The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-18
VILLAS BANDITS RUSH CHIHUAHUA, | BUT ARE ROUTED With 1000 Men, Chieftain Makes Good Boast He Would Attack City.
 TREVINO WOUNDED
 IN 13-HOUR FIGHT Leaders Directed Engagement From Outskirts, Report
 of Fight Says

Ell Paso, Sept. 1S.-Frakeisco Villa
 withNa force numbering upward or thousand men. attacked Chihuahua City, Mexico, Saturday, according te
 an official statement issued last even ing by Gen. Fancirsco Gonzales in Ju' arez The statement says Villa was
 repulsed, with 157 dead and S7 taken prisoners. The de facto gpvernments : casualties are not stated. In addition to those killed anu taken prisoners, there were num- Der of slightly wounded who succeed ed in making their escape. Included
 in theA list of dead are some seriously
 wounded who were executed after cap ture. Gen. Francisco TreVlno, com
 mander of the Division of the North
 east, was wounded in te left shoulder, but continued to lead his troops In
 person until the last of the V1lllstas
 were routed.
 Because of the attack on Chihuahua
 City the state capital was placed uh- der martial law and the decree was
 extended today to embrace the state. Fought Thirteen Hours
 The battle, according to details maoe
 public last night by Gen. Gonzales
 lasted 13 hours. Villa had previously given warning that he would attack
 on Mexican Independence Day, Sept. l6, but no weight was attached to
 the declaration. At 4 o'clock Tn the
 morning, however, the capital was at
 tackled from the west, east and north.
 The defending troops consisted oI
 about 2,0O0 men.
 The Villistas, with a rush into town, gained possession of the penitentiary and were aided by the prisoners, whom
 they liberated and partly equipped with arms The government troops, rallying at the barrcks, 'shelled the penitentiary and speedily caused US evacuation, the rebels realizing the po- sition was untenable.
 Other bands of Villistas, proceeding according to a carefully prepared plan, gained foothold in the State Palace and Federal building. Here the hot test fighting took place, lasting TOT
 hours. Machine guns and to some e>' tent field pieces were used by the gov
 ernment troops and extensive property
 damage resulted.
 The rebels fought with the utmost
 desperation. It was remarked by gov ernment officers that the Villistas were
 invariably tall, well conditioned Mex jeans, apparently the pick of the Chi
 huahua and Durango mountain men.
 Weight of numbers and munitions the government.
 Wounded Slain Where They Lay. The surrounding of >the buildings
 was completed about noon, and late in the afterpoon the government troops come into hand-to-hand contact with
 the rebels. Bloody fighting ensued in
 which the remnant of the Villistas es- capsd, together with the slightly woInded. Those taken prisoners were overpowered in the palace. their am- munition exhausted. The wounded were executed where they lay. At just what stage of the fighting Gen, Ire vina was wounded was pot stated in the off1cia' reports received by Gen. Gonzales The 87 prisoners were taken from the penitentiary early Sunday morning and were executed.
 Villa himself did not lead the at- tack, but directed the movement of
 his men from the outskirts of the city. Government reports last night have Villa fleeing toward Santa Ysa- bel, to the west, along the Mexican Northwestern railroad with the rem nant of his men. He is being pur- sued by constitutionalist cavalry, Gen,
 Gonzales said. | Gen. Trevino telegraphed the declar- ation of martial low would not affect llaw-abiding uersons, but only bandits
 or those in sympathy with bandits. He
 explained that its provisions swept
 aside courts martial and gave district
 commanders power to deal summartly
 with any cases coming before them. Just what part was taken in the fighting by civilians of the state cap ital is not explained in the government announcements. That an outbreak o1 some proportions must have occurred was indicated by the immediate dec
 laration of martial law in the city and state.
 tTeT of Capturing 16 Bandits. | Army motor truck drivers arriving at the border say an American cavalry squadron operating 15 miles south o1 | Namiquapa surrounded and captured
 band of 16 bandits last Monday. One of the prisoners, according to report
 revealed the hiding place of a quan. tity of arms and amn'unition. sPris. oners and munitions are said to have
 been brought to Colonii- Dublan in mo. l tor trucks. saf
 This report follows ono current here a few daysfago that Gen. Pershing, or information that a small party o1
 armed Mexicans was operating below
 Namiqvipa, had despatched a batta1.
 ion of Infantry by motor trucks to re-
 inforce the American garrison at tha
 point.