Middletown transcript., 1916-04-08
j. S. CAVALRY
ROUTS VILLA BAND
Chief, Wounded and Crippled,
Escapes Before Battle.
AMERICANS LOSS4WOUNDED
Capture Believed Question OF Days,
General EIIsco Hernandez
Among Dead Left
On Field.

Ell Paso, Texas. - Four hundred
American cavalrymen under the com
mand Of Col. George A. Dodd, gallop
ing down from the granite slopes OF
the great continental divide, have fall
en- on the main body of Francisco
Villas bandits at the San Geronimo
ranch, scattering them in many direc'
tions and driving the bandit chief,
wounded and crippled, to seek hiding
place in the mountains. Villa was
hurried from danger in a carriage.
The fight opened at o'clock in the
morning Of March 29 and continued
for several hours. The news of the
exploit was flashed into Juarez and
sent thrill along the border.
Taken BY Surprise.
For II hours the veteran Colonel,
with his picked troopers of the
Seventh and Tenth Cavalry, drove
down the valley of the Santa Marta
river. At the end of a 55-mile ride
they fell upon the unsuspecting Villa
camp, where 500 bandits were cele-
brating the massacre Of 172 Carranza
soldiers two days previously at Guer-
rero.
Villa, shot through the leg and with
one hip shattered, was hurried from
the scene, barely in time to escape the
onslaught of the Americans. The
bandits made a brief but hopeless
stand before a charge of Colonel Dodd
and his troopers. Then they broke
and fed, leaving 81 dead on the field,
including their commander, General
Eliseo Hernandez. Two machine guns,
a number of horses, rifles, ammunition
and equipment fell into the hands Of
the Americans.
Pablo Lopez Wounded.
Among the known wounded is Pablo
Lopez, Villas lieutenant in the Column
bus raid. The American casualties
were four privates wounded.
The American soldiers did not linger
on the field Of victory. For five hours
they drove the enemy before them into
lAAC WAA0ClhC VI I1OuuLd1A pCdhg
desert and canyon, where roads or
even trails are unknown and where a
nisstep means death to horse and |
'ider. They halted only after the chase |
had led them 10 miles and the fugi- |
ives were scattered into little bands |
If half dozen men each.
The extraordinary hold the bandit |
,hief has on his followers is shown by |
he fact that their first thought was to
ave him. Unable to walk or ride, he
vas placed in light wagon and driven
ver the rough mountain trails to some
ecret lair.
While 81 Of the bandits are known
o have been killed, it is said the num-
er may have been considerably larger.
Jothing is yet known as to the mum
er Of wounded, although it is pre-
umably in proportion to the dead.
Three Murdered BY Bandits,
The last outrage credited to Villa oc-
urred at Minaca, a town about 10
lilies southeast Of Guerrero on the
LexicO and Orient Railroad. Here the
Iexicans are reported to have MUIR
cred Herman Blankenburg, a mine
brennan, and two other foreigners. It
feared that the two unknown vic
ms were Americans. Four Americans
cklin, Hemple, Locke and DR.. Stellar
are known to have been in or near
.inaca recently.
Prisoners Released.
After the battle on the San Gero-
mo ranch the American soldiers re-
ased a large number of General Car
lnza's men whom the bandit chief =
as holding. It is probable that it I
as at the Guerrero massacre that +
lila was wounded. 8
Excitiment. in Ell Paso and along the i,
rider is at fever heat in expectation g
at at any moment the wires may q
Lsh the news of Villas death or CAP =
re. =