Photos of Pancho Villa’s fighting gamecocks in Calhoun Falls endure. In a grainy, soft focus, black and white image we see a Mexican in a suit and tie wearing what seems a Panama hat.

General Francisco (Pancho) Villa, D. W. Hoffman, ca. 1912. Dictators – whether in Spain, South Africa, Romania or Syria —retain power for decades. They can seem impregnable and invulnerable.