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Show : oo PEONS ARE TOLD OF BIG VICTORIES El Paso, March 26. Interest in the Mexican situation shifted today, temporarily tem-porarily at leats, from northern Chihuahua Chi-huahua to Durango and Coahuila, where the Villlstas appear to be gathering gath-ering strength to suchan extent that Torreon is seriously threatened. Thero has been no direct word from Torreon Tor-reon received hero for two days, but dispatches from Monterey report an extremely grave situation. The re-i re-i malning women and children of the American colony at Torreon, sent out of that city by the British vice con- sul, Patrick O'Hea, who has taken I charge of American interests follow-I follow-I ing tho departure of the United States consul, have arrived at Monterey. They were four In number and bronght a story of conditions of anarchy an-archy extetlng in the district between Torreon and Monterey. A box car was all the accommodation they could get and almost throughout the entire journey they were subjected to a running run-ning fire from hands of mounted Villlstas, Vil-llstas, who raced alongside the train exchanging volleys with the Carranza guards supplied by General Ignaclo Ramos. The women and children crouched between a double barricade of trunks which protected them from the bullets which pierced the wooden sides of the car. Details of Flight. Arrivals here today from Parral gave new details of the flight of the women and children and of conditions in the district where Canuto Reyes Is upholding the Villista cause. They said that Reyes had been encouraged by messages from Villa, who reported great victories he said he had gained over both Carranza and the American columns, and asserted that he would soon drive the "gringoes" over the j border. R, P. Crosby, a mining man, one of the arrivals, said that peons readily believed the wildest stories put out by the Villlstas, one of the most popular being that President Wilson had fled to Canada and that Villa was about to occupy Washington. Washing-ton. He described the condition of the country people as deplorable. There was almost absolute dearth of employment employ-ment and Reyes had little difficulty in obtaining recruits by liberal promises prom-ises of loot. Feeling of Pessimism. As far as the pursuit of Villa is concerned, the absolute dearth for days of any definite, reliable news, has caused much of the interest in tho chase to vanish into a feeling of complete pessimism. This was deepened deep-ened materially tonight by word from Columbus, passed by the censor, that General Pershing had little expectation expecta-tion of a speedy termination to his task, and that he was preparing for a campaign of several months duration This information simply served to buttress but-tress the opinion held from the start on tiie border that there was very little hope of any speedy termination to the career of Pancho Villa. Tho stories of the surrounding of Villa, which have been current for a week, were never given more than a smile of derision by the men of the frontier. fron-tier. oo |