[3] Late in 1928, as the Cristero War was raging in western Mexico, a new revolutionary faction led by General José Gonzalo Escobar drafted the "Plan of Hermosillo" and occupied the copper mining town of Cananea, Sonora, not far from the international border with the United States.

Encouraged by their successes early on, they next decided to take control of Agua Prieta and Naco, both situated on the border with Arizona, knowing many of the locals were sympathetic to their cause and thinking the revenue generated by these two towns would be a good source of income for the revolution.

Elledge says that Murphy and Gorre bought their homemade "suitcase bombs" from the same man and that about 200 people gathered on the American side of the border each day to watch the fighting, as they had during the Mexican Revolution a decade before.

[3] Neither Murphy or any of the other pilots were very successful in hitting their targets, but the high winds which regularly blow in the region in late spring and early summer most likely contributed to their inaccuracy.

Murphy's bombing runs smashed windows and otherwise damaged several buildings on the American side of the border, including a garage, the Phelps-Dodge Mercantile and the Haas Pharmacy.

Yet another bomb landed on and devastated a regal Dodge touring car owned by a Mexican Army officer, which had been left on the American side of the border for safekeeping during the expected hostilities.

[1][3] The United States Army was slow in responding to the situation, having closed all military posts in Arizona the same year, with the exception of Fort Huachuca.

[1][3][4] Murphy never faced charges for his bombing of Naco, Arizona, which became the first aerial bombardment of the continental United States by a foreign power in American history.

[1][3] "The Bombing of Naco" is a folk song written by Dolan Ellis and is found on his album Tall Tales, Lost Trails & Heroes.