New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1923-07-20

of his father and then he and his
mother and sister went to Western
Chihuahua. There he became cow
boy. Many stories have been told
as to how he became an outlaw but
the one most generally accepted Is
that 1t was because he killed a cap
tain in one of President Diaz regi-
ments. Diaz then placed 81 price on
his head. 1t was at this time that he
changed his name to Villa. He organ
lied band of outlaws and became
terror to the rich land owners and
mining men of Northern Chihuahua,
robbing them and sharing the spoils
with his followers and the impover-
ished poems.
When the Madero revolution against
Diaz occurred in 1910. Villa became
a military leader in that movement. At
one time he was arrested and sent to
Mexico City by General Victoriano
Huerta. He was condemned to death
by a military court for insubordina-
ton. Madero saved his life. Villa
later escaped and fed across the Texas
border
Re-Enters Fight
Huerta became dictator after Ma.
dero's assassination in 1913 and when
Carranza revolted against Huerta in
Coahuila, Villa re-entered Mexico to
fight for Carranza and organize
campaign against the man who had
imprisoned him. Poems tiocked to his
standard and he is said to have gath
cred an army of $4,000 men.
Villas first great victory against the
Huerta troops was at Ojinaga After
the battle, 1000 men and eight gen.
erals of the federal army took refuge
in the United States and were in
termed. In other fights, including San
Pedro, de las Colonias, Paredon and
Torreon, Villa was also triumphant.
Then came an estrangement between
Villa and Carranza and when the lat
ter made his triumphal entry into
Mexico City, following the retirement
of Huerta, the bandit leader declared
war upon the new president Villa
had been one of the Independent
chiefs who had made and formulated
the plan of Guadalupe which made
Carranza first chief of the constitu-
tionalist forces.
With Emilio Zapata, another ban
dit chieftain opposed to Huerta, Villa
made common cause. The two occu-
pied Mexico City with their troops,
forcing Carranzas retirement to Vera
Cruz. General Alvaro Obregon. la
ter successor to de la Huerta to the
presidency, and loyal to Carranza, led
an army out to meet them. At &C.
laya, Irapuato and Cllao he defeated
the Vila-Zapata forces. In those bat
ties, Obregon lost an arm and Villa
lost his prestige as a commander. The
Villa and Zapata followers were dis
persed. One disaster followed an
other and Villa retreated across the
mountains to Sonora where he join
ed forces with the Yaqui chieftain
I -rbaleto.
In the years that followed, and up
to the time of the Columbus, n. M,
raid. Villas influence as a military
leader steadily waned. OBJECTIONS
from Villas ranks continued, many
of his generals leaving him and ac-
cepting amnesty of the Carranza gov
eminent. Villa sent his wife across
the border and with only few hun
dred men resumed the bandit raids for
which in earlier years he had been
notorious.
Then came the overthrow of the
Carranza regime, the rise of the de la
Huerta provisional government and
the election of Obregon. Obregon had
proved Villas master in the field. On
May q, 1920, three federal forces
started out to capture Villa and the
following July. as 5000 men were
closing in on him, he agreed to ali
and surrendered to General
l:ugenio Martinez at Sabinas. practi-
caily on his own terms.