Night Raid!
By J. Young
When Lincoln County Sheriff John W. Poe set out to arrest Nicholas Aragon, the killer of deputy sheriff Jasper Corn, he took 5 deputies along with him. In the posse was Barney Mason, William Dufue, James Lane, James R. Brent and Johnny Hurley. The killer had been on the run for about 3 months since his crime…but his free time was running out.
As the posse arrived at a place near Chaperito in the darkness of night at about 3 a.m.. They dismounted their horses and left them at the Rio Gallinas. The men crept about a half mile up until they reached the suspected home of the killer. The moonlight provided just enough light to make out three structures before them. After finding the first two empty the deputies knocked at the door to the third and they got a response.
A woman answered through the door but refused to open it. So the deputies batted it down and the frightened woman surrendered immediately. She was Mrs. Aragon, the killer’s wife. She cried and said repeatedly that her husband was not in the home. But the home was large and very dark. It would have been suicide for the deputies to search rooms without running the risk of being shot in the dark…something Sheriff Poe should have been familiar with.
The posse surrounded the premises while John Hurley built the woman a fire and fixed her door. It was only a few moments later when she quietly confided to Hurley that Aragon was in fact in the house. The deputy likely became cold and still with fear as he felt eyes on him that he could not see. Hurley lunged quickly for the door, and was shot through the back and dropped. “I am killed” he groaned loudly and fell face down at Poe’s feet. Deputy Brent on the rear side of the building was trying to get a look through the window when Poe stepped into the room and unloaded his six shooter, the flashes from gunfire lit up the room giving a quick view of the gunman. The other men quickly picked up the corpse of John Hurley and moved him behind an adobe wall, where they took cover with Aragon’s wife. Aragon fired his guns at the lawmen steadily through the two windows and door.
After about 2 hours went by Aragon yelled out that he would surrender if Sheriff Poe would come inside alone to get him. He was ordered to throw his weapon out the window and throw up his hands and hold them out the window. Aragon threw an old rifle out the window, But Sheriff Poe was hesitant to believe that was all he had and pressed Mrs. Aragon for information and she confirmed he had 2 rifles and a six shooter. A few minutes later, a burst of rounds came spitting out of the house, concluding that he still had guns and indicating that if Poe did enter the home, he would have been shot.
Deputy Brent was able to crawl up to the underside of one of the windows and jumped up, firing two rounds inside and heard what he thought was Aragon grunting and then went quiet…he slowly peaked up again only to be grazed by hot lead burning a hole through his hat. Another round whizzed by Poe who was just peering over the adobe wall. A long standoff began with shots being fired both ways all day and into the night.
It was just a little before dark when Poe dispatched Deputy Brent to get his PAL and ex-sheriff, Pat Garrett. However when Brent arrived he discovered Garrett was out of town visiting Texas, and brought back San Miguel Sheriff Romero and three of his deputies. Upon their arrival Sheriff Poe begged Mrs. Aragon to convince her husband to surrender so he would not be killed.
After some talking Nicholas Aragon finally surrendered to Sheriff Romero. Aragon later stated he only surrendered to Romero because he was not an American. John Aragon asked that he be protected from a lynching along the way and was promised. The posse set out on their journey to the Santa Fe jail. Remarkably the prisoner had been shot through the head and once in the knee and was still willing to give up and suffer the long road to prison. Nicholas Aragon was also charged with the murder of deputy John Hurley and was sentenced to life in prison.