| OCR Text |
Show FliNSTON HEARS FROMPERSHING GeneraFs Report Confirms Belief Be-lief That Blame for Fight Rests Entirely on ' Mexicans. SIXTEEN MEN FOUND Troopers Saw Gomez Meet Boyd, Then Move Aside as Mexicans Open Machine- Gun Fire. San Antonio, Texas, June 24. Complete Com-plete disorganization of the two troops that were engaged In the disastrous combat Wednesday morning at Car-rizal Car-rizal with Carranza's troops and the practical annihilation or those actually actu-ally in the fight was Indicated In a report from General Pershing to Gen-oral Gen-oral Funston today. une pacKer and eight enlisted men of C Troop and seven men of K Troop were picked up yesterday morning by Lieutenant Meyer near Santa Maria. All were horseholders. The stories Ihese men' told were almost identical to those told by the other stragglers that reached the transmission lines yesterday. Gen. Pershing's Report. 4 General Pershing, in his report today, to-day, referred to the number of those who previously had returned to the American lines as eleven, although in previous dispatches he fixed the number num-ber at seven. With those who were rescued by Lieutenant Meyer, the total number of those who had returned was 27. Tho total number of men In the two troops was learned today to have been 84. General Pershing, offering a summary of his information andex-plaining andex-plaining that his conclusions were based bas-ed on such information as he had so-cured so-cured from the stragglers aud from press reports, called attention to the indications that there were 57 missing miss-ing and that press reports indicated fourteen of these were dead and 43 were prisoners. General Pershing does not account in his report for the number num-ber wounded, but appeared to assume as-sume that all those wounded had been captured. No'Report From Eleventh. General Pershing reported that he had received no report from the commander com-mander of the two squadrons of the Eleventh cavalry that had been sent forward to rescue the remnant of the Tenth. All those brought In by Lieutenant Meyer were horse holders and, like tnose who came into camp yesterday, yester-day, were jiot actually In the fight. They had had difficulty, they said, in handling the horses when the furious fur-ious machine gun and rifle fire began and retreated before the conclusion of the engagemenL They had cared for such horses as the could round up after they got beyond be-yond range of the fire, the full number num-ber of mounts In their possession when encountered by Lieutenant Meyer Mey-er being 25. The troopers told their stories before be-fore they had re'entered the camp and had an opportunity to talk with stragglers strag-glers who had preceded them. The accounts they gave were said to have borne out In all essential details those previously told. Saw Gomez Meet Boyd. They said they saw General Felix Gomez and his aide nde forward to parley with Captain Boyd, and later saw him move toward the flank of the Mexican troops that had begun closing in on the American force. According Ac-cording to their story, the first intimation in-timation anyone had that hostilities were edtermined upon was the outburst out-burst of machine gun fire. They corroborated cor-roborated the accounts that said it was not until then, that Captain Boyd gave the command for his men to dismount dis-mount and return the fire. The Mexicans Mex-icans during the parley had crowded forward and had assumed such positions posi-tions that when they attacked they were In position to sweep with killing fiije the American line standing exposed ex-posed in the open. Officers at General Funston's headquarters head-quarters seemed convinced, after studying General Pershing's latest report, re-port, that all of the two troops that would be found now would be wound ed and that, therefore, the battered remnant could not have moved far from the scene of the fight. General Pershing's mention of the rescue of the sixteen men by Lieutenant Lieuten-ant Meyers gave headquarters here tho first information that he sent out more than tho two squadrons of the Eleventh In search of the scattered troopers. It was believed that thr two squadrons had been held intact and were driving directly along the trail to Carrizal. General Pershing gave no reason to suppose that ho had sent a support Inc force Tor the two sciuadrons of the : Eleventh, but It was assumed at head quarters that he had. General Funstou immediately forwarded for-warded General Pershing's report to the war departmenL It was indicated indi-cated that it went far towards convincing convinc-ing General Funston and his staff as to the blame of the Carrizal fight resting entirely upon the Mexicans. |
