THE BANDIT VILLA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 127, 29 May 1914, Page 6

THE BANDIT VILLA.

A. FKJf^H' l ' l -' lll ' CAKEEK j OF MUKDEE AND TOKTUBE. (By & Correspondent of London TelegTaph."

Francieco Villa wss born at >ficv«e in the State of Durango about the year IStSS. He is wholly uneducated, being una-ble to read and barely a>ble to | sign bis name. About the year ISS2, , ■when only fourteen yeans of age, he was ! sentenced to a term of imprisonment for i cattle stealing. On hie discharge h<) - settled in the mining camp of Guanaeevi, I where a few months later he underwent I another sentence of imprisonment for ! homicide When he came out of prison for the second time he organised a band . of robbers, which had their -headquar- j ters in the mountainow region of j -I'erico" in the State of itanuißO, anil ! were the terror of all that district. Jμ the year 19U7 he was in partnership with one Francisco Reza, stealing cattle in Chihuahua and selling them in the L'nited States, and then stealing ' mulci an.J horsed in the I'mted States j land soiling them in Chihuahua. In consequence of some disagreement he shot ! land killed Jlezu in 'broad daylight, while, j I sitting in the .plaza in the City of ChiI huah.ua. During the early part of I November. 1910, lie attacked the factory lof a -Mr. Soto, Allendo, State of Chi- i Itiuahua. and killed the owner. lJy I threatening the latter's daughter he I forced her to tshow where she had hidden a sum of 11,000 dollarci, which he stole and used, for arming n considerable lorcft. lie then joined Madero's revohl- I I ticin, uniting his band with I'rliina'd j column. In January, 1911, he was at U.'asaa Gr&ndes, Chihuahua, where he | i killed Carlos AJatorre and Luis Ort.z ' ; dor refusing to pay him the money he j I demanded for their ransom. At Katopilae. of Chfhuahua, in February of t!)p. same year he tortured a lady named Senora Maria de la Luz Ulotucz until he made her pay him 30.000 dollars. She died from the* effects of the barbarou-s treatment she received. COLD-BLOODED CRIMES. When C'iudad Juarez was taken from the. Federals in May, 1911, he killed f-enor Ignaoio Gomez OyoJa, a man of over sixty years of age. -under the fol- '• lowing circumstances: Having cent for I Kirn, Villa asked whether he Jiad any anna in hie hou.se. and on his saj in" he had not, Villa, "who was seate-d on ! a table," drew his revolver and .-hot him j I dead. After rifling the corptse of money land valuables it was thrown 'into the Htreet. I After the triumph of the revolution. Villa, in November, 11)11. obtained a monopoly from the then Governor of j Chihuahua for the sale of meat in tlie jeitv of Chihuahua, which he procured by stealing cattle from the neighbouring I i farms. Suspecting one or hid subor- ! |d'.nate.s. Cristobal Juarez, of stealing on his own account, he killed him one night in the latter part of Novombe-r in the Calle de la Übertart. In the early ,purt of May. 1f11..1, YiJJa, with seventy-live men. awaultcd a train at Haraa. Mate of rhUmahua. that was carrying bars of gold and silver \allied at 10(1.000 perios. killing the crew and several passengers, including Messrs. I'aravantes and a Senor Isaac Tlerrero, of Ciudad Guerrero. Later in the name month he entered Uic town of Nan Andres. Chihuahua and assaulted the house of Senor ttibaa Alurga, an Hacendado, wh >, with his two sons, tried to defend tdiemse]ves. Two of his nephews -were killed, 'but the Murga.s got away. Villa then got hold of two sons-in-law of Murga, \vlu> had ! noi take any part in tie lighi., and I after torturing them to say where their I father-in-h/w iia<i (hidden hk money he' had the-m killed. " ' j Towards the end of the month Villa's band book the tnwn of gta. Rosalia, Chihuahua, shooting aj] prisoners and! treating the principal officers wit* terrible cruelty. Colonel Pm-bleeita ivus ! shot and Wβ body dragged alon«- th« I streets of the to-wn. The. commerciaj houeea of Messrs. \i_scoati, Karld, cia : llaniicra, Sordo y Blanco (Spaniardsl, I and many others, wore totally sacked I •Many private persons were, "murdered ' one of ihe worst cases being that of a ' Spaniard, Senor Montilia, cashier of the I house nf Sordo y Blanco, who was shot j over the head of his wife, who tried to deiend him. Villa personalia kicked her in the face as .she hiy on'the dead body of her Jiusband. He also himself killed a. Senor Ramos, secTetarv of the Court of First Instance. lie arrested more than tiwen-tv of (Ac principal people of Sta. Rosalia" torturing them ond tak:n« them out to be shot. untU he ~bUine.d from them .0.000 pesos, which "-ere collected <by several -people in order to save their live*. On« of these was a lady. Kenora ! .Maria I!. ( oviero. iWho was herself also ' tortured until the sum Villa wanted waa I uwthconung. : wnoLERAbE ATRucrrrag I Orandw. Ohfduahua. and «htrt. more man eighty noneombeuinu, violating se\eral yoiinp girls. among<t -(hem two I vo'ing l.idics named Castillo. j He attacked and took thn town of! San .\nde«. whirl, «,.? held by the Fed,- i ral*. in September. I'll:?, shooting many! peaceable residents aud more than 1.50 ! pn*oncrH many of these -being women I and children. In footing these people,! in order to econ-onuso cartridges he pl-ved one behind the other up to five at i one time, very few of them kjn d ] onlrfeM. The bodies of the delad and I wounded WM-e then soa ked with peLro- i euni and thrown into bonfires prepared for tihe purpose. The prisoners were I forced themselves to make the bonfire! and cover with petroleum the rest of I the viatims. | After this <he went to the small town ' of Ca-rretas, where he t™k prisoner an . old man of more than 70 years of a-e , named Jose Dolores Mo-eno. demandfn- ' from him a ransom of 200 rtollaro Ys ! he could not. pay, ViUe kHled him Wih ! hi.s orwn Tianii. | On September 2f>th, 1.013, Villa, Invintri overpowered a force of over 500 Fcde i rals conrmanded by C.cnera.l Mvirez at I Arika, IS kiknnotm from Torreon kid i every prisoner slioL " ' Towards the end of November he took > the city of Jiiarra by surprise Kearlv all the Federal officers »ho were'utai there were ehot aa weLI as <=ome sirtv most of them inferior employees and servants. The higher mi ployeee had managed to escape across th» river to the American oity of El Piso Texas. ' i On December S. 1013 Villa took po~ : •ession of the town of ■ had hem abandoned by ihe Federals Bincp S-ovem'ber 28. seizin;, all the com'mercul hora.es of Spaniards and Mcxi- i cans to the smallct ham and dm, rtores. .besides some owned by other! foreigner*.

MoreoTer, VUla eipeDed all the Spani- j ards, obliging more than 500 Spanish j families to leave within three days. Only I two Spania-ivis disobeyed this order—■ J namely, two brothers, Martinez, owners I lof a small eating-house. Villa thereupon ordored them to be beaten to deathCHILDREN' HELD TO KAXSOML Se.nor Pedro Olivares, an old arui very '' infirm man, whnse 6hop. under the name ■of Jo?e Ma Sanchez, Successor, had been ' already plundered, is being held until he pa>-3 50,000 dollars ranr.om. He. has already paid 10,000 dollar.* for two i of hi« children, these also having j been held for ransom. Villa also took . prisoners two children of 14 years of ' a£P called Ix>ren7.o Arellano and Alfoneo \ '>loliiier, sons of two pcntlemeu who 'were able to leave Chilnia.hua before; Villa arrived. -Many private houees have beeu occupied by Villa's men, who u.-e their car- ; nages ami automobiles. The~e last arc ■ placed sit the disposal of public women ;for tlniir daily orjiiei. I The -houte of Senora T. S. Vda. de 1 Prmto i* also ocoupied by the rebels, i j This lady pai.l 25,000 |n-.<r,> to Villa to j j allow her to leave the town. Villa 'has shot in Chihuahua 150 non- \ corabatajits, the preater number l>ein£ 1 poor people who could not leave for want jof means, or because the y thought they : ran no risks, as they took no part in ■ ! politkjs. For all the people in any «v \ \ connected with the Ouvenunent had left j before Villa entered the <-ity. PptH-ial ' mention may be made of tile case of ' Senor Ignaoio Irigoyen and .Nnior Jose A. i>anez, who, thoujrh in no way connected | I with politic, were taken by Villa stnd i tortured for several days with threats to .=hoot them until they paid ransoms of 20,000 dollars each. Having obtained from Villa himself safe conducts to leave jby train for the border, the train in j which they were was caught up at the (station of Montczuma liy a locomotive; ■in which were several oiiicera in Villa's 'confidence, headed by an ex-Maderieta j J deputy called Mi°ruel liaea Ronquillo, j who took them from the train and shot I •them in the presence oi the j