Rebels Bomb U.S. Soil

THE DAY MEXICAN REBELS BOMBED ARIZONA

I am closing in on Patrick Murphy, the pilot who dropped bombs on Naco, Arizona, for Mexican rebels during the 1929 revolution. Murphy needs to be found so history can be set straight.

The attacks made the front page of The New York Times three days running, and threw Washington, D.C., into a tizzy. They marked the first time the contiguous United States was bombed from the air by a foreign power. The rebels meant to bombard Naco in Sonora, Mexico, and missed. Murphy apologized, but the bombing of the Arizona town continued.

When the revolution collapsed a month later, Murphy avoided a Mexican firing squad by crossing into the U.S. at Nogales, Arizona, where he was jailed briefly. After his release, he ducked out of sight. He hasn't been reported since.

I've searched a half-dozen newspapers, gumshoed through history, and talked to people who remember, and Murphy now begins to take form. He was tight-lipped around reporters and avoided photographers.

He appears in an undated photo to be in his late 30s. He lived in Ardmore, Oklahoma, where he may have learned to fly. Before turning up in Mexico, he was charged with second-degree manslaughter in Alabama following an air crash that killed a mechanic. Murphy himself may have been seriously hurt. At the time of the Naco bombings, one leg was badly crippled.

During Murphy's moment in history, war During Murphy's moment in history, war correspondents described him as showy, full of blarney, a man who took wild chances - yet who at times could be gallant. Someday I may be able to tell you what became of this American mercenary who terrorized a Mexican garrison, panicked Naco, and prompted President Hoover to send in the troops and help crush the Mexican rebellion.

You can still see the battle scars today in Naco: bullet-pocked walls, trenches, machine-gun nests. A rebel bomb such as the one Murphy dropped is displayed at the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum.

People still remember rebel planes circling overhead, the falling bombs, the clipclop sound of bullets striking as the rebeldes and federalistas fought just across the border in Arizona's backyard, as hundreds of Americans rubbernecked from atop railroad boxcars and automobiles parked on the U.S. side.

Americans rubbernecked from atop railroad boxcars and automobiles parked on the U.S. side.

"I remember going to school, and there were machine guns on each of these sidewalks, on the corners, manned by American soldiers," said Salim Sarkis Dominguez, 72, as we walked in the streets of Naco, Arizona. "And I remember that little plane coming over, circling around. They were little singleengines."

Between March 31 and April 6, 1929, rebel planes dropped dynamite-packed fragmentation bombs three times on the American Naco. The bombs shattered windows, slightly wounded two Americans and two Mexican refugees, and blew up a Dodge car that a Mexican officer had stored on the American side for safe-keeping.

Murphy is blamed for all the misaimed bombs, but that is wrong. News accounts are clear: Murphy wasn't alone in the air. And he didn't personally drop any bombs; they were thrown out of his two-seater Travel Air biplane by a Mexican bombardier in the rear seat.

Two other Americans flew for the rebels over Naco, Sonora: an experienced pilot named George Koehler and B.M. Cole, both itinerant flight instructors at Nogales, Arizona, for a year before joining the revolution. One of themit's not known which - certainly dropped bombs north of the border.

This is the way events really happened 63 years ago: the Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa were in revolt, again, over land reform and the closing of churches. The leftist government of Mexican President Emilio Portes Gil marched against the rebels. Planes flown mostly by American mercenaries helped government forces win major battles. Early in the revolution, rebels held many key border towns from Juarez to Nogales, where they reopened churches. But at Naco, Sonora, a federal garrison held.

Two-sided Naco is situated like a bull's-eye on the lowest land on a gently tilted plain below a rounded sentinel mountain. The Southern Pacific del Mexico tracks once crossed there and went through a broad pass to American copper holdings south of Naco. This gave the Mexican Naco military importance. In 1929 it also was important to Americans as a Prohibition-era watering hole. On March 27, rebel forces under Gen. Fausto Topete assembled in Agua Prieta, across from Douglas, Arizona, and marched on Naco, Sonora. Next evening rebel campfires circled the town. Federal soldiers dug in with their backs to the U.S. border.

A few days before, the rebels announced the "Yankee Doodle Escadrille," manned by American fliers. Murphy joined just before the Naco battle, probably at Agua Prieta. On March 30, a rebel plane dropped leaflets on Naco, Sonora, warning residents of a coming bombardment. The next day, a plane piloted by Koehler dropped four bombs close enough to spray shrapnel onto the U.S. side. Koehler returned in the afternoon, scoring two direct hits on the federal trenches, killing two officers. "When the plane sailed overhead and dropped the first bomb on Naco [Sonora],"

a newsman reported, "there were a lot of Americans over on the Mexican side. Most of them were trying to view the war through the bottom of a glass. When that bomb hit, they lit out for the border andnearly jammed up in the gate trying to get through."

Rebel bombs again fell on the Mexican positions on April 1.

On April 2, Murphy, flying the Travel Air biplane, dropped two bombs on the U.S. side, and made history. A cameraman from Ohio suffered a flesh wound. Glass shattered in the grocery owned by SalimDominguez' father, the Haas pharmacy, and the Phelps Dodge Mercantile store, which faced the border. An Associated Press correspondent with the rebels reported that "the flier of the plane is an American with one leg, and he was deeply sorry, as were army officials." The next day, the correspondent named Murphy and offered a better description as "one-legged as far as practicability goes - one leg being crippled."

The AP man added that a rebel monoplane involved in the raid "is also piloted by an American." Most likely this was Koehler.

On April 3 the AP reported "a rebel monoplane soared over both Nacos before dark, dropping three bombs. One fell on the American side," causing little damage.

The air war heated up over Mexican Naco on April 4. "The day opened with a rebel bombing raid. Two rebel planes dropped about 10 bombs," The Douglas Dispatch reported. The federals retaliated with bombing strikes from their black and orange Eaglerock biplane. The Eaglerock was on its fourth run when a rebel tracer bullet exploded the fuel tank and it crashed, killing the pilot and bombardier.

10 bombs," The Douglas Dispatch reported. The federals retaliated with bombing strikes from their black and orange Eaglerock biplane. The Eaglerock was on its fourth run when a rebel tracer bullet exploded the fuel tank and it crashed, killing the pilot and bombardier.

"We saw this plane circling around, and, all of a sudden, poof, it blew to smithereens," said Mrs. Charlotte Walker Lamb of Bisbee, who was eight then and watching from the family ranch near Naco.

Murphy had stunted over the federal trenches minutes before, flying sideways and upside down, taunting the government machine gunners with rebel bombardier Col. Julio Ramirez in the backseat. The Travel Air was hit 33 times, the engine quit, and Murphy was forced down near where the federal plane still smoldered.

Reporters said Murphy and Ramirez "paid their respects with military salutes." Murphy told reporters, "Boys, I'm sure sorry to see this. Of course, they were the enemy and all that, but it's liable to happen to us at any time."

Rebel General Topete ordered an all-out attack at 3 A.M. April 6. Three rebel planes came over and peeled into formation. Rebel troops advanced behind three farm tractors converted into tanks. The federals fired back with a one-pound cannon and rifle crossfire. Topete's rebels were cut down and repulsed.

At 11:45 A.M. a rebel plane dropped a bomb that exploded in the rear of Newton's Garage, a half block north of the border, slightly wounding owner Charles Newton. Refugees camped behind the garage scattered for cover. The rebel pilot was never identified.

Some 300 Mexican troops arrived by rail in Naco, Arizona, during the battle and marched single file across the border to reinforce the beleaguered federal garrison. U.S. military observers arrived, too, as "fire and crossfire zipped through Naco as if it were being attacked." Buildings in Naco were Sandbagged, and residents dodged bullets. Rounds slammed into the adobe-walled Naco Hotel, which since Pancho Villa's days had advertised itself as "the only bullet-proof hotel." (Workmen remodeling in 1991 found a rifle slug in the roof.) Two hours later, three rebel planes came back. "Two kept dropping bombs," time and again flying in Arizona airspace. Americans who watched the bombs found "it was possible to determine when one was heaved over whether it would fall north of the line."

U.S. reprisal was swift. Army infantry and artillery were rolled to the border and dug in around Naco. In a further show of force, 18 warplanes sent from Texas roared overhead, with orders to shoot down any Mexican plane violating U.S. airspace. The Hoover administration rushed materiel to the Mexican government, including factory-fresh fighters.

The rebels, already losing, began retreating toward Nogales.

Murphy appeared next on April 8 at a news conference in Agua Prieta with "Col." Art Smith, a Yankee Doodle Escadrille commander. Smith announced, "We have fired the man who flew the plane that bombed Naco, Arizona [apparently on April 6]." Smith didn't name the pilot, but remarked jokingly, "It seemed this man had delinquent taxes in Arizona and was attempting to reduce them; we have sent him back to Arizona where he belongs."

Could he have been referring to B.M. Cole? Maybe, or it could have been deliberate "disinformation." Cole is never mentioned again in rebel dispatches or news reports.

Murphy was described by Smith "as the man who stunted over the battle of Naco." Boasted "Capt." Murphy, "I did those stunts over Naco to show the federalists that I had no fear of them. But I want you to note that when I went up the first time Saturday morning, I had a six days growth of beard and look at my face now; it's as clean as a close shave could possibly make it."

ARIZONA BOMBING

man who stunted over the battle of Naco." Boasted "Capt." Murphy, "I did those stunts over Naco to show the federalists that I had no fear of them. But I want you to note that when I went up the first time Saturday morning, I had a six days growth of beard and look at my face now; it's as clean as a close shave could possibly make it."

The Mexican government, with U.S. help, won more battles. By April 13, the rebels offered to surrender. Rebel generals ran for the U.S. border, abandoning underlings to the firing squads.

On April 19 federal planes bombed Agua Prieta and Nogales, and the garrison that held Naco marched on the rebel headquarters in Nogales, Sonora. That same day, Koehler landed safely after rebel riflemen mistakenly fired on him over Nogales.

The American mercenaries of the Yankee Doodle Escadrille fled north also. One after another, they crossed at Nogales, complaining of not being paid. Meanwhile, the rebel treasurer was arrested in New York City, absconding with the payroll.

On April 29 rebel commander Topete escaped into the U.S. at Nogales. Salim Sarkis Dominguez was there with his mother. "We parked by the line, and Topete walked in with all the officers," he recalled. "People clapped for him."

That same afternoon, Murphy and R.H. Polk, of Nashville, Tennessee, "general" of the Yankee Doodle Escadrille, crossed at Nogales. "I did not want to be lined up in front of an adobe wall," Polk explained, "and that is why Murphy and myself surrendered to American authorities." Like the others, they were held for alleged violations of U.S. neutrality laws.

Murphy was not charged, and on May 3, 1929, he was released from the Santa Cruz County jail and disappeared.

It's a cold track I follow, but my search for Patrick Murphy continues. He may still be alive. Other Yankee Doodle Escadrille pilots said they were headed for California. Topete and the other rebel generals went there. Maybe Murphy followed.

Or he may have gone to China. That's where Polk said he was headed. Mao's communist guerrillas were fighting the Nationalist government. It would have been just the sort of scrap to appeal to a crippled mercenary who enjoyed taking chances.Editor's Note: The only other time the contiguous 48 states were bombed from the air was September 9, 1942, when a Japanese submarine-launched aircraft dropped an incendiary bomb on a mountain outside Brookings, Oregon, starting a small forest fire.