Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-08-23

,ano 9sud moLl psnunuoOj
ure OF Captain Leonard F. Matlack to
pay the entire amount Of the ransom
to the bandits. Last night the gen
eral announced that he had modified
his original view Of the affair since
hearing Matlack's own story, accord
ing to which Matlack overheard two
Of the Mexican bandits discussing a
plan to ambush and kill both Mat
lack and Lieutenant Paul H. Davis,
| the captive aviator after the last
/ ransom payment had been made This
fact, General Dickman stated, has
put an entirely different light on the
! matter.
Excuse for Treachery.
"My position was that the promise
Of the great government should be
kept at all COSTS" said the general
today. 81 do not think that Captain
! Matlack fully realized this fact,
since he told me that he did not know
! the payment Of the ransom was au-
thorized by the government, but
; thought it was raised by cattlemen.
"He was in some danger of being
cut off with Lieutenant Davis at the
time he made the dash, but he did
very brave thing to go two miles
into Mexico alone at night to rescue
| the aviators and it is appreciated.
GAS l stated to Washington in my
telegram, if we did not keep our
promise, we would furnish excuse for
treachery in the future, which situa-
ton would leave us no basis for ne
gotiation should things again be
picked up under similar circum-
stances"
General Dickman reiterated his
previous statement that no more
troops will be sent from here into
Mexico at this time, but he added
that efforts were being made to OBJ
tain more places to maintain liasson
with troops in Mexico. The general
said that SO far he had heard nothing
about additional planes, but that he
hoped to have them soon. He ex
planned that more machines were
necessary as the distance from the
border to the expedition increased.
! One airplane broke it's rudder con-
troll yesterday but landed safely in
! Mexico.
The scene Of operations in Mexico
at present and for the immediate flu
ture is the country over which Villa
operated in November, 1917, when he
attacked and captured Ojinaga and
: threatened Preside, Texas.
1t is believed today that at least
one of the bandits is in the vicinity
of the place where the Villa rebels
in the Ojinaga district made their
headquarters in the mountains.
Ildefonoso Sanchez, another Villa
leader. was seen in the same district
in which the Americans are operat-
ing, several months ago. He has
small bands, scattered through the
the mountains.
American troops are taking every
precaution to prevent an ambush that
might prove another trap like that
at Carrizal, at the time Of the Per-
ishing expedition. The troops sleep
and stand guard in rotation TO pre-
vent surprise attacks.
Carranza troops under General
Pruneda are at Cuchillo Parade and
there is another federal command at
San Jose. opposite Indio, Texas. They
have made no effort to prevent ope-
rations by American troops.
Troops Not Recalled.
Washington, Aug. 22.-The war de-
partment up to a late hour had TAX
en- no action toward hating the
southwark advance Of the EIGHTH
cavalry troops in the Texas Big Bend
district.
While officials continued to main
tain silence regarding the scope or
secondary purpose of the expedition,
Secretary Baker declared that so far
as he knew, orders recalling the force
had not haan sent
The extreme reticence of every
state and war department official led
today to the report that the situation
was being handled directly from the
White House and that reports deal
ing with both military and diploma
tic features on receipt here are sent
Ito President Wilson.
Alleged Bandit Slain.
. Aqua, Prieta, Aug. 22.-Federal Of
ficials today announced Jose Casillas
said to have been one of the mounted
bandits who on May IA, robbed the
Banco Mercantile at Cananea, looted
a number of stores and killed severa
persons including the chief of police
was killed while resisting arrest al
Cumpas yesterday.