In the rugged landscape of Graham County, Arizona, a violent confrontation cut short the life of Undersheriff Martin R. Kempton. The 39-year-old lawman, along with Sheriff Robert McBride and Deputy Sheriff Kane Wooton, had been tasked with a difficult duty: arresting two brothers and another man for draft evasion. As the officers approached a cabin where the suspects were holed up, the situation escalated tragically.
A volley of gunfire erupted from the cabin, and in the ensuing exchange, all three officers were fatally wounded.
The immediate aftermath of the shootout left one of the suspects dead at the scene, but the others managed to escape, sparking a determined manhunt. The search for the accused killers stretched on for a month, finally concluding when a U.S. Cavalry Patrol located and captured the three remaining suspects near Hachita, New Mexico. They were brought back to Arizona to face justice for the deaths of the three law enforcement officers.
The legal process that followed resulted in convictions of first-degree murder for the three captured men, and each was sentenced to life in prison. Their stories, however, did not end there. Two of the men were eventually granted parole in 1960 and were later pardoned in 1969. The third suspect, who at the time was Arizona's oldest prisoner, died while incarcerated on January 24, 1957, at the age of 86. Undersheriff Kempton, a man who gave his life in the line of duty, was survived by his wife and seven children.
