The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-04-03
.IORREON KNEE[S At FEET
Of THE BANDIT VILLA
and bombs and fire during the eleven
days battle Is enormous.

i tudyS udttio Is ENORMOUS.
! The greatest problem which con-
fronts General Villa. however, is that
of feeding the citizens OF Torreon,
Gomez Palacio and Loredo, many OF
whom are on the point of starvation.
| Great quantities of supplies were
ordered today from Juarez and Chi
huahua and food stuffs are being dis
among the suffering people. Soldiers
have been sent to surrounding ranches
| to drive in herds OF cattle. Some Of
these returned early today and fresh
1 beef was plentiful in many sections
of the city. A system of soup
kitchens in charge of the commissary
:, department has been established
throughout the city where bread and
meat are being dispensed to the Mex
leans OF the lower classes. In other
places food is being given to natives
who own their own homes, but never
the-less are in want.
When the rebel army will move en-
masse against Monterey and Saltillo
is not known, but it is believed to be
Villas idea to start as quickly as
possible after he has brought up food
and has cleaned Torreon itself and
procured supplies Of ammunition.
Villa does not believe the present
garrisons of these two cities will be
greatly strengthened in view of the
practical determination Of the Tor
reon garrison and the loss by the
/ Huertistas of the greatest number OF
big guns and the largest amount OF
military stores maintained at any one
point throughout the republic.
In the meantime the railroad from
Torreon to the east is being repaired
to facilitate the movement Of troops.
The brigades of Thomas Urbina and
Maclovios Herrera are doing the
preliminary work for the new move
Iment, making up the advance guard Of
Villas main army. The bridge over
itisea Naxas river which runs through
Torreon and which was DESTROYED
by the federals during the eleven
days fghting, has been rebuilt and
trains are now running over 1t direct
into Torreon.
Throughout the whole fighting
which ended last night Villas troops
have shown wonderful vitality and
reckless bravery.
Villa today estimated his casualties
in the final fighting at 500 dead AND
1,50O wounded He lost 200 killed in
Sunday nights fighting alone. The
federal losses Saturday night and Sun
day are known to have been 1,40O
wounded, and at least 500 corpses
were found in the streets after the
fight
Asked by correspondents today to
estimate the federal loss in the whole
campaign, Villa laughed and said: Il
cannot estimate it, but you will not
go far wrong if you say the federal
loss was total
While hundreds of prisoners of war
are being employed today burning and
burying the dead digging trenches
and rebuilding the railroads from Ber-
mijillo to Gomez Palacio and Tor
reon. It was noticed all were regular
Huertista troops. There were no BAN
deras colorados cred flagersD among
them. "Banderas colorados were
the federal volunteers. former follow
ers of Pascual Orozco in his rebellion
against Madero in 1912. They are
looked upon by Villa as traitors and
he has frequently said he would stand
all he captured before firing squad.
Although it is not known that they
have be IN summarily executed. 1t Is
significant that none have been found
today.
In the first attack on Gomez PalacIo
where the constitutionalists were led
into a trap. they retreated. leaving
many wounded on the field. The fed
erals killed all of these as well as
.between 200 and 800 reb. els taken
prisoners at the time.
villa today ridiculed reports that
federal reinforcements are on the