The Columbus weekly courier., 1920-11-26

proper determination Of the petit
ticn for psr,len involved W this
proceeding. because, under The
views that hold in this case,
there is another point ullioh 10 my
mind is absolutely conclusive IN ne
determination Of The proposition of
whether or not these defendants
arc guilty q The crime for which
they stand convicted. II II another
undispuied fact that all Of these
men were, as above stated private
soldiers In the ranks Of the army
commanded by General Fran
cisco villa I have examined
each one Of these mon aud
I find them. with possibly
three or four exceptions. 10 be
illiierate, belonging 10 the common
laboring class Of the people Of that
country; they all state that they
were forced and impressed into
service against their will. and by
force. II this be true, Il would
make their plea still more mcrilo-
rious; but granting, for The sake Of
argument and for the purpose of
maintaining the sovereignty and
sanctily Of the law. that that we're
NOT true, and that they were volun-
teers In Villas army. how would
the case stand ON This assumpii0ng
Theirs hut ~ DO and Dic-
II Is fact known 10 the aver
age layman, and even 10 the most
ignorant Of us, that under military
discipline, the common saldier.
known az a private IN the ranks is
never told what the objective ~
any military movement 4. pariic-
ularly when actually cnpar,d IN
hosiiliiies. Tho absolute, uncondi-
tional anu pass,ve obedience of Abe
common soldier 10 his superior OF
ficers h 81 commonly known. ~
well established. aud 40 rrlcnllcs.-
ly enforced. that Il has afforded a
theme for the poet. who. speaking
Of this soldiers obcdicncc iu stpr-
rior officers SAYS:
1T Is not for him TO ash ll,. reason
why,
II Is for him 20 obey. and die T.
What Information snrerior nai-
GERS may have touching the man
euvers and movements OF troops. Is
never communicated 10 the rank
and file Of The army; the common
soldier Is told 10 march, and he
must march; and when he & called
upon 10 fire, Il is his duty 10 Are
without asking The reason why; a
blind obedience by the common SOL
dier 10 the orders Of his superior
officer is 50 Internationally en-
forced that his failure 90 comply
viii subject him 10 couri-marlial
and oftentimes 10 suffer the death
penalty. Such was the condition of
these men. II Is a matter Of cur
rent history known 10 evnryhody IN
this country that Tor a great many
years General Francisco villa has
Kept an army lighting on one side
or the other OF the many revolu.
tons and cOunter-rcvolutio thnt
have eonvulsed Mexico for the pa.t
ten years. That Villa may have been
on ons side or the other y quite Inn
material, the main fact IN the case,
which cannot be denied. Is that he
kept an army regularly Onicered. a.
all armies are ofIicered, maintain
ing and enforcing therein thai de-
gree Of military discipline that re-
quiros aud eompels the rank and
ille thereof 10 obey the orders OF
superior officers; the above named
defendants belonged 10 that army.
and, In obedience 10 tho orders Civ
on TO them by their superior OIL
GERS, they marched 10 q point Of
destination unknown 10 them. and
for a purpose OF which they we're
equally ignorant except that, IN a
general way, as they understood Il.
they were going 10 fight The en-
envy These men say that although
they did not know where they
were going that the impression pre-
vailed among their number that
they were going 10 attack Carranza's
garrison al the border town OF Pa
Tomas. IN the state of chihuahila,
Mexico. II Is a fact that when they
IN pursuance OF superior orders, at
lacked the town Of Columbus, nol
one OF them knew that be was
standing on American soil aad at
were attacking on American seltle.
this plea adds further merit 10 their
defense and | use the words "fur-
thcr merit ndsisedly. hecnuse. evn
thonoh fhQv had lnnt.,n thai Inn.