Evening star., 1915-06-20

both sides that it was not difiicult to
acquire a reputation as keller, but
Fierro achieved more than that. He
became known among his own people
as eel Carnicero," the butcher.
Fierro also became Villas bodyguard.
He was constantly with his chief ana
was made colonel. How many people
Fierro killed under the military code
which governed both the Huertistas
and the constitutional!sts no one knows.
His savagery knew no bounds. An
American at Ell Paso gave me an IN
stance of It, One of the federal Off
GERS in northern Mexico was Col. En-
rfoue Portilla He had a feud with
Villa. He was made prisoner at the
capture of Juarez This meant that he
would be shot Had Portilla captured
villa he would have shot him. 1t was
a fair game in which the loser paid
with his life.
Portilla was taken out Of his cell In
the Jail to be escorted to the place Of
execution. The escort had Just started
when Fierro, mounted, dashed up. He
had come from Villas headquarters.
He began to abuse the prisoner, taunt-
ing him with the obscene epithets In
which the colloqual Spanish spoken In
Mexico is rich.
PortilIa, undaunted, replied in kind.
When he was lined up before the fir
ing squad Fierro's ferocity could no
longer be restrained He drew his own
revolver and emptied 1t simultaneously
with the shots from the firing squad.
When he was a colonel stationed at
Chihuahua. Fierro was assigned a fine
home confscated from one Of the
cientif1cos. One evening he returned
from a carouse and received an un-
satisfactory salute from the sleepy
guard. He drew his revolver and shot
the unfortunate fellow dead.
At this time the cientificos who re-
manned in Chihuahua, occasionally, by
paying money, would get safe con-
duct to the border. More than one Of
them disappeared from the train and
the whisper went around, "Fierro."
Fierro's part in the killing of Ben
ton is not yet fully known. Whether
he hacked Benton to pieces in Villas
headquarters at Juarez or whether he
took Benton from the train en- route to
Chihuahua and murdered him there is
a question of conflicting evidence.
The investigation of the British con-
sular officers indicated that Benton was
hacked to pieces. The report which
Carranza ordered prepared when Villa
was frightened over tHe poSSlDlc Soi-
sequences of Benton's murder, and was
willing that scapegoat should be
found, was that Fierro, contrary to
orders, had taken Benton from the
train and executed him.
The program then was to have F1erro
court-martialed and dismissed from the
constitutionalists' army, but to be given
his rank again when the public in
dgnation of the people of the United
States and Great Britain had quieted
down, but the program never was car
ried out. Villa got SO much considera-
tion in the United States in the effort
to make him out the man who could
save Mexico that he did not bother
with conciliating public sentiment by
letting Fierro be dismissed. Instead
he showed his contempt for his own
people who wanted something done by
taking the first occasion to promote
Fierro.
This came when Gen. Trinidad Rod
riguez, who commanded one of the
brigAdes. was killed at Zacatecas and
Gen. Torrifio Ortega died in a hos
pital at Chihuahua. Both these men
had been good fighters and there was
much pride in the brigades named
after them.
Gen. Ortega was much finer type
than Rodriguez. He was an unlettered
Indian, who developed traits of ma
tive nobility that gave strong hope to
those who believed that out of the
peon population would come leaders
cans forward. Villa promoted Fierro