El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-16
s a means Of settling their diff

A a means VI EEAAAAL- NGEAa OH
a ferences and revolutionary
L , trouble in the state OF ChIhua-
hua, Francisco Villa has sent a chal-
lenge for a duel TO Gen. Francisco
Murguia. Carranza commander Of the
chihuahua military zone. The chal-
lenge was sent in an open letter
10 Murguia. a copy Of which has been
given to the Herald.
Your cynicisE reaches its limit
when you refer TO my personality.
which, although humble, you viii
never be capable Of judging" says
villa in the letter TO MurEuia. "On this
point ] VIII limit myself to saying
that on the field OF honor you are
worth little or nothing, and in oTder
10 prove this I, in most solemn
manner. challenge you TO 90 with me
20 the field Of honor and there meas
IRE our arms, we two alone. iu the
presence OF our troops, and I stand
ready AT on % u so 10 any place that
You may select, and upon the day on
winch you most desire TO die. because
7 have the conviction that I viii once
more demonstrate your cowardice-
-N on, senior Murguia, have said that
you are the man who viii capture
me. and in order 20 make IL easier
your desires. and also that time may
he saved. ] will confront you face TO
face, and II you esteem your honor
ut ALL YOU VIII repair imm ediately
90 the place that you yourself desig-
nate, and that ~ e measure our arms
in accordance with the challenge
which I have s0lemnly sent you"
villa Relates Many Fights.
Villas letter relates in detail the
various engagements he has had with
Murguia's troops in the states Of Chi
luahua and Durango He said that
on March u Murguia fled preCipi-
lately when his troops encountered
Villas troops at Rosario, Durango. /
and that NurEuia deserted his troops
while they were fighting. He com
the MurEuia battalion. who I
wore blue uniforms and red bands
liz the battle, saying that they fought
yalianty. all during a retreat from f.
la Eueda 10 PeIuadOS, chihuahua, .
where they were anuihilated-
My men captured the remaining .
60 men of the battalion, who were i'm +
medialely executed by my troops
villa said. Had I or one Of my sub I
Ordiuates arrived in time. we would D
have prevented the execution Of these I
brave men, who fought with sucn .
valOr 10 protect the wild flight Of
their 'jefe Nurguia.' who. by that time.
had Travelled more than Il leagues, .
that is TO say, from La Centara, Du-
range. 10 Peinados. Chihuahua
Claim Found 24OO Dead
"On searching the battlefield we
found more than 240O bodies OF your
men and a large quantity Of NUM-
-i1us OF war. Are you not hOrrifiedi
Are you not ashamed when you real
lie the magnitude of this catastrO-
Pine which has never been equaled in
the state OF Chihuahua In this ac-
ton alone you lost as many as your
predecessor. TreVino, did in several
These are the trlumphs HIGH the
singers OF your Elorles have en- Z
graved in letters Of gold on the pages 4
u your brilliant military record d
in the list OF battles Villa relates p
"a the Nu-gla letter are the follow d
uE- 2
Ayers Always Whipped MurEuiH. t
December /. 1915-In a skirmlsh G
which a part Of my troops had with a
ours at H0rCasitas, when we tenn C
,orarily evacuated Chihuahua 20 eN-
,hange il for TorreOn, you suffered d
B loss OF 200 men against my loss T
4 80. T
-December 70. 1g16-In the battle (
rhich we fought on this date at Ca I