The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1916-04-07
U. 5. Troopers, Under Colonel
Dodd, Attack 500 Bandits.
ThIRTY-ONE DEAD IN SURPRISE FIGHT
Villa, With Hip Shattered, Escapes in
Wagon End Of Gang Seems
Near a Americans Hit!

FL FaSO - -Four nunQreQ American
cavalrymen, under the command of
Colonel George A. Dodd, whirling
down from the granite slopes of the
great continental divide, have fallen
like thunderbolt on the main body
of Francisco Villas bandits at the San
Geronimo ranch, scattering them like
chaff in the wind, and driving the
bandit chief, wounded and crippled, to
seek hiding place in the mountains
over which he has ruled for so many
years. Villa was hurried from danger
in a carriage.
The battle opened at 6 o'clock in
the morning of March 29.
The news of the brilliant exploit of
the American troopers was flashed
over the Mexican wires into Juarez
Saturday and sent thrill along the
border. For II hours the veteran
Colonel Dodd and his picked riders of
the Seventh and Tenth Cavalry drove
down the valley of the Santa Maria
river. At the end of a 55-mile ride
they burst upon the unsuspecting camp
where 500 bandits were celebrating
the massacre of 172 Carranza soldiers
two days previously at Guerrero.
Villa, shot through the leg and with
one hip shattered, was hurried from
the scene barely in time to escape the
onslaught of the soldiers of the North.
The bandits made brief but hope
less stand before the fierce charge of
Colonel Dodd and his troopers. Then
they broke and fled, leaving 81 dead
on the field, including their command
er, General Eliseo Hernandez. Two
machine guns, several horses, rifles,
ammunition and equipment fell into
the hands of the victors.
Among the known wounded is Pablo
Lopez, Villa 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, des-
ert and canyon, where roads, or even
trails, are unknown and where a mis-
step means death to horse and rider.
They halted only after the chase had
led them ten miles from the battlefield
and the fugitives were scattered far
and wide in little bands of half dozen
men each.
Villas career has ended. His power
has been broken. His death or cap
t,lre is question only of days, per-
haps only hours. Such is the newt
able conclusion reached here as little
by little the details of "Dodd's ride"
seep across the border. It seems i'm
possible that the crippled, defeated
bandit can remain hidden long even in
the mountainous wastes in which he
has sought refuge.
The scene of Colonel Dodd's victory
is broad valley lying at the head of
the Rio Santa Mara. On the west
there are barren foothills of the con-
tinental divide and to the east is a
trail. made famous by Villa, which
leads through the Laguna de Castillo
district to the ill-famed Santa Ysabel.
1t was at the latter place that Villa
killed 18 American mining men, a
crime which sent thrill of horror
throughout the United States and
marked the beginning of what many
believe to be the end of his blood
stained career. 1t was toward Santa
Ysabel that he was believed to have
been heading when the troopers of the
United States swept down from the
North on his camp.
From the meagre details which have
reached here from Mexican and Amer
lean military sources, it appears that
Colonel Dodd's men made their way
unnoticed through the arroyos, or deep
gulches, which split the foothills in all
directions, and were almost in the
camp before the alarm was given.