The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-11
GEN. FUNSTON TO BE GIVEN FREE HAND IN
 DIRECTING PURSUIT
(COntinued from Page One,

lowers or continue to evade pursuit in scattered bands can only be guessed. De- partment officials realize however, that the field of operations may include a territory approximately 400 miles long and as many wide In any of these 100000 square miles Villa might operate with a certain knowledge of every trail and water hole. Villa always has shown a preference through his years of outlawing for the mountains that parallel the boun- dary line of the states of Chihuahua and Sonora when forced to retreat There is reason to believe he is making his way west and south to seek shelter in the hills. He is known to practically every peon there and in the south near Guer- rero, are the people among whom he was barn. 9S
 WILL BE HARD TASK Once back in the mountains and be- friended by those who fear him as well as those who idolize him, the bandits capture will tax American ingenuity. In hiding and lodging from place to place he is recognized as an adept and once ''The Fox was a popular sobriquet ap- piled to him.
 Should Villa concentrate his men, the problem of his capture would be simple, say officers here, but they do not an- ticipate that he can be lured into an open fight The most promising factor, from the American viewpoint is short age of ammunition. It is known that Villas men have been conserving their already reduced stock of cartridges and have no source from which to obtain more. Their guns are in bad condition and many weeks ago they lost practi- cally all their artillery and machine guns. It is doubted here if Villa has any cannon or more than two or three guns with little ammunition for them. The killing at Columbus of Pablo Lopez de- prived him of his most efficient aide The country through which Villa will be forced to fight or flee has been so harried in the last few years of civil war that the opportunities for forage have been greatly reduced. His own plan of driving off and selling herds of cattle has further reduced his means of con | tinuing the fight.
 BETTER IN DURANGO To the south of Chihuahua across sandy 1 and unproductive stretches of country l there are operating an unknown number of Villas men about Torreon and in the state of Durango. These have lately con l ducted daring raids and are said to be in | better shape than those Villa has with l him.
 l Carranza's army at the present time is | said to be not less than 5000 and he has l increased his store of ammunition. He
 has approximately 200 cannon, most oi
 them 75 millimetre guns of French 1 make. His supply of ammunition fol 1 these is not great, however.
 l The de facto forces and almost entirely divided in the north and south. Genera l Obregon has in Sonora, his own state ! or kl l<1.k
 equal number is operating against rebels
 in the states of Morelos, Oaxaca ant Puebla, south of Mexico City.
 In the region where Villa is operatins | small Carranza garrisons are located al
 most of the towns along the railroad from Juarez to Chihuahua and on the North
 western railroad, that make a wide sweeI l westward from Juarez to Chihuahua | This district includes Casas Grandes where there is Mormon colony, Madera where Americans and Canadians are em l ployed by a lumber concern, and Pear 1 son, where foreign interests also arr located. The 5000 troops Carranza toda.
 announced he had ordered to join in tn,
 pursuit of Villa, it is believed. will b. i taken from those garrisons.
 It was learned tonight that the stat department did not ask Ambassador Ar redondo to request permission of his gov ernment for American troops to ente Mexico or for the cooperation of tn
 dc facto troops because it wished to avoi' placing Carranza in an embarrassing DO
 sition. The department realized that i ! he were forced to refuse the despatch o the punitive expedition would be an ac of war, while for him to accede migh create friction for the first chief with tn radical element, always anxious to resen
 foreign interference regardless of the mo
 tive.
 Ambassador Arredondo merely was toll by Secretary Lansing of the decision o the President and tonight he sent thi information to Carranza. T