New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-02

PerShlng as MystllyinR.
To me, and I think to all his COM
mand, both officers and men, General
Pershing was at times as mystifying.
though in a manner absolutely differ
ent. And in trying to recall few in
cidents one seems TO get no less a
glimpse Of the man himself than of the
whole spirit Of the army on its thank
less. battling job. ] have called him in
scrutable-as he was. One moment you
felt that you knew him, like a com
panion on some long trail in the will
derness, and the next he seemed as re-
mote as some relentless. disciplinary
machine. One thing was sure, that he
and his staff intelligence officer, Major
Ryan, were the army. Decision, lnltla-
tive. all the strands OF the scattered
cavalry columns, with which cOmmunl-
cation was always difficult and often
for days impossible, appeared TO lie in
their heads and hands alone. He was
seldom with his staff ] hope J am not
doing them an injustice by stating the
impression that be always seemed most
active and optimistic when distant from
it, al the front sleeping in the open
without a tent, boiling his coffee
grounds twice and thrice over, as he
did all that exciting week at San &C.
ronimo after the Guerrero fight, when
no supplies whatever reached us, and
we knew that the eyes of the bandits,
even of Villa himself. were staring
from the live oaks of the surrounding
Sierras.
| remember when VIC first heard Of
the Parral fracas. 10 was at Sateyo,
eighty miles from its scene. on April
u, two days after the occurrence and
the day of its publication at home-the
Carranza version Of the mob attack, "
which, as the first one, has ever since
dulled the truth.
Punishment for Writer.
The night before General Pershing
had well ripped me up the back. l had
just returned from hunting Lopez, with
the able and accomplished Lieutenant
Colonel Allen. Now, ! had the impu-
dence in the story | wrote 10 criticise
our methods Of securing the mountains
and TO describe in detail the routine of
surrounding villages and rummaging
through houses. The general sent for
me after / had submitted 20 him my
writing. Angrily he told me that
should have known better than 10 at
tempt such stuff, that ] knew perfectly
well what TIE censorship allowed, and
was deliberately evading IT, Though
emphasized the gentleness with which
the soldiers searched, he declared that
the public at home would not under
stand the necessity Of so entering ma
tives' dwellings at night My GROWING
presumption came when / dared TO
argue about the final triumph of truth
and the futility of Disgusting IT,
General Pershing was then the sol
der, as | saw 10 dictatorial, routine
bound, in the harshest military sense.
"And come back here, Dunn" he
called me into his tent after dismissal. 81
think | won't allow you 20 20 on with
Colonel Allen tomorrow, either" The
thing / had set my heart on, as he
knew, for / was the only correspondent
who had followed the actual Villa trail
with the cavalry.
tried TO account for his "unreason-
ableness" by thinking that all could
not be going well with the expedition.
He was man whose very bearing, for
all his inner inscrutability, was a
barometer Of his troops success or fail
ure; not that either ever affected in the
least his generalship. But this was only
a day after his attempted assassina-
tion (probably by Carranzistas) few
miles back on the trail. lie had for
some time been out OF touch with GER
tain columns then converglng on Par
raj. At least one aviator sent south TO
reconnoitre them had been missing for
two days.
Almost cowed 7 avoided him through