Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-04-21
PERSHlNG'S ADVANCED COLUMN
VICTOR WHEN AMBUSHED
BY VILLlSTAS.
CORRESPONDENT DESCRIBES
THRILLING NIGHT BATTLE
General Pershine and Small Escort in
Grave Danger Of Annihilation - At
tackled From Three Sides by Bandits,
Who Are Put to Flight - Bandits
Hide in Thicket.

With General Pershing. 500 Miles
South Of Columbus, \. NJ, April IL
, tBy Motor Track TO Columbus, \. NJ,
April 19)-After almost solid month
of pushing onward with General Per-
shng by day and by night, by horse or
by motor thru the snowstorms and
frigid nights Of a 1000 foot altitude
and the wind storms and heat of the
damp and comparatively lowland
: country we are now in, | am becom-
ing more impressed every moment
with the belief the Gen. Pershing will
be present when Pancho Villa makes
his last stand
Yesterday Cen Pershing turned his
! back again on the expeditionary head
quarters, which had just managed to
catch up with him. and with only the
smallest escort took the rail TO the
south. pushing his motors thru almost
impossible mountain passes.
Advance Into New Country.
We covered a hundred miles into a
country almost untouched by the Am
erican forces. By tortuous trails cling
ing to the sides of the rocky cliffs We
left the wire grass of the high pateaus
,
peaks and dropped 1900 feet into green
lowlands, where mesquite and thorny
growths characterize the unfriendli-
ness of the vegetation.
Our progress was slow I doubt If
steel and rubber have ever been put
to the severe test which the motors
survived Fording streams and mud
holes over hub deep and mounting the
uncertain sides of gravel banks our
days trip was ended when we raced
thru a dark and twisting tunnel Of
overlacing mesquite and cooled the
steaming radiators in a plowed field
A peon clinging to the running board
Of the first machine pointed out across
the field where our headlights set forth
with stereopticon sharpness the silver
tinted gearing Of an army aeroplane,
stranded lone and silent in the wilder
ness Our aviators were hiding near
by.
Dash Thru Villa Ambush.
Speed and the secrecy which covered
the identity of our party had carried
General Pershing and his small escort
thru a Villista ambusCade which in
view of our numbers and subsequent
developments might have proven dis
astrous one. The officers accompany
ing the general heaved a sigh of relief
when the narrowness of our escape
was learned an hour later, but as far
as I was able to Judge from my OBJ
servations of the general himself his
attitude seemed to be one of regret.
feeling that an opportunity had been
lost.
If we missed the opportunity. it was
not overlooked by the struggling train
Of motor lorries. which ran into the
ambuscade twenty minutes after our
rapid and unconscious fight thru it..
Ten minutes before that engagement
the Villistas opened fire on an auto
mobile truck and one automobile
which contained General Pershing's
personal equipment
Bandits Hidden in Thicket.
The bandits. numbering about 100
and supposed to be under command Of
General Taranga, had stationed them
selves almost on the edge of a MESA
which was reached by a long climb
from the river land Dense mesquite
screened both sides of the roads and
extended backward on either side.
making it almost Impossible to see ten
feet into the thicket. The spot was
ideal for the purpose for which it had
been selected. regardless Of the fact
that five miles further on was the
camp Of a small body Of Carranzistas
under General Cara.
The train of motor lorries carrying
the spare equipment. machinery, sup
plies, and extra fuel for the aero
squadron had been on the road two
days under orders to establish a new
base at (deleted) point which had
been picked out only from aerial OBJ
servation three days before. There
were twelve trucks in the train. An
aviator commanding the train rode on
the first truck and another aviator
brought up the rear on the last one.
Fire on Pershino's Escorf