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Show .PartchO: Villa a Barbarian Chief, Sav Enemies Friends Declare He Is Kind-hearted, Leader jpRAlTCISCO VTT'T.A, risen from a hunted mountain outlaw to tho greatest, general of the Mexican robel forces. In tho extreme upper left, "Poncho" as he is nicknamed, stands with, a follow officer beside a great pile of captured, muskets. To the right is a scono on the battlefield, showing a squad of Villa's men serving a small pieco of artillery. Below is another scene from tho field, illustrating tho method of transportation sometimes employed. Villa Is noted for Ms quick, docisivo raids, by train, horses or auto. . ' i . Scion of Northern Mexico Family Became Bandit and Now Known as 'General.' PANCHO VILLA is, according to his enemies, the most bloodthirsty, revengeful re-vengeful and barbarous chieftain Imaginable, Im-aginable, "half Indian and half beast," a creature to bo viewed only with detestation and repulBlon. To his friends, however, ho is a man drlvon to a Robin Hood life by a regime of tyranny, forced to wild nets of outlawry out-lawry In solf-prescrvation, a being at heart most gentle and humane, and be-como be-como by the strange vicissitudes of Mexico Mex-ico the victorious general who may In u month or two march Into Mexico City, triumphant, at the head of 'his rough, unkempt un-kempt troops. All accounts of Villa start with, bis first slaying. Before that he Is only lenown as a six-foot scion of one of the best families fami-lies In northern Mexico, proud, haughty, athletic, a dead shot, and a born leader. He was left the guardian of his sister, a dark-eyed beauty, on the deatli of hla father. A jefn politico, or high sheriff, who lived near the Villa ranch, eloped with the girl who had been left In Poncho's Pon-cho's care. There was no maniaso, whether by tho girl's acquiescence or not history Is sllont. But Pancho decided tho stain on the "scutcheon could only bo removed re-moved by the death of the sheriff. Arranges Marriage. Mounting his swiftest horse, he galloped gal-loped after tho elopers, caught them and arranged their marriage. Then ho forced his brother-in-law to sign his own death warrant, dig his own grave and llo down on tho mound at tho side of 1U Ho deliberately de-liberately shot tho bridegroom and rolled the body Into tho pit, which he then flllod 1 with earth. What tho slBter was doing during these proceedings is not chronicled. The father of the dead Bherlff rode out to the Villa ranch, nnd was Bhot dead as he knocked at the door. Then Pancho fled Into the hills, and a price was placod upon his head by Porflrlo Diaz. That's the way tho story is usually told. But others say there was one day a row in an ador hut patronized by the gamblers gam-blers of Chihuahua, and nn army officer was shot dead. The assailant escaped to tho hills and becamo "Pancho tho Bandit," tho terror of northern Mexico. All through his life this double version runs. Recently there camo a story of his capturing a woman and marrying her by force. Then, It was related, sho fell in lovo with hor savage husband and was content to follow him in his campaigns. This' tale rriay bo true and then, again, it may be true, ns others say, that he is most faithful to tho girl of tho people he married in San Andreas four years ago. Pillaged Estates. To lead up to this earlier and more authenticated au-thenticated .marriage, it is necessary to go back a bit Whon he fled after his first slaying ho gathered about himself a body of wild men of tho mountains, outlaws like himself. Far and wide ho pillaged the estates of the Diaz adherents Some say ho exorcised llttlo discrimination In his takings. At any rate, by 1010 ho had gained tho dignity of head of an Irregular army, with which ho marched from his mountain principality to San Andreas, about thirty-five miles west of the city of Chihuahua. There ho made his headquarters head-quarters and married, He provided tutors tu-tors for tho girl wife, so that she might gain the schooling of which she had been deprived. He himself took advantago of the. opportunity to study, and among other oth-er things, is said to have at this time galnod IiIh fnlr knowledge of English. This agrees with the plcturo of the Villa who recently wa3 much Impressed by tho lessons in international law he cnanood to receive and who announced he would Immediately substitute these principles prin-ciples for his former less merciful code. But those who see tho darker sldo sny that Huerta Is a. aalnt compared to Villa and that every decent-minded citizen In Moxlco Bhuddcra at tho thought of tho outlaw of thei Chihuahua mountains in tho national palace of Mexico City. First Step Upward. Madcro'3 recognition of Villa gave hlrn his first step upward from tho condition of outlaw leader. Madero commissioned tho bandit a oolonel and thus mado It possible for Villa to enter Chihuahua, which ho had left a murderer ton years before, as a conqueror. VUIa3 fierce nature and his wild Jealousy Jeal-ousy made him a difficult man for Madero Ma-dero to handle. His two rivals wero Pnscnal Ororco nnd Garibaldi, the grandson grand-son of tho Italian liberator. In tho battles near Ahumada and Caaas Qrandes, engagements which were to complete tho triumph of Madero. "Pancho tho TJger," aa they then cnlled Villa, fought like the beast whose name had beon given to him. Ho was Inspired In-spired by desire for vengeance against Dlax, declare some, not by lovo of country coun-try or his follow man. Who can suy? In tho capturo of Juarez by Mndero. Villa did moat of the fighting nnd the other two lieutenants got most of the orcdlt in the newspapers. That is tho wny Villa Is enld to havo figured. He came over to El Paso to kill Garibaldi on American soil one Punday arternoon. Thore are dlfferont versions of what happened, but the truth seems to be that tho United States army officers saved the young Italian from his savage enemy. Becomes a "General." During most of tho Mndero regime Pancho led an exlKtenco so peaceful it must havo seemed 3trange to him. Then five or six months ago ho began to loom large again. He was now no longer the bandit ho wns "General Villa" at tho head of Kevcral thousand men, capturing cap-turing city nftor city, wresting from the merchants and mine owners millions of dollars and winning battles by tho very terror of his nn mollis mo-llis greatest feat was his Bccond capturo cap-turo of the city of Juarez. Retreating northward from Torreon. hemmed between be-tween two forces of federals, he met and captured a youthbound federal troop train. Almost. Instantly ho had seized tho nearest telegraph station nnd sent a mcHHage back to Juarez, from which the train had come, signed with the names 1 of tho federal officers In charge of tho train. Tho federal officer (por Villa) reported his way barred by rebels and declared he must hurry back to Juarez. Then Villa loaded 1500 troop3 on tho train and started for Juarez. The train would stop a little way from each station sta-tion and a picked squad would go forward for-ward and seize tho telegraph operators. In this way ho proceeded all tho way to Juarez undetected, ran Into tho middle of the city In the night, and put tho federals fed-erals to flight by surprise. Then he again londed his army on cars and returned re-turned south,' whipping tho federals who had been pursuing him. A Bolivar, a Napoleon or nn Attila? It is left for future centuries to say. |
