The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1916-06-29
7 SURVIVORS BRING
TALE OF TREACKERY
Two Troops Of Tenth Cavalry
Practically Wiped Out.
ATTACKED UNEXPECTEDLY
Pershing Has No Word OF TWO Bat
tallons Sent To Rescue REM
nsnts OF Captain Boyd's
Expedition.

San Antonio, Textile two troops
OF the Tenth Cavalry, under Capt. Chas.
7. Boyd, practically were wiped out by
the attack of Mexican forces under
General Gomez, at Carrizal. June Fl,
according to indications given in a
| fragmentary report received by Gen.
eral Funston from General Pershing.
General Pershing's message stated
that seven survivors In all have reach
ed the main column. All we're enlist
cd men, but the report did not say
whether there were non.commlssioned
officers among them.
According to the stories OF the sur
vlvors as outlined in General Perish
ings report, mounted force OF Mexi-
cans made charge from the flank at
the conclusion Of a parley between
Captain Boyd and General Gomez, at
the same time that machine gun
opened fire from the front as General
Gomez reached his lines.
Caught In Trap.
Captain Boyd had ordered his men
to dismount as the machine gun open
ed fire, and the combined effect Of the
Mexican charge, the machine gun fire
and the rife FIRE from the Mexican
garrison Of Carrizal, which had almost
surrounded the little American force
under cover OF the parley sought by
fn NO
Captain Boyd should be allowed to
pass through the town, stampeded the
horses. No details we're made known
to General Pershing as to whether the
Mexican charge was checked.
With their mounts gone, caught
without means of escape, ringed about
on three sides with the fire Of an over
whelmlng force, the fate of the little
detachment is believed by officers here
to have been sealed. 1t is feared that
only the most stupendous luck, backed
by desperate valor, could have extri-
Gated Captain Boyd's men from the
trap.
The reports from Mexican forces
placed the number of killed, including
two officers, at from IL to 40. 1t is re-
ported II were taken captive into
Chihuahua City.
About 1870 Men In Command.
The accepted percentage OF wound
ed to those killed in modern warfare
would place the wounded at from 35
to 40 at the lowest estimate. The
strength Of the two troops, G and X, is
not known here, but it is estimated
that they could not exceed 13O men,
allowing for those sick and on de-
tached service. With only seven sur
vivors reported as arriving at the main
column, the number of those accounted
for at least speculatively is pitifully
small.
The report from General Pershins
stated that the stories Of the survivors
were confused and did not conform in
all details with the report made by the
first arrivals from the battlefield. Gen.
eral Pershing reported that there was
a scene Of wild confusion when the
Mexicans opened fire and their cav.
airy charged. The stragglers apparent.
ly we're cut off in an effort of Captain
Boyd to extricate his men from the
jaws OF the trap which was closing
on his command. or fed before the
outcome of the battle could be learned.
Chihuahua City. Seven more
American troopers were brought here
as prisoners by Mexican military au
thorities. They had been captured in
the desert in the vicinity of the Car
rizal battlefield. Several of them were
wounded and all were sorely stricken
from priyations. Since Wednesday
they had wandered over the sand
wastes without food or water.
These troopers, all colored, bring
The total captured by the Mexicans to
"a. This number does not include the
Mormon scout Spillsbury, also taken.
On the same train which brought
tne prisoners came tne Dody or Gen
eral Felix Gomez, killed in action. The
populace turned out as one to meet the
train. Driven to frenzy by their bit.
ter hatred of the gringoes they spat
upon the American soldiers and did
honors to the body OF the Mexican gen
eral in turn.
General Jacinto Trevino, Carranza's
commander of the northeast, had
taken every precaution to shield the
prisoners from violence at the mob's
hands, furnishing them with a large
detail of soldiers as guard. The
crowd followed the troopers to the
cuartel, however, cursing and hooting
at them. Even women, carrying babies
in their arms, ran along the sidewalks
in the wake of the mob.