by Steven “Pacheco” McCann, great-grandson of Lawman Nabor Pacheco
Nabor Pacheco (left), Sheriff John Nelson, Undersheriff Joseph Hopley, Deputy Sheriff Charles Huss, and Jack the Dog at the Pima County Courthouse in the early 1900s.
Records show that native born Tucsonan Nabor Pacheco started his lawman career around 1885 as a beat policeman on the City of Tucson Police force. He advanced to the position of Tucson Constable in 1900, then was elected as Pima County Territorial Sheriff for two terms, starting in 1905 through 1908. After deciding not to run for re-election as Sheriff in 1909, he was appointed as Tucson Chief of Police for one year in 1909. He then finished his illustrious law career in 1910 as a Deputy U.S. Marshal under U.S. Marshal Charles Overlock.
Every law enforcement officer dreads the time he has to pull his revolver from its holster in self-defense or to protect a defenseless citizen. There are at least three reported incidents from early Old Western Arizona times when lawman Nabor Pacheco needed to draw his weapon on a lawbreaker, each of which resulted in the takedown and arrest of that suspect.
As reported in the Tucson Citizen on May 5, 1902:
A tragedy was barely averted this morning by the coolness of Constable Pacheco. Sirrado Martinez entered the Rancho restaurant this morning for the ostensible purpose of killing the proprietress, Junana Aguirre, and then committing suicide. Officer Pacheco happened to be in the restaurant at the time. The would-be murderer entered and engaged the woman in conversation. She started to walk away from him and he began drawing his six-shooter at once. By good luck the trigger caught in his clothing and Constable Pacheco covered him with his gun. At the same time the officer advanced and disarmed the man. When Martinez saw that his plans were frustrated, he attempted to carry out his secondary thought, suicide. Before the officer could stop him he raised a bottle of carbolic acid to his mouth and swallowed a mouthful of the awful fluid. The bottle was knocked out of his hands and Pacheco was burned about the wrists by the acid. Martinez was given medical attention and was taken to the county jail writhing in pain He will be given a hearing before Justice Wilson tomorrow.
Colt SA 44-40 caliber Six Shooter revolver that Nabor was carrying during the Indian John Johns posse in 1907
Sometimes a usually upstanding citizen can go on a bender and breaking the law while endandering the town’s citizens.
Such was the case as reported in Bisbee Daily Review Thursday,29, 1903.
TUCSON BONIFACE ON THE WARPATH
Alexander Casey Goes on the Warpath
The Willard Hotel was the Scene of the War – Casey slightly Wounded as Was Also Constable Pacheco
Forty Bullets Mars Visible on the Walls of the Hotel.
Tucson, Ariz. Oct. 28 – Excitement reigned in Tucson last evening. There were stories afloat that the sheriff had killed a man and that two or three more were wounded unto death.
The source of all the excitement was at the Willard Hotel and the time about 5 o’clock in the evening. Alexander Casey, who owns the hotel, tanked up on fighting whiskey and then the trouble began. Casey was in room 11, which is on the hallway that runs from the office to the gaming room. During the time he was in the room he was entertaining himself by loudly swearing and violently calling for vengeance. Some of the attaches of the hotel were requested to quiet him, and in the meantime he opened up his battery and fired a fusillade through the door into the hallway. The first volley was followed by several more, as the bullet holes in the door will attest.
Willard Hotel, Tucson, Arizona.
In the meantime, Wm. Stewart had arrived at the door and upon his arrival Casey emerged from his stronghold. Mr. Stewart motioned to shake hands, with the exaltation of “How are you, Mr. Casey. Haven’t seen you today!” Casey swore violently and with a pistol in his hand threatened immediate destruction. Casey then took his way to the office and to the outside on the north of the room, where he took a couple of pot shots at Gleamer, the head waiter, neither which took effect.
Gleamer hastened to the telephone and summoned the peace officers to the scene. By the time the officers arrived it appears that Casey had again entered the house and had made a show to resist arrest. Before he was overcome and placed under restraint, a number of shots were exchanged between himself and the officers. Among the officers were Sheriff Murphy, his deputies and Constables Frazer and Pacheco. During the melee Constable Pacheco was wounded in the left arm, in the flesh near the left arm pit and slight scratch near the left ear. Neither of the parties are hurt in any serious manner.
Casey was overpowered and taken to county jail. Dr. Gould was called and dressed his wounds, pronoucing none of them serious. At the time Casey was able to remove his shirt with dexterity and insisted that he was only scratched.
All of the parties at the hotel were extremely reticent when approached by a reporter and it is difficult to ascertain the cause of Casey’s anger or what prompted him to his wild and dangerous escapade. Anger towards his wife is partly the cause, but Mrs. Casey flatly refused to say a word concerning the affair. It is claimed by the friends of Casey, of whom he has many, that he is mentally unbalanced, and when is in his cupa, he is violent.
From evidence apparant at the hotel there was at least forty shots fired, but one this score relable information could not be secured. It is little less than miraculous that someone or a dozen were not killed. Bullets struck the door of the main entrance and marks checkered all over the plastering of the office and hallway.
Casey came here about eighteen months ago from Gleason, in Cochise County, where he had at the time just sold a mine for $30,000. Upon his arrival here he built the Willard hotel, which is one of the most substantial buildings in the city. He was married to Mrs. Casey about nine months ago, she being at the time the postmistress at Gleason. He is a mining man and has a deal on one for $60,000.
Casey has many friends throughout the southern part of the territory among the influential men. A telegram phone message was sent last night to Judge James Rielly, of Tombstone to defend him. Martin Costello, the millionaire mine owner, was also sent for.
Both Judge Reilly and Mr. Costello are old-time friends of Casey.
Casey came to this section of the country about twenty years ago and located at Turquoise, where he became interested in Turquoise clains in that camp, selling his interest in them three years ago at an enormous figure. He well known to old residents of Tombstone, where he was a familiar figure in the early days of the camp.
Arizona Daily Star October 29, 1903
Constable Pacheco, who was wounded twice during the melee at the Willard, once under his left shoulder in the arm and once on his left ear, was out on the street yesterday as usual.
Lawman Nabor Pacheco, in his third mano a mano encounter, was forced to be quicker on the draw.
Gunfight re-enactment in Tombstone, Arizona, 2021. Photo by Kathy Alexander
When we look back on the early days of the southwest, many of us fantasize about gunfights in the street, out-of-control saloon brawls and even hair raising shoot outs with reward poster bandits. In reality, incidents like these were few and far between.
The life of an Arizona Territorial Sheriff could actually be quite mundane. Their duties included being property tax collector for which they earned a share of the money brought in, testifying at various minor offense court trials and even finding a missing person once in awhile. And yet, there was always the threat of facing off against a deadly wanted man at a second’s notice. Such was the case for Sheriff Nabor Pacheco on one hot afternoon in July 1906. Fate would bring him face to face with one such vicious outlaw.
As reported in the Tucson Citizen on July 17, 1906:
“Wanted in three counties for a series of alleged crimes, Jesus Trujio was captured at 2 o’clock this afternoon in a vacant lot near the Natatorium by Sheriff Nabor Pacheco. He was relieved of his six-shooter and placed in the county jail. The officer stated that he is wanted for horse stealing and other crimes and they strongly suspect that he was the lone highwayman who held up a party at the Bayless and Berkalew ranch also known as the Walnut Tree Ranch.
Trujio had a reputation in this county, in Gila County and Pinal County. There had been a standing reward for his arrest and he has been sought by the Arizona Rangers as well as by the county officers in Southern Arizona. Descriptions of Trujio were sent out generally and the desperado realizing that he was a much wanted man by the officers, kept shy of the towns . Apparently thinking that the officers had forgotten him,Trujio threw caution to the wind and came to Tucson today. Word was received at the Sheriff’s office at 1 o’clock this afternoon that he was in the vicinity of the Natatorium.
Sheriff Pacheco, who was in the office, immediately started on a search for the desperado. After a considerable time he finally came upon him in a vacant lot near the Natatorium. Trujio, who knows the sheriff, saw the officer as soon as the officer saw the desperado.
Trujio made a pass for his revolver. His hand never reached the holster, however, for the sheriff was quicker on the draw and had Trujio covered first. “Throw down your gun,” the Sheriff commanded in Spanish.
Trujio, knowing this sheriff’s prowess as a marksman, complied with the command. The sheriff then marched his prisoner to the jail.
Trujio is a strapping big fellow. He has an evil looking face and from reports, he does not deceive by his appearance. He will be arraigned later.
Tucson Lawman and Pima County Sheriff Nabor Pacheco.
For had Sheriff Pacheco not prevailed with a much faster draw, this newspaper story could have had a much sadder and deadlier ending. And such was law enforcement then and now: an officer’s life can be ended in the blink of an eye. Fortunately for Sheriff Pacheco, he was able to retire after a decade-plus as an Arizona lawman in 1911. He began ram-rodding his own cattle ranch using the Diamond Bell brand granted to his family in the 1700s by the King of Spain.
©Steven “Pacheco” McCann, for LegendsOfAmerica, July 2025.
Also See:
Nabor Pacheco – Pima County Lawman
Bound by Duty – United in Friendship (the Nabor Pacheco/Harry Wheeler Story)