Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-04-02

eral Villa was constantly called q
to return the salutes of the wounded.
"VlVA VILLA"
Some were limping. not to the rear,
but to the front to catch up with their
comrades. Some, already placed on
hospital trains, escaped and returned
to their commands.
Others, reganins consciousness as
they We're being borne away in lit
tiers, promptly cursed their would be
rescuers and tumbled out, joining the
scattered procession following in tho
train of the general.
viva Villa! Viva Asadcro! Viva FL
Constitution they cried in cracked
voices from parched throats.
MEN ARE INITIATED
The remarkable endurance of these
poems and their mad obsession to return
to the front greatly impressed the Ameri-
cans in the train of General Villa. There
We're men in that strange procession with
deep gashes across their cheeks men
with great patches of flesh torn from
their backs or thighs. in uniforms
literally soaked in blood with arms and
legs torn and lacerated and blood matted
hair pasted over their eyes.
There was more than patriotism 20
inspire the rebel assaults. for behind them
lay the most cruel desert in Mexico, and
ahead the possessions of the enemy. food
and shelter, and the cooling streams of
the irrigation bitches.
The wounded in the outskirts of the
city we're first to receive assistance but
| the small hospital corps, although work.
ing heroically, was absolutely inadequa c
to the situation The dead who fell
early in the assaults, or had been slain
by federal shells, were the first to he
buried
AT every water car sta ton there were
groups of wounded. In plain sight of the
dying, the dead We're removed and the
bodies dragged into shallow trenches. 1t
will be necessary to incinerate many of
the bodies of those who fell in the streets,
as decomposition sets in rapidly in this
climate, and the business of fighting re-
quires every available man. General
Villa is anxious that the bodies shall be
disposed OF quickly to avoid a possible
| pestilence.
TROOPS MOVED DOWN.
| In the course of the battle there were
| instances of tachments, all of whose
officers had been lost, running wildly
about calling for new officers to lead
them, or joining other commands which
| were not leaderless.
Other attachments, in the excitement
of the fight failed to hear. or deliberately
| disregarded orders to fall back or seek
some shelter secured by their calmer Of
icers. They dashed unheedngly into
barbed wire entanglements or the enemy 8
trenches, and were moved down in heaps
| BY federal rapd-ire guns.
TRAINS FIGHT IN PASSING.
Another incident of the engagement yes.
terday was the meeting OF two armored
trains at long range One was on "A siding
| and the other on the main track They
| exchanged shots like two warships, bu,
with little damage and the federal train
which had the switch track, retired around
a curve and was lost to sight Gomez
| Palacio Is a railroad town and is a net
work of tracks, which made the encounter
possible.
General villa said to-day that hi:
hat was off to General Velasco for hi.
defense of the town. The conduct o
the federals was credit to them "A.
soldiers General villa said, and Gen
eral Velasco had proved himself MAJ
OF resource as well as of courage.
Three of his generals, it was report
ed, gave their lives in defense OF tn,
town-Generals Penna, Reyna and An
ava, 1t also was reported that Genera
Ocaranza was seriously wounded.