The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-10-16
VILLA ALMOST
CAUGHT IN NET
Pershing's Men Came Near
Accomplishing Full Pur-
pose of Expedition
TROOPERS BETWEEN
BANDIT AND HAVEN
Order of Withdrawal Came at Inoppor-
tune Time-Dodd' Men, with Shoes
Worn Out, Left Bloody Footprints on
the Rocky Trail.

Field Headquarters, American punt
tive expedition in Mexico, Oct. 2, (Cor-
respondence of the Associated Press.
narratives of the five
cavalry regiments that participated in
the hunt for Villa, which have just
been brought up to date and submitted
to headquarters, show in detail how
near the American troopers came to ac-
complishing the full purpose of their
expedition.
They show that Just after the Par
raj fight, on April II, less than a month
after the expedition had entered Mex
leo, and Immediately prior to the order
to withdraw northward from the Par
raj district, the Americans had run
Villa, sorely wounded, to earth, and had
cut off every avenue of his escape to
the south into Durango.
When Major Frank Tompkins IS hun
dred men were attacked at Parral, Vii
la, disabled, had hidden at Santa Cruz.
Major r. L. Howe, with his hardrid-
ing squadron of the Eleventh cavalry,
close ON the bandit s trail, had run by
his quarry. General Pershing was at
Satevo, directing operations. Colonel
w. c. Brown, with five troops of the
Tenth cavalry, Colonel H. T. Allen,
with two troops of the Eleventh cav
airy, Major Tompkins and Major
Howe, four cavalry columns in all,
were between Villa and the haven of
safety he was seeking in the Sierra
Madres, ready to beat the bush for
him. Wounded, virtually alone, he APP
parentlv had little chance to evade cap
ture or death. Orders for withdrawal
came, however, after Parral, and the
highwater mark of the expedition
passed.
From the beginning of the border
trouble it was to the cavalry that fell
the responsibility of dispensing the Co
lumbus raiders That this task was ac-
complished is evidenced by figures show
ing that, of the 4S5 men who raided
Columbus, 400 have been killed, wound
ed or captured. Full credit is given in
the narratives for the cooperation of
other branches of the service, notably
in establishing advanced bases and
maintaining the line of communication,
but the fact remains that it was the
cavalry that drove Villa in headlong,
panic stricken flight into Durango, 500
miles from the American border, seat
set new records for marches under ter
rife handicaps. 1t also fought the four
engagements that had an important
bearing on the campaign: Dodd at
Guerrero, March %; Tompkins at Par
raj, April u; Dodd at Tomache, April
81; and Howe at Ojo Azules, May
la. 1t was the victim, too, in the trag-
l,edv of April p at Carrizal.
| Two of the five cavalry regiments
now i'll Mexico, the Seventh and Tenth
crossed the line at Culberson s ranch
early in the morning of March Is
Their dash to Colonia Dublan has been
told and retold. The Thirteenth, which
| already had spent three and a halt
years on the border, crossed March Il
at Columbus, where it had been at
tackled March Q by Villa. Two squad
rons of the Fifth left Columbus on
March 20 and were joined by the third
| squadron April 10 at the Mormon Lakes
near Dublan. The first detachment OF
| the Eleventh entered Mexico March II
| by way of Columbus.
| The marches of the Fifth may be
| summarized briefly as follows: Mani
quipa, April 10; San Geronimo, Apri
%; Lake 1tascate, April "a; San An
tonic, May 8. About the time of the
Seott-obregon conference the regiment
was given district, with Satevo a:
headquarters, which it was ordered tc
search intensively for bandits. Eacf
cavalry regiment was allotted similar
1 sector of Southern Chihuahua. The
! beating of the brush for Villistas, how
ever, was never fully carried out. The
| Fifth on May 10, was made part OF
the provisional cavalry brigade to cover
the Withdrawal of the expedition north
ward at time when $500 Carranzista.
were reported to be within thirty mile: