HOME

BORDER PULP NEWS: We’ve been attacked by Pancho Villa.

The Mexican/American Border has never really been peaceful.  Something’s always happening.  Even down at our place in East San Diego County strange things happen.  Like the time a smuggler drove a big truck through the border onto the American side.  With all the gullies, holes and rocks, trespassing without a road gets rough.  The truck overturned and all kinds of exotic birds flew out.

Or the time the Mexican gatekeepers got drunk, and started shooting up the little town of Jacumba, California.  That entry is now closed with the fence blocking it from view.

One of the big events happened on March 9, 1916.  Pancho Villa turned loose five hundred of his El Dorados.  They were members of his crack calvary who attacked  the little border town of Columbus, New Mexico.  They  began with shouts of “Viva Villa,” and “Viva Mexico.”   The real diehards yelled, “Muerto a los Gringos,” death to the white guys,” my rough translation.

COLUMBUSAn army garrison formed and defended the town. Lives were lost on both sides. A bullet stopped a clock at the railroad station at 4:11 am.  Finally the Villistas pulled out and were chased back into Mexico by mounted U.S. troopers. Many of the dead Villistas  were fourteen and sixteen years old and were found clutching crucifixes to their heart.

So when you’re down on the border, never take it for granted.

My name is Wally Runnels and I write Border Pulp.

Leave a Reply