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Show VILLATS DEFEATED III FIRST SKIRMISH MEXICAN BANDIT SURPRISED BY AMERICAN TROOPERS AND PUT TO FLIGHT. Wounded Bandit Escapes in Light Wagon, But Trusted Lieutenant and a Number of His Followers Are Killed in Battle. El Paso, Texas. Surprised by American Amer-ican soldiers, the main body of Francisco Fran-cisco Villa's bandits was put to flight on JIarch 29, after sixty Mexicans had been killed and four American soldiers sol-diers wounded. The attack of the Villa forces was made possible by aa aeroplane scout who had located the bandits. Four hundred cavalrymen from the Seventh and Tenth regiments, led by Colonel George A. Dodd, at the end of a fifty-mile ride, which they made In surprising short time, burst upon the unsuspecting Villista camp, where 500 bandits were celebrating the massacre massa-cre of 172 Carranzistas two tlays previously pre-viously at Guerrero. Villa, shot through the leg and with one hip shattered, was hurried from the scene barely in time to escape the onslaught of the soldiers of the north. The bandits made a brief but hopeless hope-less stand before the fierce charge of Colonel Dodd and his troopers. Then they 'broke and fled, leaving sixty dead on the field, including their commander, com-mander, General Eliseo Hernandez. Two machine guns, a number of horses, rifles, ammunition and equipment equip-ment fell into the hands of the victors. vic-tors. Among the known wounded is Pablo Pa-blo Lopez, Villa's lieutenant in the Columbus Co-lumbus raid. The American casualties were four privates wounded. The American soldiers did not linger lin-ger on the field of victory. For five . hours they drove the enemy before them into the wilderness of mountain peak, desert and canyon, where roads or even trails are unknown, and where a misstep means death to horse and rider. They halted only after the chase had led them ten miles from the battlefield and the fugitives were scattered far and wide in little bands of half a dozen men each. The scene of Colonel Dodd's victory Is a broad valley lying at the head of the Rio Santa Maria. On the west rise the barren foothills of the continental conti-nental divide and to the east is a trail, made famous by Villa, which leads through the Laguna de Castilla district to the ill-famed Santa Ysabel. It was at the latter place that Villa killed eighteen American mining men, a crime which sent a thrill of horror throughout the United States and marked the beginning of what many believe to foe the end of his bloodstained blood-stained career. It was toward Santa Ysabel that he was believed to be heading when the troopers of the United States swept down from the north upon his camp. From the meager details which have reached here from Mexican and American military sources, Colonel Dodd's men made their way unnoticed unno-ticed through the arroyos, or deep gulches, which split the foothills in all directions, and were almost in the camp before the alarm was given. Villa is reported to have been in a small tent nursing his injuries when the crash of the American volleys awoke the bandits to panic-stricken action. The extraordinary hold the bandit Chief has over his followers is shown fcy the fact that their first thought was to save him. Unable to walk or ride, he was hurriedly placed in a light wagon and driven over the rough mountain trails to some secret lair. After the 'battle on the San Geroni-mo Geroni-mo ranch, the American soldiers released re-leased a large number of General Car-ranza's Car-ranza's men whom the bandit chief was holding.. It is probable that it was at the Guerrero massacre that Villa was wounded. Staff officers here believe there is no doubt that Colonel Dodd's army, strengthened before now by men sent forward by General Pershing, has begun be-gun a driving hunt for the wounded pandit and for the scattered remnant of his force. It will be no surprise now to General Funston and his staff to receive a report at any time telling of Villa's capture. News of another battle is not expected, however. The smart blow administered by Colonel Dodd, it was believed here, would serve to deter Villa's men from speedy reconcentration. Colonel Dodd, who led the troopers that put Villa's followers to night, is described as a typical Remington cavalry cav-alry officer. He is 64 years old, but doetfc't show it by twenty years. He rides his horse as though it were a part of turn, and is known throughout through-out the army for his activity in developing de-veloping cavalry horsemanship. He Is the man who made the monkey drill a cavajry feature. |