cesses
were indulged in by the victors. Arson, rape, and the robbing of banks,
stores, and private houses were indiscriminately carried on. Horses
were stabled in the parlors of the homes of the prosperous citizens,
and many non-combatants were killed by the soldiers before order was
restored.

At this time the only points held by the Federals on the boundary
between the United States and Mexico were Juarez, in Chihuahua, and
Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas. The railroads south of these points were
also in the physical possession of the Federals but subject to
continual interruption at the hands of the Constitutionalists.
Venustiano Carranza had established headquarters at Ciudad Porfirio
Diaz (Piedras Negras) across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Tex. He
started on a trip, during the late summer, through the northern
provinces to confer with the leaders of the Constitutionalist movement
in order to bring about better coordination of effort on their part. He
went through the States of Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora and
established a new headquarters in Sonora. Since then the efforts of the
Constitutionalists have been much better coordinated, with the result
that they have had much better success.

Jesus Carranza and Pablo Gonzalez were left in charge at Ciudad
Porfirio Diaz by Venustiano Carranza when he left on his trip. Shortly
after this a Federal column was organized under General Maas for the
capture of the railroad between Saltillo and Ciudad Porfirio Diaz. This
column slowly worked its way to Monclova and then to Ciudad Porfirio
Diaz, which it occupied on October 7th; the Constitutionalists ripped
up the railroad and destroyed everything that might be useful to the
Federals and a good deal that could not, and offered very little
resistance. Villa, in the mean time, having been reenforced by men from
Durango and some from Sonora, had been operating in Chihuahua with
considerable success. He had fallen on several small Federal columns,
destroyed them, and obtained about six pieces of artillery, besides a
fresh supply of rifles and ammunition. In September, he had interposed
his force between the Federals at Chihuahua City and Torreon, at a
place called Santa Rosalia. Villa and the Federals each had about four
thousand men. The Federals from the south were making a determined
attempt to retake Durango and had started two columns for Torreon of
more than two thousand men each, one west from Saltillo, anothe