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Show SAYS PANGHO VILLA IS ICHiLIGNED Captain G- Duncan McLeod Declares Mexican Chief Is Considerate. PROTECTOR OF WOMEN Accuses Carranzistas of Spreading False Reports Concerning Warrior. Pancho Villa, commonly knoim as the bandit general of Mexico, is a muoh maligned, misunderstood and abused individual, in-dividual, according to Captain G. Dun-can Dun-can McLeod, who for three years past jr ka been a captain under Villa, but is J now visiting in this city with hie broth er, Jak McLeod. Captain McLeod was taken seriously ill -while in the service in Mexico, and several months ago was forced to give up his command and go to Denver, Colo.; where he has been confined to a hospital. As soon as he was able to be released from that institution he came to Salt Lake to be with his brother broth-er and to recuperate. Captain McLeod, who was formerly in the United States army and saw service in Cuba, the Philippines and China, left the government service several sev-eral years ago. About three years ago, while in the south, he became attached to Villa's army as an American officer-instructor, officer-instructor, and was placed in command Iof a company as captain. He was located lo-cated most of the time in the northern ' action of the country, operating out from Juarez. "Villa is not the bandit, the murderer mur-derer or the violator of women and children that he has been reported to be," said Captain McLeod yesterday. "He has been falsely painted in this light by the Carranzistas, who did it in order to discredit him with the United States. I know of what I speak, for I have been in pretty close touch with him, and, being one of his officers, I certainly have been in a position to know the truth of what I say. Protects the Helpless. "I know of my owd personal knowledge knowl-edge that Villa 'has gone out of his way to protect women and children and f to convoy them from zones of danger into zones of safety. I have seefl him many a time send a detachment of troops with a crowd of women and children to take them into places of safety before a battle has been fought. Villa does not take any undue advan-. i a9 auvne. He always has con- sideration for the other fellow, but, -of "If course, when the other fellow shows no consideration, Villa is just the man who 1.7 will fight hitn on his own grounds and in his own way. That is nothing more than natural and that is nothing more than has happened in Mexico. "Why, when Villa was entrenched at Juarez and the battle was imminent he moved his troops from the trenches and marched out sixteen miles from Juarez to meet the foe, and fought the , battle there just to save Juarez from the turmoil and to protect fhe Americans there. That is a fair sample sam-ple of the 'bloodthirstiness ' with which the Carranzistas would paint him. ' r Villa Not to Blame. "Then there is the Benton case. Villa was not to blame tor that affair at all. I know the circumstances, and any other man would have done what A illa did. Benton had nuarreled with Villa previously over nothing and had made his threats. He entered the office of-fice that day and renewed the quarrel. He made threats and made a move to his hip. That was his fatal mistake. But Benton brought the whole thing upon himself." Captain McLeod admits that Villa is not an educated man, and declares the story of his having negro blood in him and having had military training in the United States is absolutely false. He Fays Villa is simply an intermixed Mexican Mex-ican and Indian, uneducated and unable to do more than write his name. The captain declares he never knew the difference dif-ference between A and B in the English En-glish language until he was in prison m Mexico City awaiting execution at the time he made his escape. The captain declares that Villa has the monev and pays his American officers offi-cers in gold every day, giving them $25 apiece each day. His peons, however, how-ever, ho pavs in paper that may or may not be worth anvthing in the future. "Villa realizes that he can never be president of Mexico," said Captain McLeod, ' ' but he does expect to have the sav as to who will be president, and thus ho will be the power behind the throne. And he very likely will accomplish accom-plish his end before' he is through." |