25. The Unexpected Rise of a Bandit Hero
The rise of Francisco “Pancho” Villa (1878 – 1923) to prominence was as dramatic as it was unexpected. He was born into a family of sharecroppers in the Mexican state of Durango and was raised in poverty. Villa received some elementary schooling in early childhood but had not progressed beyond basic literacy when his father died and he was forced to quit school and help his mother. He worked a variety of menial jobs, interspersed with stints of banditry with local gangs. At age sixteen, he reportedly killed his first man, a hacienda owner whom he accused of raping his sister.
Villa then stole his victim’s horse and fled to the hills, which became his base for years to come as he turned to full-time banditry. Captured in 1902, he was spared the death penalty and inducted into the Mexican army instead. He deserted after killing an officer and stealing his horse, and returned to banditry. When the Mexican Revolution began in 1910, Villa was persuaded that he could fight for the people by directing his banditry against hacienda owners. He was good at the revolution’s style of warfare, and was instrumental in defeating the government’s forces in northern Mexico.
