AMERICA AND MEXICO.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 August 1916, Page 7

AMERICA AND MEXICO.

TROOPERS MURDERED IN AMBUSCADE. FIGHT AGAINST FEARFUL ODDS. San Francisco, July 3. 1 he whole of America lias been stirred to boiling point as a rosullt of tlip treacherous ambuscade into which it..C. Troop of the. Tenth Cavalry, United Mates Army, was drawn by an overwhelming force of Ciirranza's .Mexican soldiers. Out of the morass of much misinformation emanating from Mexico has at-last come to the United States Government an authentic account of the actual happenings to the American force v.hieh met disaster.

Eight, to one—these were the odds against which the Americans struggled at C'arra7.al. A survivor of the engagement, Sam H. Harrison, a dusky private of the C. Troop, lias been carried to the border near Columlius, New Mexico, suffering from wound:; in his left shoulder and urm. From him came the assertion that pitted asainst the eighty-four American detachment were fully 700 Mexicans.

"To top off," said Harrison, ''they had a machine-gun, and they surprised us. We approached them in a peaceful way, and never had an idea that they would try to massacre us.. Had "\ve known that they "wanted fight we could have given it to them. ,1 o lle ss they got enough of that."

Harrison s troop was entirely surrounded by the Carranzistas, he said. He escaped, wounded, from the cordon the enemy had drawn around the Americans by riding straight through their lines on hia charter, which also had lieen wounded. He rode this horse until it fell from loss of blood, and then nibbed another animal, with which he eventually caught up with other .survivors, whom he -accompanied to field headquarter;;. Harrison's account of the battle and his escape was expressive colorful. Tears came to his eyes as he recounted the heroic effort of'his wounded.charger to beai him to safety. ''That horse sure saved my life," he. said. "I want yon to know' I let hi in see how I appreciated it. Our troop, with Captain Boyd commanding, had pulled up before Cnmz.il, The captain ordered everyone to dismount, and we all got down. I was a horse holder, and I took charge of some animals while their riders stood at attention, -lust before Captain Boyd went forward my horses got nervous and began to prance around. I lost what was going 011, looking after those fool animals. Xcxt think I knew the shooting had started. I .looked around. Captain Boyd, was down, and I could not see him. I kept on looking. There were easily 7(10 of those 'greasers' around us. They had rotne up right out of the ground, forming a half circle. Our men kept on falling. The first shots came from a machine gun. 1 It was trained right on us, and believe me, it talked' fast. Every few minutes—it might have been seconds, for all I knew—it would let up while the operator was putting in more ciips. Then you could pick out the clicks of the rifle fire. It wasn't more than two minutes before the Mexicans had surrounded us. We were right there in the middle, fighting like the dickens. All round the horses were rearing and plunging. Kvcry little hit a horse 01- a man would get a biillet. and go down. I couldn't light, for I had to keep after those mounts. Pretty soon my own horse, a great Uig fellow, •staggered and whinnied. They had hit him in the neck. I put my hand 011 the spot where the blood was spouting out. It was then they go<; me in the shoulder.

SAVED RY HIS HORSE. "I lost control of the animals completely. My own horse was whinnying and tugging' on his rope. I could see fellows dropping all around me, and horses were running off over their bodies. We didn't have a show in the world, and I saw it. I cut the horses loose, and, climbing on my animal, hit it for (lie thinnest■part of the circle. I went right through the Mexicans. My horse brushed two ot them out of the way as we charged. I owe my life to that horse sure as you live. Don't yon know that animal was so brave and big-hearted that he carried me along for ten miles before he settled down, to a. walk. Five miles farther on hia leg? just gave out, and he went down. Man, 1 hope you don't ever have to say goalbye to a horse like that at a lime and place like that. It seemed to me. I couldn't leave him. I looked back to see if (here was anyone following. 'There wasn't, so I kuc.lt down aiul poured a little water from my canteen on. hia tongue. He was slipping fast, and t ju«t told him how sorry I was. 1 th.aiiked him for the mighty big favor he did. me. Yes, sir, I thanked him l!ko lie was human. And I guess he understood, for he got that look in his eyes animals have when they are grateful. You know, I wanted to stay longer, but he was about gone, coughing blood. No use my staying when some of those •greasers' might catch up and get mc. I was bleeding, too, and in pain. .1 i,hanked him again, mid said 'good-bye.' I walked and walked. A few miles on f ran upon one of our animals. I jumped on him and rode on towards Colonia Dnblan. Before I got there I ran into some other survivors, aud we went on together." MEXICAN EDITOR CLAMORS FOR BLOOD, A reiugcp. arriving at iii J'aso, Texas, has taken to the border Mexican newspapers to show to what extent the antiAmerican feeling has grown. An editorial in "La Reforma," a semi-official paper published in Saltillo, captioned "Blood!" made a violent attack upon the United States, its people, and its policies. The paper said: "Above all, do not forget that at a time of national need humanity is a crime and frightfulness a virtue. Pull out eyes, snatch out hearts, tear open breasts, drink—if you tan —the blood in the skull:; of the invaders from the cities of Yankeeland. In defence of liberty be a Nero, a Caligula—Q that is, to be a good patriot! Peace between the countries of Mexico and the United States will be closed in throes of terror and barbarisms" AMERICANS HELPING MEXICANS. An amazing account of how high rank staff officers of the Unijtqd States National Guard of Texas sold uniforms, army shirts, leggings, breeches, blunkcts, saddlery, and other equipment in earload lots to Mexican army chiefs, was given by Captain 11. Ball, oi. the Unit.'d States army, when passing through Sail Francisco to the Philippines. Capt. in Ball had just arrived from Austin, Texas, where he had been the Govern niont's chief witness and advisory counsel in the prosecution and conviction of 'Emmet E. Walker, colonel and quarter-master-general of the Texas National i

Guard, and George -T. Head, captain of the Brownsville company of (lie Texas Militia. They had beet l sentenced, lie ■"aid, to three years in tlie penitentiary. Another militia oflieer is awaiting trial. Ca])tain Hall sakl: ''Several 'National Guard officers and politicians an. l implicated, hut ] will confine mvself to the case against the two officers who have Loon just convicted, one of" them I;i'in Lf the i|uartcrmastcrgencral of the State of Texas, Kmniet K. Walker. The I Ciovernincnt s case against Walker was equally as complete as against Captain Head, and the jury was nut les s than fifteen minutes, and returned verdicts of guilty. Walker as quartcrmaster-gen-eral, was chief of a gam: of erafters in and out of the Xntional Guard. These men systematically plundered the stores of that organisation and stole the stu/1' right out from under the dome of the eapitol at Austin. The Government's investigation disclosed that Walker and his associates made away with more than i 00,000 dollars worth of supplies and equipment. They sold the stulf to the Mexicans in car-load lots. They were not petty lareenists. Walker and Head were convicted for the sale of one particular ear-load to General Pablo Gonzales, a Carranza adherent and commander at Matamoros, directly across the Kio Grande from lirownsville. The scheme was to ship the stull to Head at lirownsville, where he >old it to the Mexicans. That particular car-load realised 10,0110 dollars, but as nearly as we could estimate Walker was done out of his share of the spoils by Head. They finally fell out, and when the Government took them in hand they informed on each other." MEXICAN' CRUELTY. j William F. Mink, mining engineer, of Cleveland, Ohio, who has been in Mexico ' for the past six years in the employ of New York mining men, has arrived in Sail Francisco, driven out of Chihuahua by the hostile attitude of the natives. Interviewed, he said: "f reached Chihuahua last April from a conference with my employers in New York. Going to mines in the Mormon territory a day i lifter my arrival I witnessed the most i horrible sight in many years' residence on the American continent. A band of rebels entered the abode of a Spaniard, sixty years old, who lived with his two daughters, one nineteen years old, the other fifteen. The outlaws demanded money. The old Spaniard had none.- He was grabbed lip, hustled oil' to a telegraph pole and securely tied. A bull was procured, and, after teasing the animal into a frenzy, they placed a red blanket over the head of the old man and released the enraged bull. The Spaniard was gored to death in the presence of his two daughters. The outlaws then turned on the girls. The older managed to pull a dagger ami end her life. The younger girl was carried off to the mountains.. I was an eye-witnejs of the

butchery, but was powerless to remonstrate. •"One of my associates, William A. Nugebaner, also of Cleveland, singlehanded killed seven outlaws during a terrific revolver duel followed by a hand-to-hand encounter." Mink said that with an army of half a million men carrying on an efficient campaign the United States eonld not expect to subdue Mexico in less than a year. What had encouraged the natives against the American soldiers was their failure to return fire. The natives knew the Americans had orders not to shoot.