Bio & Incident Details
Age: 26
Tour: 9 months
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Location: Texas
Incident Date: 7/20/1929
Weapon: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect: Not available
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The Border Patrol received information that there would be heavy crossings by liquor smugglers and aliens before daybreak on Saturday, July 20, 1929 in the neighborhood of the upper Las Pomas crossing near Clint. It was raining hard and there was little visibility. Three officers confronted a man on horseback who immediately opened fire on the officers. The officers returned fire as the man fled into Mexico. It was later learned that the man died.
The three officers regrouped, and with three more officers, including Inspector Ivan Scotten, returned to the scene in automobiles. As they arrived they were caught in a cross fire from hidden smugglers on both sides of the road. Inspector Scotten was wounded in the thigh and fell to the ground. The five remaining officers retreated under fire and the smugglers advanced. When the smugglers reached the automobiles, they found the wounded officer under the vehicle. He was pulled from under the vehicle and shot at close range in the head. They stole his pistols, ring, watch and badge. The officers charged the smugglers and drove them back into Mexico.
The case remained unsolved until 1933 when a Border Patrol officer interrogated two brothers in an another case, and they confessed to knowledge that Ramiro Galvan, alias Raul Galvan, had bragged about killing Inspector Scotten and had the officer's pistols and possesions. In 1934, Galvan was convicted and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life in prison on February 13, 1936.
Inspector Scotten was survived by his parents, two brothers and one sister. He had been with the agency for nine months. He was buried in the Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas.
