El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-15
OCH0A CHARGED
WITH CONSPIRACY
Alleged Ochoa, Holmdahl
and Orozcos Tried to
Invade Mexico.

| introducing testimony
The government Friday morning re
called Ernest Hughes 70 Identity pis
! tol which Fred Mendenhall is alleged
! to have purchased by authority Of
! Holmdahl. W. NJ Johnson. an lmmi'
grafton inspector, testified as to sew
| eral Mexicans being arrested anc
taken from the train at the FL Pasc
When the state announced that II
rested. the defence moved that the case
be dismissed on the ground mat
] had not been shown there had Deen 2
conspiracy in violation Of the neutral
ity laws. Motions were also maze q
| dismiss the complaints against jorge
and Jose Orozco. All motions were
10 Fight for CarranEa.
| Ramon Gutierrez testified Inurs : Z
! afternoon that he had been approachsu
| by Augustine Pontoya, ana tnat "
| was 10 20 to Columbus at the time
| 10 ioin an army there being organized
1 to Invade Mexico and fight Tor Car
! rama Upon cross examination, ne
I said that he knew Hector RanOs, ina
| Ramos was the chief agent OF the Sc
! cref Eervice department of the Villa
! cover ment and that he had been en-
| ployed for some time by Ramos Gu Gu
| tierrez said he did not care to De Allieu
/ other witnesses summoned, all OF
/ them men who said they were at me
] union station on the night tnat lne
| party Of IS was 10 set out Tor OOluL
bus n N were Manuel Valencia VINO
I stated that he had Joined the BAND
| with a view to serving under Gen Jose
| Orozco: Aristo GranillO, who made
] similar statement only saying tnat ne
! had set out for Columbus and was IN
| vited to fight for CarranZa against
/ Villa He testified that Pontoya hau
| been the recruiting agent for Ocnoa-
| OchOa Paid for Ammunition
| Ernest Hughes, Of the Fred J. reid
! stated that when a
| shfpment of arms was made II was
| customary to send such shipments INTO
] Mexico. as no embargo existed al Inal
time. He stated that, When victor
OchOz found that the shipment could
not be delivered to PalOmas, opposite
Columbus, that the car was re-rouleo
l to Douglas with a view to delFery Al
| Aqua Prieta- and that the cnange IN
the shipment was ordered by Gen.
Limon. he said Mr.. Hughes tesuIleo
that Victor Ochoa had made partial
payment Of $1,000 on the account Gov
erinE the shipment and that the re-
mainder was to be paid by Francisco
S. Elias, at Douglas
The contents Of the car was said
by W. ". Wyndman, agent Tor the
FL Paso & Southwestern railroad at
Douglas. to contain in addition TO "a
sacks Of saddles and accompanying
cavalry equipment, 19 cases of small
arms and II cases Of small round am
Hughes testified that it was his IN
Outstanding that the reason the arms
were shipped to Columbus first was
not to equip an invading army at that
point. but because he had Deen tOlu
BY Jose Orozco that the "Colorados
had buried considerable guns and am
munition on the American side Of the
river and that il was the intention 10
add this buried material to the II FaSO
shipment Hughes also testified that
part OF the ammunition had been sold
direct to Jose OrozcO-
Army of 10000.
Frank Heath, immigration officer al
Douglas, testified that, on the night OF
October 81 he was on a train Of the
FL Paso & Southwestern going INTO
Douglas and saw HolmdahL I asked
him il he was there IN connection Win
the car that had gone through TO the
other side on the previous day he
replied: Yes, I am organizing an army
Of 10000 men to invade Mexico and
take JuareZ."
Augustine Pontoya, formerly first
captain under Huerta, testified that
OchOa, after a conference, agreed that
he should 90 to Columbus. n NJ, ana
later he would cross over with an army
OF men to Palomas and go into Car
ranZa's service
Ochoa Gave One Man 800.
Did Ochoa give you any money!" he
was asked
yes, he gave me 500. which was
to distribute among Is men and pay
their railroad fares"
DID you EaIner the mem
They were at the station ready 1
bought the tickets and distributed
them among the men. We got on the
train and the immigration o1ticerS
made US get off They took US to the
office and after we testified they gave
US our liberty. The tickets were
turned over 10 OchOa- What money I
was left after the tickets were bought
1 gave among the men,"
Asked to Alter Testimony.
An Inference that some effort was
being made TO alter the character or
testimony was Developed when the at
torneys for the government asked Pom
toya il he had been approached by {
OchOa at the morning session and (
asked If he would alter his testimony
POntOya said that such had been the I
case.
r Mendenhau, a witness for the z
government, stated that both Holmdahl {
and OchOa had given him approx ]
mately $500 with which to take men !
from Fl Paso to Columbus. y A. Al !
the close OF the court Thursday az /
ternOOn the four were remanded TO /
the county Jail for the night in line I
with United States court procedure /
during a trial.
Grand Jury IudictS TWenty-TwO.
The federal grand jury made its I
final report Thursday afternoon, re-
turning p indictments on charges
ranging from alleged violation Of the 4
neutrality laws in attempting to or
ganize a military expedition to the 4
buying Of soldiers clothing.
The indictments and charges were 1
as follows:
Ricardo a. AguilaG. Albino Hrias. (
Jose Rodriguez alias Juan p Rodri-
guez. Mariana Lopez, Jose Perez. Jose 4
Dominguez. Jose NJ BascO, Juan An
tonic Ninjares alias Jose Antonio Min
jares- Miguel Villanuena. Jose Sanchez.
Santiago Hernandez. Pablo Babelero, J
Miguel Basulto. Felicito NasQuez. To-
mas Rodriguez. Juan Antonio Acosta.
NestOr Quesada and Ricardo Huertas.
setting on foot military expedition
into Mexico. II is alleged that the
defendants had collected at Polvc Z
ranch, in FL PasO county, a quantity
Of food. IS rifles. and 40 ammunition
belts. that Ricardo A. Aguilar was
elected chieftan, and that an invasion