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A Friendly Enemy
PANCHO VILLA, the revolutionary leader from whom most severe treatment could naturally have been expected, surprisingly was the one from whom most consideration came. Had tactics he used against other foreigners been pitted against the small number of Mormon colonists, they would have been wiped out. Instead, many times he used his influence to befriend them and even to punish those from whom mistreatment came. This can be explained only by drawing a picture of the man himself and understanding the power of the peaceful ways used against him by Joseph C. Bentley and other peaceably inclined colonists. These measures softened his rough exterior and sometimes induced him to make last minute moves in favor of the colonists in spite of avowed intentions to do otherwise.
His by-passing Colonia Juarez lying geographically in his path on his march to attack Columbus was an example. Instead of following the easy road of travel he led his men through the mountains. Yet the American ranchers Earl Wright and Frank Hayden and an American cowboy Arthur Kinney were executed in his march. Also, following the attack on Columbus when the American expeditionary forces engaged in hunting him down had been removed and only a remnant of colonists at Colonia Juarez remained, helplessly exposed, he made no use of opportunities to retaliate or punish even though Mormon scouts had been employed to help run him down. Only from detached bands claiming to be his men, and from outraged federal officers smarting at the indignity of occupation by a foreign army, was animosity vented. Even these were tempered by mild and pacific reactions of President Bentley and his associates who exemplified the same Christian attitude toward mistreatment that had sustained them before the Pershing expedition had intensified animosities.
AFTERMATH OF THE PANCHO VILLA MANHUNT
The day following the United States army evacuation the first test came to the colonists in meeting retaliation from the Mexicans both revolutionists and federal forces. From the north came word that rebels acting in Villa's name had ambushed and killed three American cowboys, ex-residents of Colonia Diaz, and had ridden off on the cowboys' horses, wearing their boots, chaps, and hats. This tragic news overtaking friends and acquaintances, blanched their faces and set wonder in their hearts. But mourning for the dead was short-lived. Before noon the commanding general of Carranzista forces from Pearson with an ominous following of men was in town. Sitting his horse pompously in an American saddle, he tried to assume the dignity of his office.
Rapping smartly on every gatepost and asking the same questions of everyone who answered his summons, he made his way through town, and knew by the time he had reached its extreme end how many men were in town, what homes were unprotected by their absence, and just where to strike. He had also found an avenue by which the most useful ones could be reached. It was a barnful of hay in Alonzo Taylor's lot, and which in the space of seconds he had set burning, knowing that a conflagration would gather spectators and that from among them he could seize a victim.