Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-07-18

continued the attack. Only six OF
their number were killed.
"The Mexican authorities afterward
declared that the Americans forced
their way into the town without notice,
that they had been warned to keep
away, and that 1t was the Americans
who began the attack. Mexican Of
ficials also declared that after the
Americans opened fire the Mexican
not the soldiers. drove hack
the Tompkins force.
"Peons, women and children, weak
from hunger and stirred by the sight
Of the pale.faced 'gringo' capturing
their town, defeated the Americans,
according to Parral and Chihuahua
But the Americans say
the pacifcos were not hostile and at
no violence. Only the al
lies, the Carranza soldiers, were in
volved And to further ,show their
friendship and appreciation Of our
assistance to rid the country of villa,
they shouted Ito hell with the Ameri-
cans Kill the gringoes,' Drive them
back to the Rio Grande.'
'The Parral and Carrizal Incidents
are almost identical. At the latter
place General Gomez invited the
Americans for a conference. There
was no show Of hostility, and then
when the Americans were trapped
they were attacked by superior
force.
1.-THE public probably has read only
a line or two of the attack Of the
against the flying
squadron of General Pershing, at the
head of which rode the general him.
self. This was Just two days before
the encounter at Parral. Our automo-
bile column was hurrying through a
rough mountainous country to reach
Satevo, but luck was against US. Our
guides, all natives, lost us several
times, and darkness found us thirty
miles from the Satevo base.
We discarded our guides, relied on
our own scouts, and got along better.
About p. m. we ran into Carranza
camp commanded by General Her
nandez. The Mexican soldiers and
their 'soldaros' were just cooking
'cenna' and kept aloof from us until
we offered cigarettes and matches.
They were friendly as long as these
held out
"A half hour after We left the Car
rama camp we were attacked. The
night was dark. and We could only
see the flashes of the enemy's guns.
But there were no bandits In that VI
entity. And only thirty minutes be-
tore we had left a Carranza camp
whose troops were we'll armed and
mounted. They sized us UP, saw we
had only thirty soldiers, and the de:
duction is simple. Three hundred
shots were exchanged.
"The Americans got under their
autos and trucks and fired from
these excellent barbados, and the
Carranzistas were forced to retreat,
Next day the Carranza camp buried
several men. They might have killed
General Pershing himself. The au'
tomobile I was in had it's light brok.
en- and We ran into ditch. No ban
dts were reported In that vicinity
next day. Only the Carranzistas were
there.
when Captain Foylouis and Lieu
tenant Dargus of the aero squadron
flew to Chihuahua early in April they
were attacked, their machine damaged
and Carranza soldiers arrested the pair.
1t was only upon representation by
Consul Letcher that they were released
and allowed to return to camp. The
Carranzstas insisted that no American
aviators had a right to fly over the city,
although before that they informed
Letcher they had no objections.
Betrayal number four was at Gus
ihuirachic, the richest mining town In
Mexico. It was here that the eighteen
Americans lived who were massacred
by Villistas at Santa Isabel several
months before.
Another correspondent, myself and
a guard of nine men under Captain
Walter H. Smith. went to Cusi, as 1t Ia
called, to await the arrival of Pancho
Villas body. 1t was declared Villa had
been killed near there and that the
body would arrive some time that day.
This was April 81.
Before entering the city we stopped
on the outskirts and telephoned to the
tefe de armas, told him our errand, re-
quested permission to come in and
asked only for common courtesy. We
were told to come on and we did. The
main street Is gully and from either
side a Mexican force could hide on top
Of houses or on the hills and annihilate
force in the narrow, winding street,
so narrow one could not turn the autos
around.
THE entire populace, men, women
and children, lined the streets and
heusetops and the farthr we went into
the town. the more they insulted US.
Children ran at us and called US names
Carranzista soldiers shouted Viva Villa,
viva Mexico. Run the Americans out
I was glad Captain Smith didn't under
stand Spanish or 1t might have precip-
itated a fight. Captain Smith asked per-
mission to use either a telephone or
telegraph wire to Consul Letcher in
Chihuahu.
1.-The jefe, an old man with sores on
his face, gave consent and whispered
something to a subordinate officer.