Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1920-02-08
COLUMBUS RAID
STORY TOLD TO
FALL HEARING
Commanding Officer Was
Told of Its lmminence, but
Took No Precautions
OTHERS WERE PREPARED
Newspaperman Appeared on
Scene Two Days Ahead
nv The Associated PresS>

HSu 10 TdIu Columbus, y. NJ, recelN-
ed 80 little credence BY the command
ing officer there that when the at
tack was made on March 81. 1916. no
unusual precautions TO prevent a sur
prise had been taken, witnesses told
the senate subcommittee investigat-
ing the Mexican situation.
Lee Riggs. deputy customs collect
or. said he had been interpreter when
Col. III. j. Slocum. commanding the
army post, sent a Mexican scout into
Mexico % secure information con-
cerning the movements of Villas
troops. and he reported on the night
before the raid that body OF The
Mexicans was then marching on CO.
lumbus
W. +. Murphy. a telegraph oper-
ator, testified that message Of
warning from the American military
headquarters at Douglas also had
been sent to Colonel Slocum. and
other witnesses disclosed the knowl-
edge that the raiders were few
miles from Columbus was common.
Murphy told the committee that
G. X. Seese. an Associated Press cor
respondent, was 20 nearly convinced
a raid would be attempted that he
appeared in Columbus two or three
days before and made arrangements
for an extra telegraph operator to
assist III the transmission Of the story
he expected 10 write.
The accounts of the raid a. given
by the different witnesses agreed in
the statements that when the Mexi-
cans did appear they met no oppo-
sition until much Of their killing,
looting and burning had been ac-
complshed When they withdrew
they took with them many or the
American cavalry horses and left
seventeen dead Americans and al
most IS many wounded.
Trial Judge Testifies.
Judge +. l.. Medler. who tried and
convicted seven Of the captured
Mexicans. testified that urgent rep
reservations had been made to him
by the attorney general Of the United
States not TO proceed with he cases
on the ground that they should not
be tried in a civil court for murder,
since they were taken prisoners in
connection with an Invasion, and, he
added, "the messages delivered TO me
urged me to cease proceedings, and
said ! should hold up the case be-
cause il might result III diplomatic
complications with Mexico"
The judge refused 70 halt the pro-
ceedings, and seven of the men were
condemned TO death. Six were exc
cuted. the sentence Of the seventh
being changed to life Imprisonment
by the governor Of the state.
Received Message in Court.
Judge Medler told the committee
the suggestion that he halt the pro-
ceedings reached him through an
agent of the department of justice.
who gave 10 him IN open court the
message from the attorney general,
another from the military command
or Of the Southern department, and
third from either the secretary of
war Or the secretary Of state. he was
unable TO remember which.
n sent back word. said the wit
ness, that the men had been duly
indicted by the grand jury, and that
could see no reason for not pro-
ceedng with the trial told the
writers Of the messages there would
be no watchful waiting in my court.
Examination Of Mrs. Laura Ritch-
ic. widowed by the Mexicans on the
night Of the raid, developed the pos
sibility Of further discussion az TO
the legal classification OF raiders
She and her husband were operating
the largest hotel in Columbus. The
raiders burned it. and her efforts 10
obtain the insurance. she told the
committee, had been unsuccessful be-
cause the insurance company adhered
70 that clause IN the policy exempting
them from payment in case Of inva-
sion.
Describes Raid Graphically.
Mrs. Ritchie's description Of the
attack on the hotel where five Amer
leans were killed was graphic She
was dragged through the street to
one side when her husband was drag
ped off 10 be shot. The Mexicans
then ransacked the building IN search
Of pIunder, but not until they had
removed from her fingers, and those
of her three daughters, the rings
they wore. One Of her daughters
was eight years old. one fifteen, and
the other twenty. After they had
CONTINUED on page two)