Pancho Villa: Horndog Extraordinaire

May 6, 2015
     Born a peasant, orphaned at 15, an outlaw by 16, Doroteo Arnago, AKA Pancho Villa rose from the lowest rungs of the social ladder to become one of Mexico's greatest military chieftains. He commanded thousands of men, outmaneuvered and eluded 10,000 Americans led by Blackjack Pershing. A friend of the poor and a very macho Man. He is the he-man hero in the Mexican tradition of machismo—overpowering, dominant, and larger than life.

 

Daily Whip Out: Pancho's Horndog Patrol"

The number of alleged "wives" of Pancho Villa are unknown but we do know that at the time of his death there were four women who claimed to be his wife. Austreberta was Villa's "official wife." Soledad Seanez was the second wife and Manuela Casas was the mistress who bore Villa a son and ran a hotel in Parral (the town where he was assassinated) and he had also given her a house there. Luz Corral is the fourth wife and had been banished from his estate at Canutillo and was receiving no support from Villa at the time of his death. That she ended up with anything is amazing, since she had to go through Alvaro Obregon (who was charged with dealing with all the claimants), and, who had defeated Villa in battle in 1915 and according to Villa's biographer, Friedrich Katz, "probably played a part in his assassination."

   All four women would arrive at the cemetery in Parral honoring Villa's memory on the anniversary of his assassination, and each would lay a wreath on his grave, but not before removing the flowers placed by the other women. Ay-yi-yi.

 

Daily Whip Out: "One of Pancho's One-Night-Wives" 

Many of Pancho's best soldiers were vaqueros from Chihuahua and they were fighting men. These are the guys who took on Geronimo and the Apache raiders who came every year to pillage and destroy.

 

Daily Whip Out: "Pancho's Poco Loco"

   After the departure of Pershing's expedition in 1917, the character of Villa's army began to change. and the loyalty Villa enjoyed was due in part to the Carranzacista soldiers stealing the countryside blind, and also because Villa paid in Gold while Carranza paid in worthless paper money. Villa's army also attracted many out of work cowboys—vaqueros—who preferred to fight with Pancho rather than migrate to the U.S., where they feared being drafted into the U.S. Army once the U.S. entered World War I.

 

Daily Whip Out: "Mexican Vaquero"

"Cowboys we are, and cowboys we shall be."

—Pancho Villa, 1918