Boy Scouts in Revolutionary Chihuahua: The Hunt for Pancho Villa

Mexico became a preferred stage for a variety of fictional encounters in the early twentieth century. This paper explores the 1914 novel The Boys Scouts Under Fire in Mexico. The novel was written by the prolific pen of Howard Payson who had by then earned a reputation for his mastery of the genre. This novel is part of a long history of how foreigners culturally imagined Mexico as a land to be modernized in line with a more comprehensive U.S. economic conquest. One of many installments that followed the Boy’s Scouts’ endeavors, the story narrates the protagonists’ quest to Chihuahua, Mexico. Their mission was one embedded in the context of the revolution: to aid a family member in finding Pancho Villa to gain his assistance in placing cattle on the market. During the Porfiriato, Chihuahua had earned a reputation as a treasure trove of opportunities for foreigners, especially as it pertained to mineral wealth and livestock raising. In 1913, Chihuahua was firmly in control of Villa and was seen as the center point of resistance against the Yankee-hating Victoriano Huerta and his dreaded federales.