MEXICO
More than 330
miners and labor leaders, including Donald MacGregor, were indicted for murder
by a grand jury in Trinidad. MacGregor fled to report on the Mexican Revolution
for the Newspaper Enterprise Association under the pen name David Bruce.
“Bruce” was able to interview Francisco “Pancho” Villa, the defeated general of
the Division of the North, on Christmas Day 1915. The interview revealed
Villa’s anger toward foreigners, particularly Americans, recounting the
confiscation of his wife’s jewelry, worth $30,000, by U.S. officials at El
Paso, Texas. On March 9, 1916, Villa led a raid on the border town of Columbus,
New Mexico, killing 18 U.S. citizens. On March 27, 1916, fleeing pursuit by
Gen. John J. Pershing and U.S. troops, Villistas
engaged Venustiano Carranza’s forces at Minaca, west of Chihuahua. Three
foreigners were trapped during the fighting: American J. H. Locke, German Herman
Blankenberg, and Scotsman Donald MacGregor. According to Locke, both
Blankenberg and MacGregor were viciously killed by one of Villa’s officers on
March 28. Locke escaped to relay the news, which was reported in the Chicago Daily Tribune by Floyd P. Gibbons.
The graphic account tells about Blankenberg and MacGregor’s deaths in a Minaca
street and how a Mexican boy threw stones at the pigs to keep them away from
the corpses.
Above: David Bruce, “‘I’ll Come back to Kill, Not Fellow Mexicans, but Gringoes,’ Says Villa.” Fort Wayne Sentinel, December 27, 1915. David Bruce was Donald MacGregor’s pen name while reporting in Mexico. Courtesy NewspaperArchive.com.
Right: “Human Life Held Cheap,” The Ogden Standard, April 11, 1916, city edition. |
Floyd P. Gibbons, “‘Don’ MacGregor Met Death in Mexico Because He ‘Stuck’ to German Friend,” The Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1916. “Last Letter of ‘Don’ Mac Gregor Hints at Danger,” The Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1916. Courtesy Fold3.com.