OCR Text |
Show AMERICAN DEAD ARE RETURNED H Bodies of Captain Boyd, Lieu- H tenant Adair and Seven M Tenth Cavalry Troopers H in El Paso. H FOUND IN DITCH m Soldiers Stripped of Uniforms H and Thrown Indiscriminate-H Indiscriminate-H ly Into the Dirt Hl El Paso. Texas, July 6. Scenes ir H sharp contrast to those of a week a.gc H when tho Carrlzal prisoners were H brought frOm Chihuahua City and H turned over to General George Bell, H Jr., marked the return of the American H ' dead. In Juarez the event was scarce-H scarce-H ly noticed while In El Paso only a few H hundred persons, quiet and subdued, H replaced tho cheering throng that H greeted the 23 troopers of the Tenth. H Eight of the Americans were exhum-HJ exhum-HJ ed from a single grave, the undertakers undertak-ers ers who brought back the bodies said. H Dead Cast Into Ditch. H The dead had been gathered from H the Held of battle and cast Into a H ditch. This was then filled up. Cap-H Cap-H tain Boyd, Lieutenant Adair and six H troopers stripped of their uniforms H were mixed indiscriminately in the H dirt. Tho body of the ninth trooper H was located two miles distant from H the other. He had been wounded and H apparently had dragged himself away H to die in the gravel waste beyond the H town. M By tho time the Eighth had reached H the death car at 10:30 a. m., thous- H ands had gathered along the streets. Hj Cavalry Drawn Uv. H General Bell and his staff were on H hand. The cavalry drew up at atten- H tion with sabres drawn while tho 23 H negro troopers surrendered by the de H facto government last week from ChJ- H huahua and tho one released from H Juarez Monday, took station at the H car's entrance, directly behind Gen- Hl eral Bell and tho other officers. H Nine ambulances had been provided M and as the caskets were taken out of M the car they were covered with flags Hl and placed in these. H The mounted band of the Eighth M Cavalry played "Nearer My God to M Thee" during this part of the cere- H mony. H The body of Captain Boyd was tak- H en first from the car. Next followed H the body of Lieutenant Adair and then H came those of troopers. H When the ambulances had been load- M ed a squadron of the cavalry led the H marchers to the undertaking establish- fl ments where It had been decided to Hl hold the bodies for the present. H Band Plays Funeral March. H The band played the "Chopin Fun- fl eral March," squads of dismounted M men fell in behind the ambulances, m behind each of which a riderless horse H was led, the officers and men followed H and tho cortege moved oft between H lanes of people who bared their heads H as it passed. H Funeral Service Read. H At the chapel of the undertaking H establishment a brief funeral servlco H was read by Chaplain W. W. Brander H of the Eighth, cavalry. H It was announced that the identified H bodies would be turned over to the H relatives and that those who remained H unidentified probably would bo sent to B Arliugton Cemetery, "Washington, for H Two of the horses that followed the HL. ambulances were survivors of Carrl- H Indifference in Juarez to the event H was explainable in the fact that the H special train bearing the bodies did H not arrive there from Villa Ahumada H until late last night. Before the town H was well awake an engine detached H the rear car containing the dead and H pushed it out to the center of the in- H ternatlonal railway bridge. The Amer- H lean authorities then hitched on an H engine and completed the transit to i the El Paso side. H General Bell had not oxpected the Hj bodies to be delivered so early in the B morning, and the Eighth cavalry H which had been detailed from Fort Hj Bliss to act as an escort was not on H hand. An impromptu guard was form- H ed, however, from soldiers of the Sev- H enth infantry encamped near the H bridge. Part of these marched beside H the car while the remainder stood at M attention as it rolled off the bridge H upon American soil. H Word tvas Immediately sent to Fort H Bliss and the Eighth cavalry was H started city-ward. H' Populace Show Enmity. m Although the undertaking force that H made the Carrlzal trip was shown ev- M ery courtesy by the Mexican officials H they said the populace In the vicinity H of Villa Ahumada showed consider- Hl able enmity. They were not hindered m in their work, however, they said. H Wilson Tells Story. M One of them.O. J. Wilson, recount- m ed the story of the trip as follows: H m"0 arrIved in Villa Ahumada H Tuesday afternoon taking with us H metallic caskets and wooden covers H for fourteen men. These were loaded H upon a motor truck and we immedi- m ately set out for CarrizaL H "We did not begin work until Wed- H nesday morning but our task, although M d sagreeable was not hard. We found H ? the 1,0ies Ja a sln&le grave. H The other tob located two miles dls- H ? ' ,AJTentiy the dead man had B retreated from the fight badly wound ed and had died near tho spot In which he was burled. "Captain Boyd, Lieutenant Adair and six of the troopers occupied the ono grave which was right on the scene of the battle. Their bodies had been stripped and piled on top of each other Into a ditch. This was then filled fill-ed up. "Although the bodies were badly decomposed it was plain there had been no mutiliation of them. Only One Tagged. "Only one bore an Identification tag that of Dewitt Rucker, K troop. We recognized Boyd and Adair, by their color. The others boro nothing that would give a clue to their identity iden-tity although three saddles and a tin cup found in the grave may help later. lat-er. The tin cup bore the inscription 'Number 61, K Troop. "We placed the bodies In the metallic metal-lic caskets and a tinsmith sealed them up right on the field of battle. Then we loaded them aboard tho truck and the next morning started them over to Villa Ahumada, ten miles distant. I Well Received in Villa Ahumada. "We received a very nice reception in Villa Ahumada. Colonel TJrbano Ribera of tho Carranzista forceB there met us with anescort and took us to the railway station. We loaded tho caskets aboard our special train and last evening started back to Juarez arriving late at night." Wilson said that. Mexican soldiers at Carrizal told him admiring stories of tho bravery of Lieutenant Adair who, they said, fought the Mexicans to the very death. "According to tho Mexicans" added Wilson, "Adair after tieing wounded used his automatic pistol 'like a machine ma-chine gun.' When It had been emptied emp-tied he grabbed another pistol and kept right on fighting until, at last ho was killed." Examination of the bodies showed that Captain Boyd was shot through the right eye and that Lieutenant Adair's death resulted' from a wound in the breast. |