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engineer, fatal wounding of twopassengers, and bullet injuries toseveralHelpers PleadedThe fact that Mr. Dodds did nut face the firing squad along with Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Smith was*due largely to the pleadings of his employes, Jesus Esparza and Ventura Rodriguez. Another factor was the request for mercy entered by a member of the bandit gang, a former Villista solider who participated in the attack made upon Matamoros the preceding spring under Gey. Jose Rodriguez. The man. who was wounded in the Matamoros siege, had received assistance from Mr. Dodds after crossing to this side of the Rio Grande and did not want his benefactor killed.Dodds was the son of a Mexican father and a German mother. He said he told them he wanted them to know '* if they shot this man they would be sending bullets through Mexican flesh.” Esparza was quite aware that dramatic presentation of his plea was more important than an appeal to reason.(Esparza is proud of the diplomacy he employed in his attempts to gain Mr. Dodds’ safety. “I told them Senor Dodds was ahe said and calledHowever, it is not improbable that the bandits might later have returned to their original pur-and added another to the day’s murders if a car had notapproached and the occupants engaged them in a gun fight. Searchers for the captured men had located the bandits’ camp.The three captives made their escape during the skirmish. They finally emerged from the mrush at the point where the first gate used to be located on the olef Point Isabel road »n the vicinity of Los Fresnos..Notorious Leader«*good patron, on Rodriguez to confirm his statement. “I talked loud so all the men could hear,” he recalled in describing the day’s incidents.Due to Esparza’s intervention Mr. Dodds was allowed to keephis spectacles. “You had just as well give him a shot in the head, he told the bandits when they started to take his glasses. However they did take most of Mr. Dodds* clothing and burned his car. Bodies of the slain men wereunclothed when they w^ere recovered.iLuis de la Rosa, one ot the notorious leaders in banditry in the Valley, was a^sociafcfd with the band headed by Pisana but he was not on hand the day of the raid on the Los Fresnos pump.Pisana and de la Rosa, as well as others in the gang had lived on the Texas side of the Rio Grande for many years. Pisana is said to have turned bandit, organizing a group of followers, when he became enraged at some real or fancied wrong at the hands of the English speaking settlers.Their force was increased toAs the day dragged on, Esparza continued to interpose in behalf of his employer. He trusted that the men did not intend harm to any of their own race. He said he was busy hunting in his mind for something he could sayto make thim change their pur-about 60 the night of October 18 when they successfully staged atrain wheck about seven milespose.Invents S»torjHe invented a storv saving Mr.north of Bronwsville. Spikesholding the two rails had beendrawn out for a considerable distance.A wire attached to the rail on the west side was jerked just as the train neared at a speed of about 30 miles an hour. Engineer H. H. Kendall was killed as thepneinp nltimnd intn thp nrntinri
Newspaper Details
Valley Morning Star
Harlingen, Texas, US
Sun, Apr 25, 1937
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 Apr 2020
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