In the autumn of 1912, a dedicated lawman named Albert Munguia served as a Deputy Sheriff in Graham County, Arizona. At 38 years old, he was a man who upheld the law in a rugged and often unforgiving territory. His commitment to his duty had previously brought him into a fatal conflict with the cousin of a notorious leader of a gang of horse thieves.
This earlier incident, where Munguia killed the man in Globe, had planted a seed of bitter resentment that would ultimately lead to his own demise. The gang leader harbored a deep-seated grudge and began to orchestrate a plan for revenge against the deputy.
The plot was set in motion when the gang leader cunningly leaked false information about his whereabouts to Deputy Munguia, luring him into a carefully laid trap. On Tuesday, September 24, 1912, Deputy Munguia, along with Deputy Sheriff Jack Campbell and another deputy, set out to apprehend the outlaws. As they neared the supposed hideout at Eagle Lake, about a mile from their destination, the quiet landscape erupted in a hail of gunfire. The deputies had walked directly into a deadly ambush.
The attack was sudden and brutal. Both Deputy Munguia and Deputy Campbell were killed instantly in the onslaught of bullets. The third deputy with them was wounded in the ambush. In the aftermath of the deadly encounter, a posse of fifty men was assembled to pursue the gang of horse thieves responsible for the cold-blooded murder of the two lawmen. Despite their efforts, it is not publicly known if the leader of the gang or any of his accomplices were ever captured and brought to justice for the deaths of the two deputies. Albert Munguia was survived by his wife and three children.
