military post at Casas Grandes, and no effort was made to stop him by the officers and garrison of the de facto Government stationed there.
"In the face of these depredations … the perpetrators of which General Carranza was unable or possibly considered it inadvisable to apprehend and punish, the United States had no recourse other than to employ force to disperse the bands of Mexican outlaws.…
"The marauders engaged in the attack on Columbus were driven back across the border by American cavalry, and subsequently … were pursued into Mexico in an effort to capture or destroy them. Without co-operation and assistance, … despite repeated requests by the United States, and without apparent recognition on its part of the desirability of putting an end to these systematic raids, … American forces pursued the lawless bands as far as Parral, where the pursuit was halted by the hostility of Mexicans, presumed to be loyal to the de facto Government, who arrayed themselves on the side of the outlawry, and became in effect the protectors of Villa and his band."
Carranza begged that United States troops should be removed from Mexico. The Americans retorted that the Mexican authorities had themselves agreed that United States troops should cross the Mexican border to hunt down Villa; but the Mexican Government had done so under reservation of the clause that incursion must only follow specially outrageous conditions, and these, they held, had not transpired. Conference followed conference at El Paso between the American and Mexican representatives. Meanwhile, Villa played out his own disastrous and unpatriotic game. It was rumoured that he had been killed, and civilisation rejoiced. But the "death" was merely a ruse to throw his enemies off the scent.
A document which reached the Mexican Government about this time is of real historical value. A memorial addressed to General C. Venustiano Carranza by three former leaders
