1923: Pancho Villa, Who Lived by the Pistol and Died by it, Passes Into Mexico History

July 21, 1923

By NORMAN WALKER

PANCHO VILLA, the Robin Hood of Mexico, was a strange combination of horse sense and impulsiveness which made him one of the most unique characters Mexico ever produced. A mountain man whit an ability to ride, shoot and swear, Villa learned his military strategy in the hard school of experience when little more than a boy in the Sierra Madres of western Chihuahua. The story of why Villa turned bandit has many variations. The accepted one is that he sought to avenge a wrong done his sister by an officer high in the ranks of the Diaz federal army. Killing the officer, Villa was pursued into the mountain district of western Chihuahua, where he lived the life of a bandit until Madero started his revolution in 1910, when villa came down with a few followers and joined the little leader from Monterey who upset the old order of things in Mexico and started that county on its ten years of revolution and bloodshed.

Appears at El Paso

Villa first appeared on the El Paso border early in 1911, when Madero showed up opposite the smelter. At that time he was a colonel and attracted no more attention than did Rauol Madero, Garibaldi, Roque Gonzalez Garza, Eduardo Hay and the other Madero leaders. Villa was a colonel in the Madero revolutionary army and had a command of his former mountain men in camp near the old acequia madre on the Mexican side of the river. Villa attracted a little local fame to himself by shooting a deserter who attempted to swim the river and escape and by threatening to kill Garibaldi, commander of the foreign legion, in the Hotel Sheldon lobby. C.E. (Henry) Kelly, then mayor, persuaded Villa to surrender his pistol and prevented a killing in Madero’s staff. Villa took part in the battle of Juarez May 8, 9 and 10, 1911, and was given a major portion of the credit for capturing the town, as he led the hardest fighting in the vicinity of the monument during the three days battle.

Loyal to Madero

With all his faults, Villa remained loyal to Madero to the end. There was a strange attachment between the under-sized provisional president and the big, broad shouldered mountain man who was one of the bravest fighters. Villa prevented a mutiny among Madero’s forces in Juarez after the capture of that won in 1911 by declaring he would attack the mutineers led by Pascual Orozco. After Madero pardoned Villa and permitted him to escape from the penitentiary in Mexico City, this attachment became almost an obsession with Villa. It took the form of a hatred for the “red flaggers” who made up Orozco’s revolutionary forces opposing Madero’s army. He killed all the prisoners he took, placed a premium on Orozco’s head and always was bitter in his denunciation of those leaders as “traitors and cowards.”

When Madero was killed in Mexico, Villa, who was in El Paso at the time, after having been liberated from prison in Mexico City, gain took the field with a few men, five mules and two sacks of flour. He crossed between El Paso and Columbus, N.M., went to the Palomas country of western Chihuahua, where he organized a force and made his first stand at San Andreas, Chih.

Broke and Discouraged

A story that Villa told at the time was generally accepted by his friends. After he reached El Paso from Mexico City and was staying at the old Hotel Mexico on South El Paso street, broke and discouraged, he said he was going to quit fighting and was trying to get a job as section foreman on the Southern Pacific railroad. He said his wife, Luz Corral de Villa, was about to become a mother and he wished to bring her to the United States, take her with him to Arizona or California and settle down to the quiet life of a family man. When the news of Madero’s death reached him, he sent out a rallying cry to his men, then living on the border; crossed the line and started a movement which finally resulted in the overthrow of the Huerta government.

Villa’s character was a peculiar complex. All the stories told of his lust were mostly imaginary. Villa’s greatest weakness was his uncontrollable temper. From a sane man, laughing and joking with his friends, Villa could turn into a maniac at a moment’s notice. His eyes would become blood-shot, he would pitch his voice several tones higher and he would pull his pistol and fire at the slightest provocation. All of the bloody deeds attributed to him were directly traceable to his temper, and Villa often admitted his weakness when talking of his career.

Friend of the Poor

Villa was a friend of the poor. He distributed many thousands of dollars to the poor people of the country over which he ruled like an emperor. When he captured a town, he would open up some of the stores, give the poor people permission to help themselves and would often issue food and clothing to the poor who constantly besieged him at his headquarters for aid. At one time he kept a number of the orphan sons of his former commanders in school and one of the first things he did at Canutillo after taking possession of the ranch which the Mexican government purchased for him was to set up a school house and invite all of the children of his former followers to attend school.

Personally Villa was sloppy in dress, rarely wearing a uniform and then only under protest. He proffered an old, sun faded khaki shirt, a pair of hand-me-down trousers which puckered around his ankles, high-toed tan shoes and a Stetson hat, almost snow white in color. He never wore a white collar and seldom wore a tie. He said they choked him and hurt his neck. When he made a contract with a moving picture company to film some pictures on a fifty-fifty basis, one of the stipulations was that he was to wear a fawn-colored uniform, cap and sword. He wore it once and was so disgusted with himself he never wore it again. When he went to Fort Bliss with Obregon to call on General Pershing, Villa left his hat on in General Pershing’s quarters. He was told to take off his hat as he was in the general’s home.

Keeps His Hat On

“You Americans don’t take off your has when you come to my headquarters, do you? He answered, and left his hat on the back of his head.

That visit to the border was the last one Villa made as person grata. He and Obregon, both Carranza commanders of the constitutionalist army, were making an inspection trip of the Mexican border garrisons, and made the trip in a private car from El Paso to Nogales. They were given reception at every town on the American side and were apparently good friends. Obregon then was a striking looking man and Villa felt ill at ease beside the Sonora leader, who had the polish and training of a well-to-do ranchero. A short time after their return Villa, and Obregon became bitter enemies, Villa declared the Carranza banner for his own revolution, started to shoot Obregon at Chihuahua City, freed him only to regret it a few hours later and started a special train after him as Obregon fled south and escaped. Villa admitted that this was a tactical error, as Obregon later defeated him at Celays and broke the backbone of the Villa revolution.

Denies Columbus Raid

Villa and his leading generals always insisted that he was not present at the Columbus raid. According to the most authentic story obtainable at the time I visited Villa at his ranch, Villa claimed to have been ill at Paloma Springs, below the Columbus border and that Pablo Lopez, brother of Villa’s second in command, led the raid into Columbus which caused the Pershing punitive expedition. I talked to his general at the ranch and on the train and all told the same story, although many in Columbus claimed to have seen Villa.

After the Pershing expedition Villa was very bitter toward Americans. He was approached by Americans who offered to finance a moving picture of him and his men, to be taken soon after the surrender at San Pedro. Villa declared empathatically that he never wanted his pictures shown before an American audience and said he did not want any Americans to approach him on the subject. Later he was said to have reconsidered this ultimatum, but he had ceased to be a front page story and the moving picture company interested in making the picture declined to go ahead with their part of the proposed agreement.

Grows Fat as Farmer

He grew fat after quitting the field and when I last saw him at the Canutillo ranch he weighed more than 300 pounds and lost much of the resiliency he had when as leader of the north, he would outride, outshoot and outmarch any man in his command. Villa liked to eat good food, American preferred, and he said one of the reasons for considering the offer for him to retire was the fact that he could get the kind of food he liked best after a monotonous fare of beans, tortillas and chili in the field.

With the passing of Villa the most picturesque character Mexico has produced in modern times takes his place in the history of the war-torn republic. Feeling toward Villa among the Mexican people is divided. To some he was a hero, patriot and a liberator, while to others, who had lost their families and fortunes at Villa’s hands, he was a bandit of the worst breed.

Hates White Collars

Illiterate, he had a grudge against the order of things in Mexico which deprived him of the education he felt he was entitled to. Hating the white-collar crowd, he took his revenge in killing, looting and slaying. Yet I have often thought that Villa, according to his own lights, believed he was a patriot and that he was doing something for his country. There was no question about his military genius. Whatever Napoleon, Grant and Lee had, Villa had in less degree. He knew instinctively how to maneuver men to the disadvantage of the enemy. Whether this was an heritage from some Aztec ancestor, or whether he acquired it dodging federal troops in the Chihuahua mountains, will never be know. But his gift for leadership was unquestioned, and his record of 10 years in the field as a military leader proves it. What his place in Mexican history will be, it is impossible to tell now. But Villa will live in the hearts of the poor people of Mexico as half saint, half devil.

Pancho Villa lived by the pistol and died by it. Thus endeth the chapter of the most interesting character of contemporary Mexican history.

 

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Comments

[Robert Burke]

Nearly a century after his death he still causes strong feelings -- of hatred and admiration -- in people. Whatever else might be said, it is certain that he lived a large life.

[austex]

He was quite the enigma. He was like so much of Mexico and the mestizo -- a dual personality: both benevolent and malevolent, conqueror and conquered, compassionate and cold, merciful and killer.

As I recall, his Banzai-type attacks against Obregons forces broke his army. So his military acumen had its limits or fell subservient to rage perhaps.

Trish keep up the great work. This is my favorite part of elpasotimes.com

[Trish Long]

Thanks for taking the time to comment Austex.

[darcel]

hello i need to know information on vincente lara he rode with poncho villa how he died and what kind of pistol did he carry and was his grandson ernesto

[Lincoln Tendler]

Dear Ms Trish Long,
I happen to be the Chief Editor of a Police/Weapons magazine in Brasil and am currently writing a special edition on the 1911 pistol. Fact is I was browsing the Web and bumped into the pleasant text of Normn (!?) Walker about Pancho Villa. Hence, I'd like to know if his name was really NORMN or NORMAN, as far as I intend to quote it in my work.
As I noticed that you are the one responsible for "digging" such article I believe you're the right person for me to ask.
So, hoping everything is OK with you and that you'll be kind enough to answer me, I thank you in advance for your efforts.
Cordially,
Linc Tendler, MBS