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Show THE BIG BATTLE IS Sllil RAGING Rumors that General Villa h8 Captured Torrcon Current but Lack Confirmation. 1 i MEXICAN SITUATION' IS STILL IN DOUBT. 1 Excitement is Intense at Juarez When it is First Reported That the Stronghold has Fallen. , Juarez, Mcoxico, March 31. At 8 o'clock tonight General Carranza stated positively that while there was every reason to hopo for the early capture of Torrcon", the town had not yet fallen and tho position of the troops has not materially changed in tho last twenty-four hours. This information was given out through Roberto V. Pqufllraf fonfl-dential fonfl-dential agent of the constitutionalists, and Alfredo Breceda, secretary to Carranza. Car-ranza. They also traced to its origin the report this afternoon that the city had fallen. The town burst into flame when a rebel official oxhlhitod to two Americans a telegram sent yesti rday by Theodore Hamm, American ci nsul at Durango, to Secretary of i (tato Bryan. It said he had been infoimed that Torrcon had fallen. "Tho situation In a nutshell," said Senor Pesquelra, ' is that the fa of Torreon seems certain, but no on xan predict when." Excitement Is Intense. j Jaurez was thrown into a state of high excitement this afternoon wjien len, but the 'report failed of verlficW tion. V The rebel officials telegraphed $ Gomez Palacio asking General Villa if tho news were true. (The operator there replied that he was under orders or-ders to transmit no messages of any kind. , The first report had it that Marion Letcher United States consul at Chihuahua, Chi-huahua, had transmitted to Secretary of Stato Bryan a report from Vice Consul George Carothers, who has been at tho front with Villa as a rcR-I rcR-I resontativo of tho United States, that Torreon was captured at 1:30 o'clock this afternoon. Capitulation Announced. On tho heels of this some rebel official offi-cial telephoned to tho offices of the Mexico & Northwestern railroad hero that tho capitulation of the federals was officially announced. The rumors spread rapidly and in a few moments tho streets leading to tho telegraph office were jammed with people, At tho international bridge there was a stream of interested persons per-sons pouring in from El Paso and orders or-ders were issued that all bo searched uers were ibbuuu uiui, uu uu ocmtiicu for weaponB. Tho saloons, which were allowed to reopen last night, were again closed. That something waB wrong with the news began to bo suspected when rebel reb-el officials were observed among the seekers for information. Singly and in groups they returned from General Carranza's office, shaking their heads, and went to tho tolegraph office. Hero, too, verification was lacking and finally Frederico Gonzalez Garza telegraphed tele-graphed directly to General Villa, only to be informed by the operator that his message could not bo handlod. Battle Still Raging. The whole Incident left the impression impres-sion that something of importance was taking place in tho south and it was hoped that official announcement of victory was merely being delayed for some purposo known to Villa alone. A telegram from him to Goneral Carranza, sent this . morning and given out this afternoon, felicitated Carranza on his welcomo to Juarez, and said that Villa hoped to announce tho surrender of Torrcon In a few hours. Another telegram purporting to come from Villa said that he was meeting with desperate resistance in attempting to take the general barracks, bar-racks, tho last position held by the federals, and was about toj dynamite buildings in tho neighborhood so that he could bring his artillery, into play. It waa learned tonight that General Moitclovio Herrera, who h is boon engaged en-gaged in the fighting at Torreon, has begun a march eastward with tho expectation ex-pectation of meeting federal reinforce- ments marching on Torreon from Sal tillo. At midnight, save for Herrera's departure, de-parture, it was said that the situation at Torrcon proper was unchanged. |