Bisbee daily review., 1916-03-24


 the border gate south of Columbus un- : iii tn ecclors came up. When these : had crossed the border into Mexico, Major Tompkins. a brother of the not ed Lieutenant ClOnel Tompkins. of the ! Seventh Cavalry. spread hi advance guard out. In the form of a wide fan, the riders of the guard ealloped south ward.
 The temper Of the Mexicans was still a matter of speculation. There were officers who would not have been surprised if the column had met oppO- si,ion at the boundary. But there were no Mexicans at the border gate. and none were seen on the march 10 PalGmas. Only two bodies Of armed men were encountered by either of the columns on the march here. At Ascension, the alcaldo, Ramon H. Co meg. had one hundred CarranZa sol diers and told Col. Slocum he did not know whether to fight or let the Am erican column peaceably pass on.
 After an exchange of official visits during which he observed at the Am erican camp the assembly of men and guns. he decided to accept the United States army officers statement that Carranza had agreed to the entry of the troops unOpposed.
 The other body of troops were en- oOuntered here Saturday, March IS. Major Elizaldo Reyes. who said he was proceeding to Casas Grandes from Hadera after scouting for Villa. was startled to see American troops in this vicinity. His men referred to them as yellow jackets" He stopped one of the guides of the column and explain ed to the American commander to as sure this force consisting of thirty-siX men were not "Villistas" and in turn he assured that they would not be fired upon.
 Major Tompkins advance guard, with riders at intervals of twenty yards, swept the country between the border and Palimos and stirred nothing but jackrabbits.
 Major Jas A. Ryan, of the Thir- teenth, acting chief-of-staff to General Pershing, found at Palomas just two human beings. a crippled Mexican, de- scribed by the American guides as the most cunning horse thief along the border, and his wife. The only other living this were a few stray dogs, which nightly fought the coyo- tes for the remains of the cattle slaughtered by the CarranZa garrison and the Villa troops.
 Infantry were posted all along the route from the border to Colonia Dub Ian to guard the line a communica- tiOns. Engineers maintained the road for the wagon trains and motor trucks. Col. Slocum's column arrived at Boca Grande from Palomas March IS. This was the town from which Villa started on his raid on Colum- bus. It was near Boca Grande that Villa captured and murdered Arthur Kinney. a roundup boss for the Pal omas Land and Cattle company. and three other Americans just before the raid
 American soldiers found the body of one of the victims, battered and mutil- iated. and in such condition that it could not be recognized. An officer also picked up in the abandoned Villa encampment a note book of C. E. Watson, the leader of the party or eighteen employees of the Cusi Mining company, who were slaughtered by Pablo Lopez, a Villa leader, at Santc Ysabel, January 10.
 Men and officers of both columns were not permitted to drink water that had not been previously tested. They were forbidden to enter Mexi- can houses for fear of typhus. The result was that all reached here healthy and in good condition. The orders issued by the commanding general proved also no town should be occupied For that reason the temporary base was established two miles outside of Colonia Dublan anG four miles from Nueva Casas Grandes. where the Carranza authorities main tain small garrison. American off cers said they found Carranza officers, both civil and military, ready to ac- cord hearty cooperation in the task of hunting down Villa and his bandit band. The information department of the American punitive expedition headed by Major Ryan, received much information from Carranza sources. American colonists near Casas Grandes, southwest of the army camp, declared the feeling among the MeXicans there was not tense, but there has been no evidence of it.
 The American troops brought in the first silver money some of the MeXicans had seen for years, and will ingly paid double the price that pre- vail at this interior town for food and the rough, dirty and strong navy tobacco. There was, in fact. so little metal money among either the Mexi- cans and the small band of American Mormons who have braved the dan gers of repeated Villa raids, that many were unable to provide change for a silver dollar. The one Chinese storekeeper found in Nueva Casas Grandes was asked what he would give for an American $5 bill. He opened his cash drawer and with an expressive motion of the arms and hands indicated that he was willing to exchange for it the bale of Carran- "a and Villa paper money it contained.
 Marching slowly on account of the wagon trains the head of the first column did not enter the base camp here until Monday at noon. after a