File No. 812.00/20056
General Funston to the Secretary of War
3904. Following telegrams received, dated December 7, from General Bell:
A Carranza officer who went to Chihuahua a few days prior to the time Villa attacked the city and was there during entire period of attack as well as during the time of Villa’s occupancy of Chihuahua told my informant this morning that the Carrancistas now have about 8,000 men in and around Chihuahua.
According to the information that he got the Villistas killed about 100 Chinamen. He was captured by the Villistas himself but his brother being a Villista officer saved him from execution.
He says that when the Villistas stormed and captured Santa Rosa Hill the Carrancista troops became panic-stricken and General Treviño and his staff were the first to flee from there early. When the other Carranza officers found that Treviño had deserted they also became panic-stricken and fled.
Villa captured a great many arms and much ammunition and this officer states he understood that about 2,000 of Treviño’s men who were left in the city without officers joined the Villistas and went out with them.
From reliable information I am sure that Villa gets nine-tenths of his arms, ammunition and supplies of all kinds as well as the majority of his recruits from the Carranza forces.
He now has from seven to ten thousand well-armed and well-equipped men and as soon as the Carranza forces in Chihuahua are again well provided with supplies of all kinds and ammunition he will probably make another attack, get a big reinforcement and renew his supplies.
When he left Chihuahua he took ten trains or about one hundred and fifty cars loaded with loot and provisions out of Chihuahua. This last report has been verified and believed to be correct. An eyewitness told informant that [Page 623] he counted eighteen flat cars loaded with artillery that Villa took out of Chihuahua. This is estimated to be about thirty pieces of artillery.
As confirmation of the report that Villa has artillery an ex-Federal artillery officer told informant that he had been approached by an agent of Villa and offered two hundred dollars gold cash to bind an agreement to serve Villa as an artillery officer with pay of one hundred dollars gold per month and uniform and equipment.
This man said that Villa is very anxious to secure artillerymen which has been confirmed by many previous indications.