VILLA CLOSES GATES OF PARRAL MINE COMPANIES
Acts When Foreigners Refuse Ransom.
BY NORMAN WALKER.
El Paso, Tex., May 22. - [Special.] - Villa closed down all of the American, British, and other mining and power companies in the Parral district today when they refused to pay him ransoms ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 in gold. His demand was made yesterday, and upon the refusal of the mining and milling companies to meet it Villa cut the power wires which carry the hydro-electric power from Boquillas dam to Parral, Santa Barbara, and the mines of the San Francisco del Oro company, near Parral.
This was the second demand made upon the foreign companies by Villa recently. He forced George Muller to pay $50,000 for his freedom after having held him in camp at Boquillas for more than a week.
Sets Trap for Calles.
Villa's only reply to Gen. Plutarco Elias Calles' threat to attack him unless he surrendered and accepted the principles of the revolution, at the same time abandoning his policy of making forced loans, was to issue a blanket demand upon all foreign companies in the southwestern Chihuahua field. At the same time, it became known here today, Villa was arranging a conference with Calles personally at Parral for the purpose of talking over the situation with the Sonora leader.
Villa has a deep grudge against Calles, because of his defeat at Agua Prieta in 1915, and, according to travelers arriving here late today, is expected to lead Calles into a trap at Parral, where there are several hundred Villa sympathizers and where Villa has had arms, ammunition, and machine guns stored since he took the town on Easter Sunday of 1919.
Wants to Rule Chihuahua.
Villa has no intention of quitting under the present conditions. He was nominally with Obregon against Carranza, but his close friends here say he will never accept any terms but command of Chihuahua state, which Obregon refuses to give him, because of the unfavorable sentiment it would create in the United States, where the new revolutionary government seeks de facto recognition.