DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF
Nogales was unbearably hot in the summer of 1918, and tensions simmered between Mexican citizens on the Sonoran side of the border and their American neighbors on the Arizona side. Locals collectively referred to the divided communities as Ambos (or “both”) Nogales. Nothing more than a dusty road—International Street/Calle Internacional—separated the respective halves of the border town, but prejudices, injustice and bitterness deeply divided its residents. The situation was about to reach a flash point.
In mid-August U.S. Army intelligence handed Lt. Col. Frederick J. Herman a mysterious letter written by a man claiming to have been a major in the Mexican revolutionary forces of Gen. Francisco “Pancho” Villa. Herman, who commanded the black “buffalo soldiers” of the 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, also served as the military subdistrict commander in Nogales. He read the letter with deep concern, as its writer warned German agents were organizing and providing weapons to Mexicans for an assault on the Arizona border town later that month.
Enraged at what he regarded as American treachery, Villa was determined to exact revenge
The message was consistent with intelligence reports from the south of strange gringos encouraging Mexicans take up arms against the United States. As Herman mulled the situation, he knew he could expect no reinforcements from U.S. forces then focused on the war effort in Europe. In addition to the 10th Cavalry, Herman had at his disposal a detail of soldiers from the 35th U.S. Infantry Regiment, though the main body of that unit was preparing for deployment overseas. The U.S.commander ordered the remaining infantrymen to augment U.S. border agents in Nogales even as he watched with growing anxiety for signs of an impending attack in the scorching desert heat.
Around 4 p.m. on August 27 carpenter Zeferino Gil Lamadrid set out from a worksite on the U.S. side of Ambos Nogales bound for home. He carried a large parcel as he made his way across International Street toward the order and continue into Mexico. Barber then drew his revolver and ordered Lamadrid to halt. The bewildered man stopped in the middle of the street, unsure whether to turn back or continue into Mexico.
