUAL OROZCO's sTRATAGEM.


PASCUAL OROZCO'S STRATAGEM.
Pascua orozco was mule driver bandit leader
81 Hiadero's rebellion, then leader Of the rebellion
against Madero and then a Federal general, and
now to fll out career typicalIy Mexican, he is
ueao Killed fighting I'll tell you how Orozco orig.
mated method of siIencing machne-gun fire that
mas been used with remarkable effect In the recent
bloody battles in Chihuahua.
OFozco, in his frequent skirmishes with did Por
nrlo Diaz's blue-cIad FederaIs, two years auo in.
Variaby found that the enemys machine guns were
the most formidable part of the opposing equip
ment Consequently they most productive of
fatalities among his men. His sturdy mountaineers
TO whom the rifles crack meant no more than the
pop OF cork along Broadway to a New
Yorker nevertheless shuddered when the machine
guns ataccato Whirr broke out the battle line.
Shielded by rocks or brush scion of one of Mex
ZOOS old aristocratic families of which there were
many in Don Portirio's army, could sit perched up
behind the sights of his threehundre d. a-n1inute
Maxim and with an accuracy gained at Tlapam
Military School, carefully and precisely NOW down
orozcos simple steeple-hatted patriots by the dozen
or the score or as many as happened to be with
out shelter at the time.
This was dlsconcerting, If not highly disastrous,
to the of freedom.
So Pascual Orozco, former mule driver set him
self to THINK, characteristic that explains why
he became general, and If death had not come
along might have been one Mexican President.
The ordinary machine gun is mounted on three
legs. and is directed by an operator, who sits
little seat like bicycle seat, attached to the rear
most leg. Here, while assistant feeds the cart
ridge belts from the boxes at his side, he swings
the gun up or down sideWse on Its swivel, sweep
ing his front with vertabie hail of steel missiles
His control of the weapon Is deadly Should he
concentrate on group of men, for instance, he
could NOW them down literally as reaper does
grain. Opposed to trench, he can direct his fire
along the top of 1t. At such tmes-wlth the bullets
knocking up .he sand In spurts as q passing Sum-
mer shower disturbs the dust of the street.-the
mere popping up of ones head to look is invariably
fatal. And any attempt at returning the fire is
manifesty impossible. Indeed, so accurate these
weapons In the hands Of a skilled operator, that
during Maderos rebellion there tradition
among the more ignorant insurrectos that the Fed
eral machine gunners were able to cut grass with
them.
1t be that Pascual Orozco, to use
phrase of the day, chad his work cut out for him"
But as happened, the tall straight, grave-faced
mule driver was of those who believe that moth
ing is impossible until it has been proved So
The solution came to him. 1t was plan SO sim
pie, so easy to operate, and so effective in sencing
the deadly rapid-frers that other rebel leaders
doubtless said to themselves when they heard of Il:
q" wonder never thought of that before!"
Orozcos plan was this: He had his men dig shall
low trenches or rifle pits quarter of mile or so
in length. Then he stationed his best marksmen
the ends of this protection In front of the
position he intended to defend. He filled the trench
with his men, stationed two or three yards apart,
and at the ends of the trench he posted his best
nnarksm or If he had It, machine uun
When the Federas confidently opened fire with
their machine gun, at the range of thousand
machine-gun operator located the range. Then the
rebels in the trench ducked below the surface. Con-
sequenty the bullets of the machine gun kicked
the dust harmessly above their heads. AS
as the storm had passed end of the trench,
however, the In that section Of the trench
raised up quickly and shot at the machinegun oper
ator And when the Federal turned his fire back
on these annoying snlpers, the insurreetos in the
other end of the trench popped up and shot at hin,
in turn.
And so, no matter how brave and skiIIfuI the
earnestly
endeavored to silence the rebel fire, from part
nue-drivers keen-eyed mountaineers were squint-
ing at him the sights of their long-barreIed
Mausers and searching him out behind his steel
shield or breastwork of rocks with their unerring
aim.
OF course under these conditions, there could be
but one result to the conflict The press dispatches
usually qave It this way: "And after two or three
hours of fighting the Federal machine guns were
silenced their operators being either killed or
wounded"
So much for OrOzcO, the mule driver, who be
came a general because he used his brain, an
who lost his life because he could not resist tn
temptation to get out in the thickest OF 1t an
fight.
His friends on one occasion came back, a
Mr.. Mullins relates, FLUSHED with victory an
bringing with them eighteen machine gun
taken from the enemy"
There was nothing complicated in what h
did. o, -, ,,,e NE
FENSE. He kept one end of his fighting ma
chine ready for attack, while the other end wa
,,ndar fire. And the Maxim guns were silencet
First ii is interesting to think that in thi
wear Of civilization men in tens of thousand
are lying in bitches, behind rocks and trees