Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-02-08
STORY Of RAID
ON COLUMBUS IS
TOLD AGAIN BY
EYE WITNESSES
Colonel SIocum Had Been
Fully Warned But Took
,,s,.4 No Notice of Danger; Town
isaadSSSe4s ! Undefended,
JUU6L MEDLER TELLS
OF DEMING TRIAL
No WatchfuI Waiting In His
Cout, Response to Re-
quests By Federal Gov
ernnent for Delays,

VI lllClIl W. CGIG y OF
tsr MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED wipEf
III Paso, Tex, Feb. Repeated
warnings that Mexicans had,
planned to raid Columbus, n. NJ,
received so little credence by tho
commanding officer there that
when the attack was made on
March 9, 1916, no unusual precau-
tions to prevent n surprise had been
taken, witnesses today told the
senate subcommittee investigatinl.
the Mexican situation. Lee Riggs.
a deputy customs collector, said he
had been the interpreter when Col.
II. j. Slocum, commanding tho
army post, sent into Mexico a Mex
lean scout to secure information
concerning the movements OF
Villas troops, and when he re-
ported on the night before the raid
that a body of Mexicans was then
marching on columbus. w. f. Mur-
ply, a telegraph operator, testified
that a message of warning from
the American military headquar-
ters at Douglas also had been sent
TO Colonel Slocum, and other wit
nesses declared the knowledge that
the raiders were a few miles south
OF COLUMBUS was common.
A. II. Man There.
Murphy told the committee that
II. l.. Seese, an Associated Press
correspondent. was so clearly con-
vinced that a raid would be at.
tempted that he appeared in CO.
llmbus two or three days before it
did occur and made arrangements
to have sent there an extra teIe-
graph operator to assist in the
transmission Of the story he ex4
pected TO write.
The accounts OF the raid as CIV
en- by the different witnesses agreed
in the statements that when the
MeHicans did appear they met no
opposition until much Of their KILL
ing, looting and burning had been
When they did with
draw they took with them many
Of the American cavalry horses
and left seventeen dead Americans
and almost as many wounded.
Judge r.. L. Medler, who tried
and convicted seven of the can
tnred MeXlcans, testified that mr.
gent representations had been
made TO him by the attorney gen
eral of the United States not TO
proceed with the case. on the
grounds 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 urging me to cease proceedings,
said ! should hold up the case be-
cause 1t might result In diplomatic
complications with Mexico The
Judge refused to halt the proceed
ings and seven Of the men were
condemned to death. Six were ex-
ecuted. the sentence of the seventh
being changed to life imprlson-
ment by the governor OF the state.
No Watchful Waiting.
Judge Medler told the committee
the suggestion that he halt the
proceedings reached him through
an agent of the department of Jus
tice who gave to him in open court
the message from the attorney gem
eral, another from the military
of the southern depart
ment and a third from either the
secretary of war or the secretary
of state he was unable TO remem-
ber from which. II sent back
word" said the witness, that the
men had been duly indicted by the
grand jury and that could see no
reason for not proceeding with the
trial. told the writer's of the mes
sages there would be no watch
full waiting in my court"
Examination of Mrs. Laura
Ritchie, widowed by the Mexicans
on the night of the raid, developed
the possibility of further discussion
as to the legal classification of the
raiders. She and her husband were
operating the largest hotel in Coz
lumbus. The raiders burned 1t and
her efforts to obtain the insurance,
she told, the committee, had been
unsuccessful because the Insurance.
company adhered to that clause IN
the policy eXempting them from
payment in case of invasion.
Tells Graphic Story.
Mrs. Ritchie's description or tue
attack on the town and especially
on the hotel, where five Americans
were killed. was graphic, She was
thrust TO one side when her hus-
band was dragged off to be shot
Meyicans then ransacked the build
ing in search of plunder 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 ~,
After they had been rescued from
the burning building by neighbor
the fifteen -year-old girl insisted
she was going out of the building
where they had been hidden to re-
cover her fathers body. which she
had seen on the way to their hid
ing place. Against protests she
started and when not more than a
few feet from the house her coat
was pierced by bullets.
Edwin G.. Dean was another wit
ness who described the fighting.
His father was killed. He was
twice wounded but succeeded IN
escaping from the town with his
wife in an automobile. L. l.. Burk-
head offered further information
in corroboration of that of other
witnesses as to the general appre-
henSion of a raid that had pre-
vailed He said that on March 5
only two of the thirty Mexican