Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-07
COMMANDS OF COL. OODD
TRYING TO PREVENT MOVE
U. S. Columns Would Have Hard
Fight Before the Arrival of
American Reinforcements.
BANDITS PURsUERs SUFFER
Gen. Pershing's Men at Extreme
Front Badly in Need of Shoes
and Clothing. and Mexicans
Are Starving.

FL PASO. Tex. April Nd
vance guards of the American eN-
pedition hunting Villa are operat-
ing today at Cieneguillas. near
Satevo. and news that Col. Dodd's
cavalry has again come into con-
tact with the Villa force is ex-
pected.
The region between Satevo and
Parral. where Villa is reported to
be heading, is infested with nu-
merous bands OF Villa brigands.
Villa May Have 1000 Men.
American refugees from the Benito
Juarez district say that il Villa should
succeed in uniting these bands he
would have force Of at least 1.eoo men
and would be in position to give the ad-
vance American troops a hard battle
before reinforcements arrived.
The latest official information from
the front showed that American cavalry
had penetrated south of San Antonio.
Chihuahua, and was still moving south
ward hard on the trail OF the bandits.
It is believed that more frequent re-
ports will now be obtained from Col.
Dodd, inasmuch as it is now possible
for him to relay his messages by
courier to Chihus hua city and thence
by Mexican telegraph lines to Ell Paso
for re-transmission to Maj. Gen. Fun
ston at San Antonio.
Hinges on Railroad Negotiations.
Two Americans, the first to arrive
here from the interior for several days,
reached Ell Paso today on a train from
Chihuahua city. They said that there
was absolute quiet in the state capital
when they left, but that everywhere
there was apparent a curious feeling of
expectancy that important develop
ments We're imminent.
w hole Mexican situation seems at
standstill pending the outcome OF the
between Washington and
Gen. Carranza regarding the use of the
Mexican railroads by the American eA-
force
Repeated intimations that the supply
situation had reached an acute stage
have received strong support by the
made by soldiers returning
from the front and by references ia
NV rel In Tvs pf h..
men and officers in Gen. Pershings ad-
vance columns.
Troops Short of Clothing.
The question of adequate clothing for
the American soldiers appears to be
becoming as urgent as that of food.
Stories from the front of the expedients
adopted by troops to repair wcrn-out
garments, especially shoes, gives sharp
point to this problem.
But the plight of the American SOL
diers fades into insignificance when
compared with the stories reaching
here through Mexican sources of the
desperate conditions prevailing among
the poems in the bandit-ravaged re-
gions of southern chihuahua and Du-
range. toward which Villa is heading.
1t is said that the unfortunate people
in the district around Torreon, where
Canuto Cano is upholding the cause OF
Villa by wholesale looting and murder,
are facing actual starvation.
There is considerable interest here
in persistent reports that Gen. Gavira,
the Carranza commander at Juarez, is
about to be superseded. One story,
published in Mexican paper, declares
that Gen. Pablo Gonzales is on his way
there from Mexico City and that when
he arrives he will take supreme
charge of all the Carranza soldiers in
4n11
verified. but it is believed that Gen.
Carranza is planning some changes
among his field commanders.
Reinforcements for Col. Brown.
SAN ANTONIO. Tex. April AM
other column of American cavalry ar
rived al Cusihurachic to support that
If Col. w. c. Brown. who reported there
April 4, according to reports at Gen.
Funston's headquarters today.
Col. Brown explained his delay in
a report after the engage
nent few days ago at Aguascalientes,
near Bachiniva, by saying he and his
forces had exhausted their money and
le had none to pay the expense of get
ing message to commercial wire.
Gen. Bell reported that informatio
from Mexican sources Indicated that
,ome thousands of the de facto gov
.rnment troops were being moved
south to Chihuahua with the ostensible
purpose of checking the retreat Of
villa.
Concentrating Around Chihuahua.
Carranza troops were reported today
,y American Consul Letcher to be
in the vicinity of Chi
luahua City.
The reason for such concentration
vas unexplained. but officers at Maj.
zen. Funston's headquarters assumed
hat it was part of the de facto gov
plan of cooperation in the
'ursuit of Villa, who. according to re-
lorts. Is travelling south beyond Chi.