The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1916-04-07
VILLA ROUTED;
WOUNDED in LEG.

81 MEXICANS NLLED---CARRANZA
men SET FREE---CARRIAGE SAVES
CHIEF.
Four hundred American cavalry
men, under command of Colonel
| George A. Dodd, galloping down from
the granite slopes of the great con-
tinental divide, have fallen on the
main body of Francisco Villas ban
dts at the San Geronimo ranch, scat
tering them in many directions and
driving the bandit chief, wounded and
crippled, to seek a hiding place in the
mountains. Villa was hurried from
danger in a carriage. The fight open
ed at 6 o'clock in the evening OF
March 80 and continued for several
hours.
| For II hours the veteran colonel,
with his picked troopers of the Sew
enth and Tenth Cavalry, drove down
the valley OF the Santa Maria River.
At the end of a 5I-mile ride they fell
upon the unsuSpecting Villa camp,
where 800 2andits were celebrating
the massacre of 172 CarranZa SOL
diers two days previously at Guer-
rero.
Villa, shot through the leg and with
one hip shattered, was hurried from
the scene, barely in time to escape the
onslaught Of the Americans. The
bandits made brief but hopeless
stand before a charge of Colonel
Dodd and his troopers. Then they
broke and fled, leaving 81 dead on
the field, including their commander,
General Eliseo Hernandez. Two ma
chine guns, a number of horses, rifles,
ammunition and equipment fell into
the hands of the Americans.
Among the known wounded is
Pablo Lopez, Villas lieutenant in the
Columbus raid. The American cas-
ualties 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, desert and canyon, where roads
or even trails are unknown and
where misstep means death to
horse and rider. They halted only
after the chase had led them 10 miles
and the fugitives were scattered into
little bands Of half a dozen men each.
Villas career has ended; his power
has been broken. His death or cap
ture is only a question of days, per-
haps only hours. Such is the lnevl-
table conclusion reached here as lit
tie by little the details of "Dodds
ride" reach the border. 1t seems i'm
possible that the crippled bandit can
long remain hidden, even in the noun
famous wastes in which he has
sought refuge.
The scene of Colonel Dodd's victory
is broad valley lying at the head of
the Santa Maria River. On the west
rise the barren foothills of the contl-
mental divide and to the east is trail
. made famous by Villa, which leads
through the Lagunda de Castillo dis
trict to Santa Ysabel. 1t was at the
latter place that Villa killed lS
American mining men, a crime which
sent a thrill of horror throughout the
United States and marked the begin
ming of what many believe to be the
end of his blood-stained career. 1t
was toward Santa Ysabel that he was
believed to be heading when the
troopers of the United States swept
down from the north upon his camp.
have reached here from Mexican and
American Military sources, Colonel
Dodd's men made their way unnoticed
through the arroyos, or deep gulches,
which split the foothills in all direc
tions and were almost in the camp
before the alarm was given. The ad-
vance guard crept up through arroyos
beyond the Villa outpoSts before they
were discovered, and the American
Springfield rifles moved down the
Mexicans as they sprang from their
pallets.
Villa himself was in a little tent
in the rear of the encampment and
took no acti"e part in the engagement
leaving the direction of his troops to
General Hernandez.
The extraordinary hold the bandit
chief has on his followers is shown by
the fact thai their first thought was
to save him. Unable to walk or ride,
he was placed in light wagon and
driven over the rough mountain trails
to some secret lair.
While 81 If the bandits are known
to have been killed, it is said the num-
Der may have been considerably larg-
er Nothing is yet known as to the
number of wounded although it is
presumably IL proportion to the dead.
Columbus, n. NJ, April 1.-Two hum
dred American cavalry under Col. w.
&C. Brown, Tenth Cavalry, defeated an
equal force of Villa followers in the
second engagement of the campaign
at Aguas Calientes, 80 miles north of
Guerrero, on April |.
This report was brought to General
Pershing today by two Mexican ranch
men, who said that the Mexican forces
lost 80 men and 40 horses, while the
Americans suffered no casualties.
The Tenth Cavalry is composed Of
negro troopers.
| Matthew's