The General and the Jaguar (57 page)

266 Colonel Henry Allen: Allen’s whereabouts and movements taken from Tompkins,
Chasing Villa,
124-127.

266 gave himself up: “Pablo López Is Held Prisoner,”
EPH,
April 24, 1916.

266 Chihuahua City: “Archbandit López Bares Details of Villista Outrages,”
EPMT,
May 27, 1916. The story also appears in the Spanish-language edition of the newspaper.

267 López was dozing: All the quotes from Pablo López are taken from the remarkable interview that he gave to an Associated
Press reporter on May 25, 1916, at a penitentiary in Chihuahua City.

268 place of execution: Description taken from photos of execution that appeared in
Leslie’s Magazine,
July 6, 1916, which was made part of the Punitive Expedition’s RO.

269 and smiled: “Pablo López Pays Grim Penalty for Career of Murder,”
EPMT,
June 6, 1916.

18. A Terrible Blunder

270 “I have orders from”: Thomas and Allen, “Mexican Punitive Expedition,” 21.

272 “I shall therefore use”: Ibid.

272 “foreign invaders”: “Mexicans Trying to Raise Army of 500,000 Men,”
NYT,
June 19, 1916.

272 “Cavalry patrols for the safety”: “Pershing Calls Situation Tense,”
NYT,
June 19, 1916.

272 Charles Boyd: Description taken from photographs and a document entitled “Description of Bodies Recovered at Carrizal,”
NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632.

273 “I’ve got peace or war”: Rodney,
As a Cavalryman Remembers,
275.

273 Henry Adair: “Description of Bodies Recovered at Carrizal,” NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632.

273 gored by a bull: Viva Skousen Brown,
The Life and Posterity of Alma Platte Spilsbury
(privately printed, n.d.), 229. Reviewed by the author at Spilsbury home in Mexico.

273 “If the Mexican troops”: Statement, Lem Spilsbury, July 4, 1916, NARA, RG 153, JAG, Mexican Claims Case Files, Carrizal
investigation, September 20, 1916, box 9. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and details regarding this battle come from this
inch-thick file.

273 occupy the international bridges:
PWW,
36:284-285.

274 “I only accepted”: Funston to Adjutant General, June 25, 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632.

274 hard bread, bacon: Captain Lewis Morey, “The Cavalry Fight at Carrizal,”
U.S. Cavalry Journal,
January 1917, 449-456.

276 “I am passing”: Note, Boyd to Jefe Político, June 21, 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No.
2377632.

277 Spilsbury: Spilsbury gave a number of statements to army investigators. Some of the discussion between Boyd and the
Mexican general is taken from one of his first statements, which is contained in a telegram from General Bell to General Funston,
June 24, 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632.

277 “Tell the son of”: Eisenhower,
Intervention,
295.

277 Adair: Tenth Cavalry, Narrative of Service, Punitive Expedition, NARA, RG 165, Department of the War Department General
and Special Staffs.

277 Mexican women: Fall hearing, 1566.

281 facedown in a mud hole: Frank Elser, “Morey Describes Fight and Escape,”
NYT,
June 28, 1916.

282 “Who are you”: “Surrounded by Enemy and Shot,”
EPH,
June 30, 1916.

283 “While we were in”: “Five Mexican Officers Killed; Guards Admit Killing Wounded,”
EPMT,
June 30, 1916.

283 “The Mexicans got”: Ibid.

283 “They wanted to hang”: Ibid.

283 “Why in the name of”: Telegram, Funston to Pershing, June 22, 1916, Pershing papers, LC.

283 twelve Americans: Telegram, Commanding General to Commanding General, Southern Department, September 2, 1916, NARA,
RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632.

283 “But we are not”:
PWW,
37:301.

284 “Do you think”: “War with Mexico Averted,”
Literary Digest,
July 15, 1916, 116.

284 twelve troopers: Funston to Adjutant General, July 6, 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632.

285 Arlington National Cemetery: According to a memo from General Pershing, the troopers buried in Arlington were Private
Charlie Mathews, Sergeant Will Hines, Lance Corporal William Roberts, Private James E. Day, Private Walter Cleeton, and one
unidentified soldier known only as “No. 9.” The missing were First Sergeant William Winrow, Horseshoer Lee Talbott, Private
Thomas Moses, and Private William Ware (Pershing to Funston, September 2, 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632).

285 Morey: “Wounded Captain Greets Remnant of His Command,”
EPH,
June 30, 1916.

285 “he did not stand forth”: Statement, Lem Spilsbury, July 4, 1916, NARA, RG 153, JAG, Mexican Claims Case Files, Carrizal
investigation, September 20, 1916, box 9.

285 “No one could”: Pershing, Report of Investigation by Lt. Col. George O. Cress, n.d., Pershing Papers, LC.

19. Whore Dust and a Rabid Dog

288 Greeks: Klohr, “Chasing the Greatest Bandido,” 42.

288 “woman question”: Letter, Pershing to Scott, January 21, 1917, Pershing papers, LC.

288 “As some of the men”: Eastman, “Report,” NARA, RG 407, AGO, Mexican Expedition, box 2020.

289 bathe “all over”: T. S. Bratton, “Sanitary Memorandum for the Commanding Officer,” June 6, 1916, NARA, RG 395, Punitive
Expeditions to Mexico, Recorded Stations in Mexico.

289 mounted pistol charges: Clendenen,
Blood on the Border,
336-337.

289 “We are rapidly”: Blumenson,
Patton Papers,
345-346.

289 vacation: Ibid. 349.

289 “We are well advertised”: “More People Arriving,”
CC,
March 24, 1916.

289 shocking one thousand dollars: James Hopper, “New Columbus and the Expedition,”
Collier’s,
August 5, 1916, 10-11.

289 “There are dozens”: “Many New Business Establishments,”
CC,
April 24, 1916.

290 Alfred Everett Wilson: The young boy showed enormous promise as a writer but died on March 16, 1922, four days before
his twenty-fourth birthday, from tuberculosis. His unpublished diary can be found in the Columbus museum and the Dean collection.

290 Bool Weevil Wiggle: “Changes from Wet to Dry,”
CC,
April 28, 1916.

290 “He’s all the time”: Blumenson,
Patton Papers,
350.

290 “No discipline among”: “Notes for General Pershing,” Pershing papers, LC.

291 secret plot: Charles H. Harris III and Louis Sadler, two professors at New Mexico State University, discovered this
plot after they sifted through thousands of declassified documents. The entire story, along with detailed footnotes, can be
found in the article entitled “Termination with Extreme Prejudice: The United States versus Pancho Villa,” in Charles H. Harris
III and Louis Sadler,
The Border and the Revolution
(Las Cruces, NM: Center for Latin-American Studies / Joint Border Research Institute, 1988).

291 Japanese agents: Harris and Sadler,
Border and the Revolution,
8-12.

291 Dyo and Sato had run: Author interview, Ray Sadler, September 7, 2005.

291 “His long untrimmed”: RO, 71.

292 “During the meal”: Ibid.

292 “This was my first”: Ibid., 71-72.

292 “No one will ever”: Ibid., 72.

293 “He took occasion”: Ibid., 77.

294 “I see no marked”: Ibid., 73.

294 “For that reason”: Ibid., 74.

294 “I am here to urge”: Ibid., 75.

295 “General Balderio”: RO, 76. Harris and Sadler quote the Japanese agent Dyo as saying that Nicolás Fernández did the
branding: “. . . those considered physically unfit were branded in the presence of Villa by General Nicolás Fernández . .
. in person, who with dull scissors cut a piece of flesh in one or both ears or tips of nose, and warned that if found again
in the Carranza service they would be shot” (Harris and Sadler,
Border and the Revolution,
15).

295 “They proceeded then”: Telegram, British Vice Consulate, July 11, 1916, Scott papers, LC.

296 “He made the usual promises”: Ibid.

296 three tubes: Harris and Sadler,
Border and the Revolution,
15-16. Another alleged attempt to assassinate Villa was described in an October 1962 edition of the
Southwesterner.
Bill McGaw, the editor, published a story in which he quoted a soldier of fortune named Emil Holmdahl as saying that he had
been offered a hundred thousand dollars to kill Villa. Holmdahl said, “I asked General Bell who would pay the money, where
it was coming from and he told me the $100,000 would be paid by Russell Sage, the millionaire father-in-law of Colonel Slocum.
I was informed that Colonel Slocum considered the Villa Raid on Columbus as a reflection on his personal honor and the only
way this blot could be removed was by the death of Villa” (“Holmdahl Tells How Colonel Offered Him $100,000 to Kill Villa
After His Capture Failed,”
Southwesterner,
October 1962, 13, Dean collection).

296 “he might be hungry”: Telegram, Funston to Adjutant General, September 20, 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632.

296 “I will give”: Ibid.; Eisenhower,
Intervention,
303-304.

297 “Subordinate failure”: RO, “In Camp Near Colonia Dublán, Mexico,” January 12, 1917, 10.

297 “Victory will crown”: Francisco Villa, “Manifesto to the Nation,” October 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2212358.

297 “You are familiar”: Letter, Pershing to Scott, November 18, 1916, Pershing papers, LC.

298 “His career is”: Letter, Patrick O’Hea to E. W. P. Thurstan, n.d., NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2212358.

20. An Old Colonel

299 Colonel DeRosey C. Cabell: Interestingly, after Slocum left Mexico for health reasons, Pershing recommended that Cabell
take his place (telegram, Funston to Adjutant General, July 27, 1916, NARA, RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2377632).

300 Ryan: Letter, James L. Collins to George E. Adamson, June 29, 1934, Pershing papers, LC.

300 “Slocum is in better health”: Letter, J. A. Ryan to General Scott, July 6, 1916, Scott papers, LC.

300 infractions: D. C. Cabell to Inspector General, “Delinquencies of the Commanding Officer, 13th Cavalry,” July 10,
1916, NARA, RG 395.

300 “To have had scattered”: “Border Conditions,” IGO Report.

301 “It was an easy matter”: Ibid.

301 “I consider that”: “Investigation of Raid.”

302 “Mrs. Sage in”: Letter, H. J. Slocum to General Scott, July 6, 1916, Scott papers, box 24, LC.

302 “God be praised!”: Letter, H. J. Slocum to General Scott, July 25, 1916, Scott papers, LC. The July 27, 1916, telegram
from General Funston to the adjutant general cited above states that Slocum was “taking leave account poor physical condition,
will not again be available for arduous field service.”

302 “You have been”: Letter, General Scott to H. J. Slocum, July 29, 1916, Scott papers, box 24, LC.

302 “Colonel Slocum seems”: IGO Report.

302 “The matter had not”: Ibid.

303 “The fact that he”: Ibid.

303 “I recommend that”: Ibid.

303 “He is old”: Letter, Pershing to Bliss, August 18, 1916, Pershing papers, LC. See also letter, Pershing to Funston,
August 21, 1916, Pershing papers, box 80, LC.

303 considered Slocum’s regiment: Letter, Scott to Slocum, July 29, 1916, Scott papers, LC.

303 “He is too good”: Letter, Ryan to Scott, August 1, 1916, Scott papers, LC.

21. A Reborn Town

305 prostitution: Order, Base Commander, July 21, 1916, NARA, RG 395, Punitive Expedition to Mexico, Base Intelligence
Office. For sketches of individual prostitutes, see Louis Van Schaick, “Prostitutes in Columbus, New Mexico,” n.d., NARA,
RG 395, Punitive Expeditions to Mexico, Base Intelligence Office.

305 used only Vaseline: Louis Van Schaick, “Memorandum for Commanding Officer,” November 15, 1916, NARA, RG 395, Punitive
Expeditions to Mexico, Base Intelligence Office.

305 sale of liquor: Horace Daniel Nash, “Town and Sword: Black Soldiers in Columbus, New Mexico, in the Early Twentieth
Century” (dissertation, Mississippi State University, May 1996), 91-93.

305 thirty-three joints: Intelligence Office, Base, Columbus, New Mexico, to Headquarters, Base of Communication, Columbus,
New Mexico, January 24, 1917, NARA, RG 395, Punitive Expeditions to Mexico, Base Intelligence Office.

305 “We haven’t been able”: Louis J. Van Schaick to Headquarters Base of Communication, January 24, 1917, NARA, RG 395,
Punitive Expeditions to Mexico, Base Intelligence Office.

305 cocaine and morphine: Memo, K. E. Kern to Adjutant General, “Use of Drugs among Soldiers,” November 23, 1916, NARA,
RG 94, AGO, Doc. No. 2212358.

306 “notorious saloon keepers”: Handwritten note, author’s name illegible, July 24, 1916, NARA, RG 395, Base Intelligence
Office; Louis Van Schaick, “Memorandum for Commanding Officer,” July 23, 1916, NARA, RG 395, Punitive Expeditions to Mexico,
Base Intelligence Office.

306 vowed to go to Washington: Captain Van Schaick, handwritten note, July 23, 1916, NARA, RG 395, Punitive Expeditions
to Mexico, Base Intelligence Office.

306 bodies of two Mexicans: “Mexicans Murdered on E.P.S.W. Tracks,”
CC,
July 28, 1916; Commanding Officer to Commanding General, “Operations of Intelligence Officer at Base,” August 22, 1916, NARA,
RG 153, JAG, Mexican Claims Case Files, box 6.

306 “two unknown Mexicans”: Louis J. Van Schaick to Commanding Officer Base, “Ten Day Report,” July 31, 1916, NARA, RG
153, JAG, Mexican Claims Case Files, box 6; “Findings of Coroner’s Jury,” July 23, 1916, NARA, RG 395, Punitive Expeditions
to Mexico, Base Intelligence Office. Not content with the finding, Colonel Farnsworth had a board of officers conduct its
own inquiry. They were able to identify the two murder victims as Eulalio Montes, of San Pedro, Guanajuato, and Louis Silvas
of Laguna, Chihuahua. They also succeeded in coming up with the alleged killer: a man named Clifford Trumbel, who had been
commissioned a watchman by the Luna County sheriff. Commander Farnsworth recommended to General Pershing that the two murder
cases be turned over to the Justice Department, in part to avoid “local prejudices against Mexicans.” Pershing immediately
agreed but it is not known what became of them. Soon after this incident, however, the military and civilian authorities decided
to rescind the commissions of the watchmen and law-enforcement duties were taken over by two village policemen and the army’s
provost guard (Base Commander to Commanding General, “Proceedings of Board Investigating Death of Two Mexicans, at Columbus,
New Mexico,” October 2, 1916, NARA, RG 153, JAG, Mexican Claims Case Files, box 6).