Deputy Sheriff Andres Chavez

Andres Chavez

Deputy Sheriff Andres Chavez succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous night while attempting to break up a fight outside of a dance hall in Jarales.

Several men, who were also sheriff's deputies, had been involved in a disturbance inside of the dance hall and went outside. Deputy Chavez followed in an attempt to keep the men from fighting when someone fired a pistol. Deputy Chavez was shot wounded and died in the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital in Belen the following day.

Four men, all deputy sheriffs, were charged with his murder an released in lieu of a $5,000 bond. On March 16, 1934, three of the four, now former deputies, were found guilty of second degree murder. The fourth was acquitted. On December 4, 1934, a retrial ended with a hung jury. No record of a third trial.