DIVISION OF NUEVA SEGOVIA
OCOTAL , NICARAGUA
19 December 1927

   1.    Cleared Ocotal on 18 December 1927 at 7:15 p.m. with Dr. Townsend, twenty marines, one guardia and native guide. Arrived in the vicinity of Macuelizo a 4:00 a.m. on 19 December 1937 [1927]. At 5:30 a.m. we took up a position overlooking the town. We entered the town shortly afterwards as there did not appear to be any one there. We found one old lady was the sole inhabitant. She said fifty or sixty bandits had been there the day before and had left in the afternoon. She did not know whether there were any Honduranian soldiers among them or not. Three houses contained beds and other furniture and showed signs of having been occupied frequently. We departed at 7:30 a.m. for Amatillo and when about two thousand yards from there were could see the people running towards the top of the mountain. There are about ten houses at Amatillo scattered over the side of a mountain. At one house there was a woman and three daughters. She said the men seen running from her house were bandits; that a large group of bandits had camped on top of the mountain the night before and had started towards Honduras early the morning. About one mile from there, on our return to Ocotal, we saw several barricades built of rocks. These were on top of a mountain and had been built within the last couple of days. We did not see any of the large group of bandits reported in that vicinity the day before. We reached Ocotal 720 p.m. on December 19 1927.
 
   2.    This patrol went out with the idea of staying several days and living off the country. This was impossible as there is nothing to be had in the way of food stuffs with the exception of cattle. There are many cattle scattered over this area.
 
   3.    From what we could learn all of the people living in this area are bandits but are active only when a large group comes over from Honduras or some other place.
 
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NA127/43A/20