It was well for Guillermo and myself that we had not waited until five o'clock to escape, as we had intended to do. That was the hour which Villa had set for our execution.
He was so furious over our flight and the fact that we had not been reserved for his further and final act of vengeance that he ordered three of the guards executed. They were entirely innocent, but he had been trained as a butcher and was still one.
I did not learn until long afterward what fate had befallen Guillermo and Payan. The two, keeping together, ran some distance from the penitentiary, but seeing the patrol passing, they hid in a pig sty. They remained crouching there for about three hours, then made their way to a little ranch near Mt. Santa Rosa. They stayed there six days with Conrado Alvidres, who concealed them. One night they rode away on horses secured for them by the rancher and struck out into the desert. After twelve days' terrible suffering from heat and thirst, they reached El Paso.
Obregon and de la Vega remained in the penitentiary several days. Then one night the young general was taken out and shot. His body was not immediately buried and when Senora de la Vega went to the prison the next day to visit him she was led to where he lay murdered. In such ways as this did Villa exercise his power, and his butcher's mind to torture people.
When Villa was forced to evacuate Chihuahua he took along with him a number of prisoners, including Obregon, and retreated into Sonora. Obregon escaped on this march by bribing his bodyguard. 