The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-20

ties.
 Within month after this barbarous | slaughter of inoffensive Americans it
 was noticed that Villa, was operating
 within 20 miles of Cusih1iriachic and | publicly stated that his purpose was
 to destroy American lives and proper 1 ty. Despite repeated and insistent de-
 mands that military protection should l be furnished to Americans, Villa open l ly carried on his operations, constant
 ly approaching closer and closer to l the border. He was not intercepted nor were his movements irnpeded by troops of the de facto government 3 ]
 no effectual attempt was made to frus- trate his hostile design against Amer jeans. In fact, as informed, while
 Villa and his band were slowly nov
 ing toward the American frontier in the neighborhood of Columbus, N. M.
 not a single Mexican soldier was seen 1 in his vicinity. Yet the Mexican au- | thoritfes were fully cognizant of his
 movements, for on March 6, as Gen | eral Gaviera publicly announced, he
 advised the American military authori-
 ties of the outlaws approach to the | border, so that they might be prepar- ed to prevent him from crossing tn O | boundary. Villas unhindered a,ctfvi-
 ties cu1ninated in the unprovoked and cold bIooded attack on American sol | diers and citizens in the town of Co., l details of which do not need repeti- | ton here in order to refresh your | memory with the hefnousn esss of the
 crime. After rnurdering, burning and
 plundering, Villa and his bandits, flee | ing south, passed within sight of the
 Carranzista military post at Casas
 Grandes and no effort was made to
 stop him by the officers and garrison
 of the de facto government stationed
 there.
 No Other Recourse
 In the face of these depredatfons
 not only on American lives and prop
 erty on Mexican soil, but on Ameri- | can soldiers, citizens and homes on l Am erfcan territory, the perpetrators of
 which General Carranza was unable or possibly considers it inadvisable to ap- 1 preh end and punish, the United States 1 had no recourse other than to employ ! force to disperse the bands of Mexican l outlaws who were with increasing l boIdness systematically raiding across 1 the international boundary. The mar
 auders engaged in the attack on Co., 1 1ur1bus were driven back across the | border by American cavalry and sub 1 seuuently, as soon as a sufficient force l to cope with the band could be col 1 1ected, we pursued into Mexico in an l effort to capture or destroy them.
 Without cooperation or assistance
 in the field on the part of the de facto l governnn ent, despite repeated requests
 by the United States, and without ap-
 parent recognition on it's part of the 1 desirabi1ity of putting end to these
 systematic raids, or of punishing the
 chief perpetrators of the crimes com
 mitted, because they menaced the l good relations of the two countries. | American forces pursued the lawless
 bands as far as Parra1, where the
 pursuit was halted by the hostility of | Mexicans, presumed to be loyal to the ] de facto government, who arrayed themselv on the side of out1awry
 and became in effect the protectors of T Villa and his bands.
 1 Action Was Imperative.
 In this manner and for these req 1 sons have the American forces en- | tered Mexican territory. Knowing (Continued on Page 2.)