El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-04-20

, material point
Line Rider TestifIes.
Benjamin $ Aguirre. line rider for
4 the customs service at Columbus. stated
that he was in the Columbus hotel on
/ tine night Of the raid and that he es-
! caped by a back window after the VIII
| lstas had entered the hotel He saw
/ the body Of Miller lying on the street
] beside his car. where he had fallen af-
/ ter being shot His testimony bore out
/ that given by the previous witnesses as
! to the admissions OF the prisoners that
I they had been with villa on the morn.
! ing Of March Q. He also identified Gar
cha as having been at the Hilario Ochoa
! ranch when It was searched in Febru-
| airy.
| Merchant n Witness.
p x. Lemon, jr.. the merchant whose
store was burned by the raiders. reached
/ home from Hachita- \. NJ, on the morn
! ing of March at 3:15 a. m, and had
scarcely retired wnen the fighting and
looting started. The raiders were all
around his house and he could hear the
challenge "Quien Niveg' running up
and down the lines of the Nillistas all
the time the fight was in progress and
the wstchword Mexico" following the
challenge in the darkness After the
prisoners had been brought to Column
bus he talked with Renteria. who said
that he had been with Gen. Beltran in
the fight
Army Medical Man Witness.
Iurid Fillmore, a member Of the army
medical corps. with % years continuous
service to mis- credit. saw five OF the
prisoners for the first time on April IL
when they were taken to the hospital
He stated that he had seen Alvarez last
October. when he went with a detach-
ment Of cavalry under Col. Guilfoyle TO
the water tank on ranch west OF Co
lumbus The rancher objected to the
troops watering their horses there, ana.
in the alteration that followed, Alva-
rez attempted to strike Col Guiitoyle
with a club. Alvarez recognized Fill
more as soon as he was placed in the
hospital and attempted to escape when
the witness tried to question him. The
witness brought him back to the hos
pitaL Alvarez had steadfastly refused TO
discuss the raid with him since then.
ConscrIpts Of villa.
At the close of Fillmores evidence.
the state announced that II rested its
case. Attorney for the accused then an
nOuuced that he would attempt to prove
that the prisoners were present at Co
lumbus on March 3, but that they were
there as conscripts OF the Villa force
and that they had been threatened with
death il they attempted TO desert He
would also show that they were all
from the interior OF Mexico; that they
were illiterate and uneducated, and that
they had no knowledge OF NillaS plans,
and that when they assisted in the at
tack on Columbus they were acting I'M
der orders whose Significance was be-
yond their comprehension or was con-
cealed from them. and that they did not
know that they were on American soil
until after the fight started.
Forced TO Fight
Jose Rodriguez, the first of the &C
cused 10 take the stand for the defence,
stated that he was from Nuevo Leon
and that he was 20 years old. He had
been taken prisoner by Villa after a
fight with Carranza forces at Santa
Ana on February 16, and he did not
know where the Villa troops were NOV
ing after they captured him. He and /,
the other prisoners were carefully |
watched by a major in the Villa forces. |
in order that they might not make any |
attempt to escape, but he testified that |
he had been given a rifle, but no am |
after his capture He had his ,
rifle. but no cartridges at the time of
the raid and he was left, with a num- /
Der OF others, to guard the horses of |
the Vilistas when the attack was in |
progress.