Doroteo
Arango, for that was Pancho Villa's real name, was born in the state
of Durango in 1878, a share-cropper peasant on a hacienda. According
to the legend, one day when he was sixteen, he returned home from the
fields to find that his sister had been raped by the owner of the hacienda,
Don Agustin López Negrete. Doroteo took up his revolver, shot
Don Agustin, and escaped into the mountains on a horse.
He became a cattle
rustler and later joined a band of rustlers that was led by a man named
Francisco "Pancho" Villa. In one of their many skirmishes
with the law, the group was surprised by a group of rurales (mounted
police) and Francisco was killed. Doroteo then took command of the gang
and also assumed the name of the fallen leader. He may have done this
to throw off those who hunted him for the murder of the hacienda owner
or he may have done this to insure his authority over the group. Anyway,
from that time on it was he who was known as Francisco "Pancho"
Villa.