Omaha daily bee., 1916-03-25

Tommy" Tompkins OF the Seventh cav
airy, spread his advance guard out. In
the form Of a wide fan. the riders Of
the guard galloped southwark The tenn
per OF the Mexiesns was still a matter
OF speculation. There were officers who
would not have been surprised TO see the
entry OF the United States forces opposed
at the boundary.
But there were no Mexlcans at the
border gate. and none were seen on the
march to Palomas Only two bodies OF
armed men were encountered by either
Of the columns on the march here At
Ascension Ramon IL Gomez had 100 Car
rama soldiers and told Colonel Slocum
he did not know whether to fight or let
the American column peaceably pass on.
After an exchange of official visits dur
ing which he observed at the American
camp, the assembly of men and guns. he
decided to accept the United States army
officers statement that Carranza had
agreed 20 the entry OF the troops unop-
posed.
Calls Them yellow Jackets.
The other body Of troops were encount-
cred here Saturday. March IS Major
l1lizaldo Reyes. who said he was pro-
ceeding to Casas Grandes, from MADEIRA
after scouting for villa, was startled to
see American troops in this vicinity. His
men referred to them as yellow jackets" I"
He stopped one OF the guides OF the col
umn and asked TO be taken TO the
American commander to assure him that
his forces. consisting of thirty-six men.
were not ''Villistas" and in turn he as
sured that they would not be fired upon
Major Tompkins' advance guard, with
riders at intervals OF twenty yards
swept the country between the border
and Palonas and stirred nothing but
jack rabbits.
Major James A. Ryan of the Thirteenth
cavalry. acting chief OF staff to Gen
eral Pershing. found at Palomas Just two
human beings. a crippled Mexican. de-
scribed by the American guides as tho
most cunning horse thief along the border
and his wife. The only other living things
were few stray dogs which nightly
fought the coyotes for the remains OF
cattle slaughtered by the Carranza garrf-
son and the Villa troops.
Makes BOca Grandes.
1nfantrymen were posted all along the
IouNO " SpiOlua OAu-
Ian to guard the line Of communications.
engineers maintained the road for wagon
trains and motor trucks. Colonel slo-
Gums column made Boca Grandes from
Palomas March 16. This was the point
from which villa started on his raid on
Columbus. 1t was near Boca Grandes
that Villa captured and murdered Arthur
Kinney. a roundup boss for the Palomas
Land and Cattle company. and three
other Americans before the raid
! American soldiers found the body OF
one Of the victims, battered and mutt
lated and in such a condition that II
could not be recognized. An officer also
picked up in the abandoned villa en-
campment an expense note of 9. r. Wat
son. leader of the party of eighteen em-
ployes of the Cusl Mining company, who
were slaughtered by Pablo Lopez, a
villa lieutenant at Santa Ysabel.
Men and officers of these columns were
not permitted to drink water that had
not been previously tested. They were
forbidden to enter Mexican houses for
fear of typhus. The result was that all
arel healthy and in good condition. The
orders issued by the commanding general
provided also that no towns should be
occupied. For that reason the temporary
base here was established two miles out
side of Colonia Dublan and four miles
| from Nueva Casas Grandes, where the
Carranza authorities maintain small gar
rison.
Ready TO Cooperate.
Army officers said they found Car
rama officers, both civil and military,
ready to accord hearty cooperation IN
the task OF hunting down Villa and his
bandit band. The intelligence depart
ment of the American punitive expedi-
ton. headed by Major Ryan, received
much information from Carranza sources.
American colonists near the old town of
Casas Grandes. southwest of the army
camp. declared the feeling among the
Mexicans there was tense. but there has
been no evidence of 1t.
The American troops brought in the
first silver money some of the Mexicans
had seen in years, and willingly paid
double the prices that prevail within the
| boundary for food and the rough, dirty
and strong native tobacco. There was,
in fact. so little metal money among
either the Mexicans and the small band
of American Mormons who have braved
the dangers of reported villa raids. that
many were unable to provide change for
| silver dollar. The one Chinese store
keeper found in Nueva Casas Grandes
was asked what he would give for an
American S. bill. He opened his cash
drawer and with an expressive motion of
the arms and hands indicated that he
was willing to exchange for It the bale
of Carranza and Villa paper money It
contained.
Lose Twelve Mules.
Marching slowly on account OF the
trains the head of the first column did
not enter the base camp here until Mon
1 day at noon after a march OF 157 miles
from Columbus The machine gun troops
Of the Thirteenth cavalry, the wagon
trains and other units lost altogether
! twelve mules.
The second or flying column. which, un-
der General Pershing's personal COM
mand. made the dash from Culbertson'a .
ranch, lost three mules. The transport
animals Of the latter however. were more
lightly burdened.
General Pershing's cavalry and escort
crossed the boundary at 317 o'clock
! Thursday morning March l6. 1t was a
brilliant moonlight night.
! The sun rising over the mountains RaVe