Pancho Villa would visit the Elite Confectionary daily during his exile in El Paso to order his favorite chocolate-covered ice cream “baseballs” for ten cents. Peanut brittle was another Elite Confectionary specialty. Villa, his friends recalled, could eat a pound of peanut brittle. He would usually order nothing but strawberry soda to go with his treats. Villa completely abstained from alcohol consumption and strictly enforced a drinking ban on his troops. In May 1911, the celebrated El Paso photographer, Otis Aultman, took the well-known photograph of Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco sitting stiffly next to each other at the Elite Confectionary. This was the last photograph taken of the two leaders together. During
the Battle of Juárez, they were coconspirators, but later they would become implacable enemies. On May 8, 1911, the two insurrecto leaders defied Madero’s wishes by ordering their men to begin shooting at the federal troops in Juárez. When Madero found out the troops had begun the Battle of Juárez against his orders, he unsuccessfully tried to reach both Orozco and Villa and have them call back their troops. Orozco and Villa were said to be hiding in El Paso to make sure Madero couldn’t reach them. The present Buckler building which housed the Elite Confectionary was constructed in 1910.
