Spray courier. (Spray, Or.) 1???-19??, 1916-04-06
u S Troopers, Under Colonel
DOdd, Attack 500 Bandits.
THIRTY.ONf DEAD IN SURPRISE FIGHT
villa, With Hip Shattered, Escapes in
Wagon End Of Gang Seems
Near a Americans Hit!

El Paso - Four hundred 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 carriage.
The battle opened at 8 o'clock in
the morning Of March 20.
The news of the brilliant exploit of
the American troopers was flashed
over the Mexican wires into Juarez
Saturday and sent a 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 fed, leaving 81 dead
IN the field, including their command
sr, General Eliseo Hernandez. Two
machine guns, several horses, rifles,
ammunition and equipment fell into
he hands Of the victors.
Among the known wounded is Pablo
Iopez, Villa lieutenant in the Colum-
'us raid. The American casualties
we're four privates wounded.
The American soldiers did not linger
n the field Of victory. For five hours
hey drove the enemy before them into
he wilderness Of mountain peak, des- ,
rt and canyon, where roads, or even
rails, are unknown and where q mis-
tep means death to horse and rider.
hey halted only after the chase had
ID them ten miles from the battlefield !,
nd the fugitives were scattered far
nd wide in little bands Of half dozen !,
len each.
Villas career has ended. His power
as been broken. His death or cap
Ire is question only Of days, per-
APPS only hours. Such is the newt
Bile conclusion reached here as little
Y little the details of "Dodd's ride"
,ep across the border. It seems i'm
ossible that the crippled, defeated
andit can remain hidden long even in
le mountainous wastes in which he
as sought refuge.
The scene of Colonel Dodd's victory
broad valley lying at the head Of
70 Rio Santa Mara. On the west
ere are barren foothills Of the con-
mental divide and to the east is
all, made famous by Villa, which
ads through the Laguna de Castillo
strict to the ill-famed Santa Ysabel.
was at the latter place that Villa
He'd 18 American mining men, a
ime which sent a thrill Of horror
roughout the United States and Il
arked the beginning Of what many
lieve to be the end of his blood
aimed career. It was toward Santa
label that he was believed to have
en- heading when the troopers of the
,ited States swept down from the 4
,rth on his camp.
From the meagre details which have
ached here from Mexican and Amer -
IN military sources, it appears that y
lionel Dodd's men made their way -
through the arroyos, or deep ~
lches, which split the foothills in all I"
'ections, and were almost in the ~
A1& L.