New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-28

After long, close silent scrutiny of me
he spoke again:
Here you see me- senorita simple farmer
who knows nothing of what is going on in
the outside world One so isolated he does
not even see paper. Anything that such a
man can say to be of interest to you l cannot
imagine; but I am at your service, and you
are welcome. | have been expecting you for
two days. The car has been waiting for you
in Rosario all that time, that you might not
arrive and suffer disappointment But I am
afraid that have little here that please
you-only ranch. senorita, ranch that has
been totally destroyed and that is very slow
in rebuilding. ! give all my mind to this
work, and my give all their will, but we
are struggling against great difficulties, and
it is slow. Perhaps you will do me the honor
to return to my house in years time; and
then l shall be more able to entertain you.
AS soon as you have rested l shall show you,
with pleasure, the little that there is now to
be seem
He sighed. And here I got my next inn
preston of Villa, the one that was to grow
stronger, the impression of great, Of profound
sadness.
care you not contented here, mi general
mo, I am not, but"-he hesitated--"I
should not say that
You find it lonely here"
mo, no. Not that! 1t is in lonely places
| find my life, senorita"
His spirit seemed to lift little. He laughed,
delightful hearty laugh, with little twink
!, ;uI Iirb
II remember, one day during the revo.u-
ton, came across newspaper in deserted
rancho. 1t said in big letters: Nothing is
left to Villa but the mountain tops ! roared
with laughter at those reporters. Nothing is
left to Villa I said to myself: But what he
likes best, the mountain tops The laugh,
the sigh, then
But Your brothers of the papers have not
always made me laugh, senorta. In fact, !
think no man has ever suffered much as /
from the receptions of the press; been
brutally misinterpreted, 'Vula el bdndido.'
'.tTua, Ell asesinado Villa, Ell enim,igo de los
Americanos Senorita, am not bandit and
not assassin and | am not an enemy
of Americans. Surely you must believe that
or you would not have come here as you have.
| have killed men, but I am soldier. And
never have lifted my hand against Amer
lean just American. Will you believe
me when / tell you that I did not go into
Columbus and that l knew nothing of the
massacre of Santa Ysabel?" He stared at mo
steadily long moment. Then
You must remember that have had thou
sands of men under my leadership, and that,
due perhaps to the defeat of arms or due
to the inability to get food, there have come
times of almost complete disorganization, when
but few of the most loyal remained with me,
directly subject to my orders, and the rest
broke up into small bands, roaming the cour-
try at will. l was not responsible for these
separated bands. I could not be. But, oh,
how many depredations these have committed
in my name before could turn my hand and
my vengeance against then.'
He seemed to be bordering the whole mat
ter deeply. Then he went on more lightly:
''Of course, some of the things they say have
done have done. These do not deny 1t is
true, for example. that I kidnapped an Ameri
can called Joe Askew and held him for ran
SON. Would you like to know something o.
the circumstances of that kidnapping seno
rita?" Again the cynical smile, and:
ut WAS like this: A certain America,
mining company here needed desperatel.
to transport 81 oo0,2o worth of silver bullo,
from their snelter to the main line. Not hav
ing the confidence they perhaps should hav
had-it is not for me to say-in the Carranz
troops, they asked my aid to transport tina
s1ooo,o0o in safety. Asked. Solicited. No
tce that, senorita. They offered to pay me
certain sum, say, 100000 pesos, if l accom-
plished it for them. Well l and my me
escorted that silver bullion to the main lin
at Jilninez, where you came through Yer
good. But at that time ! did not nee
all the pay promised me, so arranged to tax
half and leave half-on call Very good By
but eefIorita some months Jater ~h.r