The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1916-06-29
GRAPHIC STORY Of
AMbUshED TROOPS
Surviving Trooper Tells Of Fiuhi
Of Tenth Cavalry.
WERE 0UINUMBERED S TO I
Caught BY Mexican Machine Guns
Which Opened Fire at Signal From
0ome1-horses Were Shot
Down or Broke Away

II PaSO, TcN.-One Of the most
graphic stories in the history Of the
American army is thn, told by one of
the four couriers sent by the command
ing officer OF the ambushed troops of
the Tenth cavalry when he reached
General l'ershiug's headquarters with
his appeal for relief for his comrades.
The following i the story he tells:
We had been marching since early
Wednesday morning when we reached
the neighbOrhood of Carrizal Capt.
Charles Il. Boyd was riding ahead of
the column. just behind him was Capt.
Lewis $. Morcy, Lieut.. Henry X. Aduir
was further back with the column.
There were 81 men in the troop.
Outnumbered to I.
From our position We could see
some Mexican soldiers in the village.
Captain Boyd sent forward a messen-
ger under flag of truce to ask pcrms-
sion to enter The town in search of the
bandits that we were hunting Gen.
Felix Gomez sent back word giving
permission to enter.
Captain Boyd. Captain Boyd gave the
word for the column to advance. We
were just starting forward when we
noticed Mexican troops pouring out
from behind different kinds of shelter
adobe houses and the lilc-;nd de-
ployins to the right and left 1t was
battle formation. From the first glance
"a Snt hat tl,... ,,,I. a
least five to one.
Captain Boyd noticed their move
ment. TO any soldier that sort of thing
cnn mean only that an attack is about
to be made. ! saw Captain Boyd mo-
tiOn to the MeXicnns and make some
remark about it to Gomez Gomez
wheeled his mount around and sig
nailed with his hands. Then he made
Il dash for his own lines.
AT the same time a couple of ma
chine guns, one ut each end of the
Mexican line, opened up on us. We
were caught In CEr saddles In easy
range, and we were good targets.
saw Captain Boyd fall. A moment
later Captain Morey was wounded in
the shoulder.
'Lieutenant Adalr gave us the order
to dismOunt. We got out of our sad
dies in hurry. Then he told us to
throw ourselves on our faces and re-
turn the fire. Someone got Gomez just
as he was reaching his line. The next
minute Lieutenant Adair was hit.
Both he and Captain Boyd are dead.
believe.
Horses Going Down.
1.-The machine guns We're still going.
! could hear the bullets whiZZing over
us. Because of Lieutenant Adair's or
der we saved lot of men. But the
horses did not have the same luck. The
bullets started to hit them. and they
were going down rs if their legs were
suddenly cut out from under them.
THE others. stung by the bullets and
kicked by the dying horses, began to
rear and plunge. The men In charge
tried their best to hold them but they
broke away. Some of the men were
killed trying to save their mounts.
"When the horses got away we were
mnrooned. We fought back and pre-
vented the MeXicans from advancing
in spite Of their advantage in numbers
and the machine guns. We began to
fall back toward the hills as well as
we could.
I'VE recovered four horses and then
the four of us We're sent here to re-
port. We left the rest of the troops in
| the hills. The retreat was slow because
of the wounded. The MeXicans kept
curite rifle fire OF our men"