Appendix J 



this had a great deal to do in exasperating some of those who 

 took part in the raid, but they were not conscious that they 

 were being made the dupes for the benefit of parties who were 

 looking for an excuse to invade the country. At any rate it 

 had the desired effect: the people were put in a mood in which 

 they were ready to consent to the invasion of Mexico. The 

 cry went up immediately, "On to Mexico, catch Pancho Villa, 

 dead or alive." It was evident to those who knew what was 

 behind the whole thing, that the man whom they pretended 

 to be trying to capture would never be caught. For obviously 

 a culprit cannot be caught where he is not. 



People who were acquainted with the situation knew that 

 Pancho Villa was not in Chihuahua at the time the invasion 

 of Mexico was undertaken and furthermore that the man has 

 not been there in all this time that he is supposed to be pursued 

 by the American army. In the first place it is disclosed that 

 the raid on Columbus was premeditated, that the American 

 commanders on the border had knowledge of the attempt at 

 least a week in advance, and that they could have prevented 

 the raid if they had been interested in so doing. 



The town of Columbus is situated in the middle of a desert, 

 and no considerable body of forces could march toward that 

 place without being noticed in ample time to prevent their 

 doing any damage. Everybody in that neighborhood seemed 

 to know that was going to happen. In the reports of the papers 

 of that date the facts leaked out that passengers on the east- 

 bound train were told of the raid by American soldiers twenty- 

 four hours before the raid happened, in the station of Hachita, 

 New Mexico, which is a few miles west of Columbus. When 

 they arrived in Columbus nothing had occurred, but it hap- 

 pened just as it had been foretold to them, twenty-four hours 

 after they had left the place. 



The newspaper syndicate owned by Mr. Hearst seemed to 

 be as sure of the occurrence as if it had been a moving-picture 

 drama for which all the preparations had been made, for he 

 sent special telegraph operators to flash the news throughout 

 the country, and they were so sure that this was coming off 

 that his papers, in Chicago at least, were giving the news 

 of the raid a day in advance. 



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