ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, RIFLE FIRE SHATTERED THE MORNING CALM in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, roughly 400 miles due south of El Paso. Assassins aimed their guns at the driver of a black Dodge Brothers touring car. He died instantly that July day as nine bullets tore through his body. Once the shooting ended, stunned townspeople flooded the intersection where the car had been ambushed. The Dodge’s 45-year-old driver was none other than Pancho Villa, the most famous—or infamous, depending on who you ask—leader to emerge from the Mexican Revolution.
Approximately 2.5 million Mexicans out of a population of roughly 15 million died during the war, which began in earnest with the ouster of dictator Porfirio Díaz in 1911. Díaz ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades. The upper tier of Mexican society lived in luxury, but most of the country was mired in dire poverty. Díaz’s successor, Francisco Madero, died in a bloody coup led by Victoriano Huerta in 1913. The revolution then devolved into a decade-long civil war involving several different factions, including one led by Villa that came to be known as the “Villistas.” Called the "Centaur of the North” for his skilled attacks while on horseback, Villa was a charismatic yet controversial figure who had no small number of enemies. Still, it was surprising that he’d be gunned down in Parral, a relatively quiet, small city where friends far outnumbered foes, since Villa had laid down his arms three years earlier.
Villa’s violent death, believed to have been orchestrated by Mexican President Álvaro Obregón, made news around the globe. It especially resonated in Texas, where Villa had strong support among Tejanos yet was held in disdain by many Anglos. “Mexicans
