OCR Text |
Show AMERICAN Mormon Colonists Leave Their Ranches and Accompany the Soldiers ' on Their March to the Border; Other Foreigners Also Seek Refuge in United States. PERSHING WILL BE LAST TO LEAVE Orders From General Obregon Direct Mur-guia Mur-guia to Garrison the Abandoned Posts; Villa Vil-la Said to Be Ready to Take Possession. WASHINGTON, Jan. 27. Withdrawal With-drawal of the American military expedition expe-dition in Mexico was ordered by the war 'department today,-and by the end of another week tho entire command, after ten months on Mexican soil, probably prob-ably will have rccrossed into the Unitod States. The order went to General Funston, in command at the border, and left to his discretion the exact time of starting the northward movement and tho details of carrying it out. For several weeks he has known of the administration's determination to order the troops back to the border, and under his direction the expedition has been concentrated for the long march. Officials here understand un-derstand that some advance units already al-ready have started north, and believe that within forty-eight hours the whole column will be in motion. Will Relieve Guardsmen. At the border the regulars will relieve re-lieve a considerable portion, if not all, of the national guardsmen remaining on duty there. Already about 25,000 of the state troops in the border patrol have been ordered home, and their movement probably will bo under way by the time Pershing's men arrive on American soil. Although officials have been silent on the subject of Mexico since failure of the joint commission negotiations, developments outwardly have coupled I the troop withdrawal with Carranza 's i refusal to accept the Atlantic City pro- tocol, and have plainly forecast an intention in-tention to let the first chief settle for himself hereafter the many problems endangering the tenure of the de facto government. Notice Served on Carranza. A patrol considered adequate to protect pro-tect the border will be maintained rigidly, rig-idly, however, and notice has been served on Carranza that the United States will not hesitate to use its armed forces again, if necessary, to protect American territory and American rights. The Americans on the joint commission told their Mexican colleagues at Atlantic At-lantic City that this government never would relinquish the right of unlimited and unrestricted pursuit of bandits guilty of border depredations. That Pershing's command, sent into Mexico last March to disperse the bandits ban-dits who raided Columbus, will be re-, grouped at the border and put into a condition of preparedness for a recurrence recur-rence of raiding, is not doubted here; and in that connection army officers are observing with keen interest the preparations being ma'ie by Villa and his followers and allies to occupy the territory that Pershing will evacuate. Movements Kept Secret. All the recent, moves in tho Mexican situation, however, and all those in contemplation arc kept secret bv the officials shaping the course of the administration. ad-ministration. After Carrau.a sent back the Atlantic City protocol without his signature, it was made known that the next step would be taken without announcement, and that the future policy of tile administration would be revealed onlv as it was translated into action. In "line with this decision the war department made no announcement of the withdrawal order today, and of-eifials of-eifials there and at the state department depart-ment and the White limine rigidly preserved pre-served silence about Mexico. Tt is known, however, that President Wilson's del crrn nu f inn to withdraw the troops followed rlo.-olv on the failure (Continued on rage Throe.) v AMERICANS ARE NlOIC NORTH FROiJEIO Mormon Colonists and Other Oth-er Foreigners Accompanying Accompany-ing Pershing's Troops to the Border. (Continued from Page One.) of Carranza to ratify the agrwment entered en-tered into at Atlantic City, and that Mr. Wilson indorsed the American commissioners' commis-sioners' recommendation that he act Independently on tho question of withdrawal; with-drawal; and adopt a polie of purely formal, gather than altruistic treatment , of CarriAxiza. t ' Funstoix, Informed. N Genera.! tKunston was apprised of this decision immediately, and soon after til went into Mexico and discuimed v'with ficneral Pershing personally the JF question f moving the troopa. His return to ihe .border was followed by preliminary movements to facilitate a withdrawal. Of the 2,iW0 men in Pershing's command. com-mand. 10,000 have been concentrated at Colnnia Dubbin for the inarch north. Most of. that number have been there ' for many weeks, but a large part arrived ar-rived wiKhin the last two days from El Valle, which has been the southernmost point of the expeditionary force since the fight at Carrizal. The plan is to march the crltre force out at the Bamo timo, leaving np detachment far to the rear as a bait for attacks from wandering wan-dering bands of (rebels. Tho first stop the army will make after leaving Colonia Dublan will be at Oonalitos, fifteon jniles to the north in the opinion of army officers here. At C'orralitos there is water. The next water is at Ojo de Federico, twenty miles farther on, and between Ojo de Federico and tho .bordor tho distance is seven tv-five miles. In that long stretch there is littlo water, and it is bolieved hore that General Pershing will force his command to a fast pav:e after leaving the second water hole. From Ojo de 1'ederico there will go forward with the column a'.string of water tanks. Pershing to Decide. Whether the railroad will be utilized uti-lized for transportation of any of the supplies will dopeud upon General Pershing's jucjrment. There is at Colonia Colo-nia Dublan a Inugo quantity of stores, increased now by those brought north from El Valle. "The transportation of theso stores can bet done by truck train6 but the commander may decide to ship Bomo of them as ordinary railroad freight. j General Pershing will leave behind . aim as few physical traces of his pret-j pret-j once as possible. Dispatches already r received from his headquarters indicate indi-cate that the flimsy shelters, adobe and wood, are being removed at all points kidiero erected by the Americans. When r Americans eh'acuated Vera Cruz they left standing many light wooden structures they had erecteVi and these promptly were utilized by', the native forces. It has been indicated that iho border . guard will be maintained indefinitely at almost its present potential strength even if it is reduced m numbers. It is pointed out that the stationing of Per-' Per-' ehing's 12,000 men along the border will make up for the withdrawal of more than an equal number of guardsmen, guards-men, because a large part of the strength of the army on ' the border has been used up to now in supporting the column south of the line. Villa's Movements. Many army officers high in the service1 serv-ice1 .believe that the withdrawal of Gen-ernlVPershhig Gen-ernlVPershhig will mean early occupation occupa-tion f the territory about Colonia Pub-Ian Pub-Ian by.Villa and his followers. General Gen-eral Obft-on has ordored the forces of GeneralB Murguia and Dieguez to that section, but information at the war department de-partment indicates that Villa, with a strong command, lias been moving steadily stead-ily forward into strategic positions near by. prepared for a determined interference in-terference with larranza's forces whenever when-ever he can got at them. Some slight anxiety was displayed at the war department today over the outcome out-come of the skirmishing between Mexicans Mexi-cans and American troops on the border bor-der near Kuby, Ariz. No official report was received, but unofficial reports indicating in-dicating that the Mexicans rniht be de facto government troops gave rise to the Huggcstion that the encounter inight develop n complication delaying the withdrawal of Pershing. Such a contingency, con-tingency, however, was not believed likely. |