1916] In El Paso 



proved and Carranza has admitted responsibility for the orders 

 upon which the ambuscade was carried out. 



Army staff officers were angered today by pubHshed reports 

 that the American cavalry at Carrizal exceeded their rights, 

 and that thereby blame is attached to them. 



War chiefs work all night. 



But to go back to certain events shortly ante- The 

 dating this international crisis, on the 9th of March, Columbus 

 Mexican raiders supposed to be under the command 

 of Francisco Villa, rebel and bandit, descended on 

 Columbus, a town not far from El Paso. The United 

 States government thereupon despatched troops in 

 pursuit, with instructions to bring in Villa, dead or 

 alive. The special circumstances leading up to the 

 raid were never made clear to the American public. 

 Concerning some details of this matter, however, I 

 secured documentary evidence.^ 



At that time all immigrants crossing from Ciudad EiPaso 

 Juarez on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande over "'^°^°;, 



. csust 



the International Bridge to El Paso were taken in 

 hand by the city officials of the latter place in the 

 interest of hygiene; and on March 6, as a precaution 

 against the spread of lice — the carriers of typhus 

 germs — a score of men were given a gasoline bath. 

 During the process a *'hobo" under arrest threw a 

 lighted match into a tub of the inflammable fluid, 

 thus setting the jail on fire. In this "holocaust," as 

 it was afterward locally known, eighteen Mexicans 

 and a half dozen imprisoned tramps were burned 

 alive. One Mexican saved himself by plunging into 



1 Upon my presentation of the facts (for part of which see Appendix J, page 

 718), Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, said to mc: "It is unfortunate 

 that we did not know of this at the time." 



C 693 1 



