The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1916-04-07
u. S. CAVALRY
| ROUTS VILLA BAND
Chief, Wounded and Crippled,
Escapes Before Battle.
AMERICANS LOss4W0UNDED
Capture Believed Question OF Days.
General EIisco Hernandez
Among Dead Left
On Field.

Eli FHSO, Texas. - rOuf buuulCu
American cavalrymen under the com
mand OF Col George A. Dodd. gallOp-
ing down from the granite slopes of
the great continental divide, have fall
en- on the main body of Francisco
Villas bandits at the San Geronimo
ranch, scattering them in many direc-
tions and driving the bandit chief,
wounded and crippled, to seek a hiding
place in the mountains. Villa was
hurried from danger in carriage.
The fight opened at o'clock In the
morning Of March Is and continued
for several hours. The news of the
exploit was flashed into Juarez and
sent a thrill along the border
Taken BY Surprise.
For IL hours the veteran Colonel,
with his picked troopers Of the
Seventh and Tenth Cavalry, drove
down the valley Of the Santa Marta
river Al the end of a 55-mile ride
they fen upon the unsuspecting Villa
camp, where 500 bandits were cele-
brating the massacre of 172 Carranza
soldiers two days previously at Guer-
rero
Villa, shot through the leg and with
one hip shattered, was hurried from
the scene, barely in time to escape the
onslaught OF the Americans. The
bandits made a brief but hopeless
stand before charge of Colonel Dodd
and his troopers Then they broke
and fed, leaving 81 dead on the field,
including their commander, General
Eliseo Hernandez. Two machine guns.
number of horses, rifles, ammunition
and equipment fell into the hands of
the Americans.
Pablo Lopez Wounded
Among the known wounded is Pablo
Lopez, Villas lieutenant in the Colum
bus raid. The American casualties
were four privates wounded.
! The American soldiers did not linger
on the field of victory For five hours
they drove the enemy before them into
the wilderness of mountain peak,
desert and canyon, where roads or
even trails are unknown and where
misstep means death to horse and
rider. They halted only after the chase
had led them 10 miles and the fugi-
tiyes were scattered into little bands
of half a dozen men each.
The extraordinary hold the bandit
chief has on his followers is shown by
the fact that their first thought was to
save him. Unable to walk or ride, he
was placed in a light wagon and driven
over the rough mountain trails to some
secret lair.
While 81 of the bandits are known
to have been killed, it is said the num-
Der may have been considerably larger.
Nothing is yet known as to the num-
Der OF wounded. although it is pre-
sumably in proportion to the dead
Three Murdered BY Bandits.
The last outrage credited to Villa oc-
cured at Minaca, town about 10
miles southeast of Guerrero on the
Mexico and Orient Railroad. Here the
Mexicans are reported to have muir
dered Herman Blankenburg. mine
foreman, and two other foreigners. It
is feared that the two unknown vic
TINS were Americans. Four Americans
Acklin, Hemple. Locke and DR.. Stellar
ARE known to have been in or near
Minaca recently
Prisoners Released.
After the battle on the San Ger0-
nimo ranch the American soldiers re- 4
leased large number of General Car
ranza's men whom the bandit chief
was holding. 1t is probable that it
was at the Guerrero massacre that
Villa was wounded
Excitiment in Ell Paso and along the
border is at fever heat In expectation
that at any moment the wires may
dash the news Of Villas death or cap.
xx1ra