Omaha daily bee., 1916-06-25
AMERICAN TROOPS
ARE LED INTO TRAP
Stores of Other Survivors of Battle
Of Carrizal Confirm Reports
Of Early Stragglers.
TwENTY-sEvEN MEN, ARE FOUND

San Antonio, Tex, June 24.--Com-
plete disorganization of the two
troops that were engaged in the dis
astrous combat Wednesday morning
at Carrizal with Carranza troops and
the practical annihilation Of those ac-
tually in the fight was indicated in
report from General Pershing to Gen
eral Funston today.
One packer and eigh. enlisted men
of c troop and seven men OF X troop
were picked up yesterday morning by
Lieutenant Meyer near Santa Maria.
All were horseholders. The stories
these men told were almost identical
TO those told by the other stragglers
that reached the transmission lines
yesterday. ".
Twenty-seven Men Safe.
General Pershing, in his report to-
day, referred to the number of those
who previously had returned to the
American lines as eleven, although
in previous dispatches he fixed the
number at seven. With those who
were rescued by Lieutenant Meyer
the total number of those who had
returned was twenty-seyen.
The total number Of men in the
two troops was learned today to have
been eighty-four. General Pershing,
offering summary Of his information
and explaining that his conclusions
were based on such information as he
had secured from the stragglers and
from press reports, called attention to
the indication that there we're fifty
seven missing and that press reports
indicated fourteen Of these we're dead
and forty-threc were prisoners. Gen
eral Pershing does not account in his
report for the number wounded, but
appeared to assume that all those
wounded had been captured.
No Report from Relief.
General Pershing reported that he
had received no report from the COM
mander Of the two squadrons Of the
Eleventh cavalry that had been sent
forward to rescue the remnant OF the
Tenth.
All those brought in by Lieutenant
Meyer were horse holders and, like
those who came into camp yesterday,
were not actually in the fight. They
had had difficulty, they said. in hand
ling the horses when the furious ma
chine gun and rifle fire began, and re-
treated before the conclusion of the
engagement.
They had cared for such horses as
they could round up after they got
beyond range Of the fire, the full num-
Der Of mounts In their possession
VIXEN encountered by Lieutenant
Meyer being twenty-five.
The troopers told their stories be-
fore they had re-entered the camp and
had no opportunity to talk with strag-
glers who had preceded them. The
accounts they gave were said to have
borne out in all essential details those
previously told
Machine Gun -Fires First.
They said they saw General Felix
Gomez and his aide ride forward to
parley with Captain Boyd. and later
saw him move toward the flank Of the
Mexican troops that had begun clos
ing in on the American force. Ac-
cording to their story, the first inti-
nation anyone had that hostilitieS
were determined upon was the out
burst OF machine gun FIRE. They cor
roborated the accounts that said il
was not until then that Captain Boyd
gave the command for his men to
dismount and return the FIRE.
The Mexicans during the parley
had crowded forward and had as
sumed such positions that when they
attacked they were in position to
sweep with killing FIRE the American
line standing exposed in the open.
Officers at General Funston's head
quarters seemed convinced after
studying General Pershings latest re-
port that all of the two troops that
would be found now would be
wounded and that, therefore, the bat
tered remnant could not have moved
far from the scene Of the fight.