Narcotics Inspector Charles Archibold, known as Arch Wood, was 35 and served with the U.S. Department of the Treasury Prohibition Service. On the night of March 21, 1921, he and Federal Prohibition Agent Stafford Beckett were shot and killed near El Paso, Texas, while raiding a still with seven other agents. Officers had received a tip that 23 cases of liquor would be sent to a hog ranch about five miles from El Paso in the lower valley.

As the agents approached, they stopped a car driven by the ranch owner’s father and then went to the ranch house. The father retrieved a shotgun and led the party toward the house when a volley of shots rang out. Beckett and Wood were mortally wounded; the remaining officers returned fire, but the gunmen had fled. The ranch owner and three sons were indicted for the murders; the first trial ended in a mistrial in June 1921. Three men were re-indicted in September 1921 on charges of resisting federal officers and were found not guilty. On April 24, 1922, a judge dismissed the indictment against the family for failing to state the authority for the raid.

Did anyone reading this remember details about the raid, the trials, or the Wood family that could add context to the case?