River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1916-06-29

! Assurances were also given By Mr.
/ Arredondo presumably under instruc
1 tions from the de facto government,
! that the rnurderers would be brought
| to justice and that steps would alss be
| existing in the state of Durango.
villa Not Intercepted.
s'It is true that villa, Castro and Lo-
| pei were publicly declared to be out
execution, but so far as known only a
| single man personally connected with
this massacre has been brought to JUS
| tice by Mexican authorities.
| within a month after this barbar-
/ Gus slaughter of inoffensive Americans
it was notorious that Villa was operat-
| and publicly stated that his purpose
was to destroy American. lives and
| tent demands that military protection
should be furnished to Americans villa
| still openly carried on MS operations;
| closer to the border. He was not in
| tercepted nor were his movements i'm
nment and no effectuaI attempt was
1 made to Illustrate his hostile designs
against Americans.
| Americans Pursued Band.
"Tn fact, as I am informed, while
hood hoo Of Columbus, II. M. not, a single
/ ity. Yet Mexican authorities were full
| ly cognizant Of his movements, for on
March 6, as General GayIra pupilcly
| announced he advised the American
| military authorities Of the outlaws ap-
proach to the border, in apparent rec
ognition on it's part OF the deslfa611tiig
/ raids, or of furnishing the chief perpe-
| traitors of the crimes committed be
/ of the two countries. American forces
pursued the lawless bands as Iar as
Parral, where the pursuit was n5ee nan5ed
| to be loyal to the de facto government.
who arrayed themselves on eet the SIDE OF
outlawry and became in effect protec-
| tors Of Villa and his Dand
Resents Carranza Charges.
"In this manner and for these rea,
sons have the American forces s,,9 entef req
Mexican territory Rn6"l ne IH a Gfe
government cannot be blind to the ne
cessity which compelled this govern
lnent to act ana yet II mas seen af N hos -
| tiIity towards the expedition and to
impute to this governments Interior mo-
| tives for the continued presence OF
American troops on Mexican soil.
1T is charged that these. troops
crossed the frontier without first. OBJ
de facto government. obyiously, as i'm
| mediate action alone could avail, there
was no opportunity, to reach an agree
now repadiated by General Carranza)
/ prior to the entrance of such an eXpe-
dition into Mexico if the expedition was
| correspondence have demonstrated TO
| the satisfaction of this government that
General Carranza would not nave en- en-
| an effective plan for the capture and
destruction of the Villa bands"
Impeded Progress.
"While the American. troops were
! moving rapidly southwark in pursuit of
the raiders, it was the form and nature
| of the agreement that occupied the at
! tentiOn of General CarranZa rather than
could be imposed upon the American
to edf thar Sa peond be ase
| to prevent the escape of the outlaws.
1T was General Carranza who .:sus.,
pended through your note of April -
| all discussions and negotiations for an
| agreement along the lines of the pro-
tocol the United States and Mexico con-
der which the two countries had so sue
cessfully restored peaceful conditions
on their common boz. boundary: It may be
the statement in your note that the
! American government gave no answer
to the note of the 18th of April this
| the department instructed Mr.. Rogers
by telegraph to deliver this govern
| ments answer to General Carranza.
Clearly a Mis-statement.
shortly after this reply the confer
ence between Generals Scott, Funston
and Obregon began at FL Paso, during
which they signed, on May 2, project
| of a memorandum 'ad referendum re-
garding the withdrawal of American
troops. AS an indication Of the alleged
bad faith of the American government,
declared in this memorandum that the
destruction and dispersion of the Villa
band had been accomplished yet Amer
lean forces are not withdrawn from
Mexico.
''1t is only necessary to read the. mem
Orandum, which is in the English Ian
TO ascertain that this is clearly
a misstatement, for the memorandum
states that the American punitive, ex-
dispersed many of the lawless elements
and bandits or have driven them far
into. the. interior Of the republic of
"And Furthermore, the United States
forces were then carrying on a vigorous
pursuit of such small numbers of ban
dts or laWleSS elements as may have
escaped.
Lansing Recftes Agreement.
'The context Of your note gives the
impression that the object of the expe-
the United States had agreed in the
| memorandum to begin the withdrawal
of it's troops. The memorandum shows,
count of partial dispersion of the ban
dts that it was decided to begin the
withdrawal of American forces, but
equally on account of the assurances of
the Mexican government that their
forces We're at the present time being
augmented ana strengthened TO SuCh an
extent that they will be able to pre-
vent a disorder occurring in Mexico that
would in any way ,endanger. American
territory and that they would continue
to diligently pursue, capture or destroy
any lawless bands of bandits that may
still, exist or hereafter exist in the
northern part of Mexico and that it
would make a proper distribution of
such of its forces as may be necessary
to prevent the possibility of invasion
of American territory from Mexico"
Planned Slow Withdrawal.
ut was because of these assurances
and because of General SCOTS conf
dence that they would be carried out,
that he stated in his memorandum that
the American forces would be 'gradu-
ally withdrawn 1t is to be noted, that
while the American government was
willing to ratify. this agreement, Gen.
eral Carranza refused to do so. as Gen
eral Oregon stated. because among
other things, it imposed improper con-
ditionS upon the Mexican government.
Notwithstanding the assurances in
the memorandum It is we'll known that
the forces of the de facto government
have not carried on a vigorous pursuit
of the remaining bandits and that no
proper distribution of forces to pre-
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