THE OUTLAW

 

After the ordeal, the weary Regulators headed to San Patricio. There was nothing left to fight for; Tunstall and now McSween were dead and the Dolan side had reclaimed Lincoln. Though James Dolan would still go bankrupt and lose the Murphy store, which would be converted into a courthouse, he still had powerful friends in Santa Fe and would never be convicted of his charges.

 

On the run from their enemies, a handful of Regulators including Billy, rode to the Mescalero Apache Reservation Agency near Blazer Mill. The Regulators claimed the objective of going there was to water their horses and visit the grave of their fallen leader Dick Brewer, but some say they were there to steal horses. As the men passed a spring, half the men went over to water their horses (Billy being one of them), the other half continued down the road towards the agency. As they approached, Indians coming in from the opposite direction spotted them and opened fire. Upon hearing the gunfire agency clerk, Morris Bernstein foolishly rode towards the shooting. During the chaos Atanacio Martinez shot Bernstein, he would later turn himself in and the charges would be dropped; but even still the newspapers would credit Billy the Kid with Bernstein’s death.

 

Meanwhile back at the spring, Billy’s party was startled by the shooting and so were their horses. Billy’s horse reared straight up, pulled the reins out of his hands and took off, leaving him on foot. But George Coe hoisted Billy up behind him on his horse and the group ran for cover. The Regulators saw an opportunity to steal the agency’s horses out of the corral while the gun battle was taking place. As guns continued to blaze away, the remaining Regulators with their stolen horses rode out of the agency and headed to Fort Sumner.

 

Shortly after, the Regulators slowly broke up. The Coe cousins and Charlie Bowdre settled down and laid low to wait for the smoke to clear from the Lincoln County War. While Billy and a handful of other former Regulators raided the Fritz Ranch in Lincoln County and took the stolen animals across the border to Texas.

 

In the small dusty cattle town of Tascosa, Texas, the former New Mexico warriors made themselves comfortable. The town had strict rules of conduct for outsiders; in order for Billy and his friends to stay in town the men had to promise to be on their best behavior and Billy took it upon himself to oversee that they do. One day John Middleton became drunk at Howard & McMaster’s store and was behaving violently. As the situation was getting ugly, Billy came in and with a mild but stern voice ordered Middleton out of the store and return to their camp outside of town. Oddly enough the ornery and drunk Middleton, know for his dominating personality, obeyed.

 

If Billy wasn’t busy keeping his men in line, he was making new friends. He struck up a firm and lasting friendship with a young frontier doctor name Henry Hoyt. The two had a lot in common; they both loved to gamble, race horses and dance with pretty girls, but they were also light or non-drinkers, a rare quality in those days. Before his departure for New Mexico Billy presented Hoyt with a fine sorrel Arabian horse named Dandy Dick (formerly owned by the late William Brady) and Hoyt gave Billy a watch.

 

After leaving Tascosa, the remaining Regulators disbanded for good. While the others would try to distant themselves from Lincoln and start their lives over again, Billy and Tom Folliard would return to Lincoln County.

 

In Billy’s absent, a ruffian named John Selman led an extremely dangerous gang called “the Rustlers,” some were former members of Peppin’s posse and Jesse Evans gang, including Jesse himself. The gang went on a violent rampage of stealing horses and cattle, but also looting and raiding homes and stores. They also physically abused or killed any man that got in their way, including the deaths of four young boys, for reasons none other than target practice. Women weren’t safe either, any unfortunately woman who was caught in their wrath were gang raped. They even tried to murder Susan McSween in Lincoln, but she was warned of the coming danger and fled to Las Vegas. Ironically, these men and their heinous acts of violence are not commonly known in today’s history, but yet, it is Billy the Kid that is portrayed as the monster of New Mexico?! Why is Billy the Kid forever branded as the Western terrorist and villain, when there were men 100 times worse than he ever was? Still to this day some people who know the name but not the man, has Billy baring the sins of John Selman, Jesse Evans, and John Kinney.  Billy even gets blamed for some of the crimes of Jesse James and John Wesley Hardin.

 

In time the bias Governor Axtell was finally replaced with General Lew Wallace, who wasn’t all to happy about being appointed governor when he had his heart set on being an ambassador. But he took the job hoping it would allow him time to finish his novel Ben Hur.   His first job was to put an end to the Rustler’s violence.

 

By the end of October 1878, Billy and Folliard were back in Lincoln. At lot had changed, the lawmen and army were cracking down on outlaws and there was a new governor. But Dolan still had the upper hand and tensions in Lincoln were still strong.

 

To put an end to the violence, Governor Wallace offered amnesty to those with lesser charges, but unfortunately, Billy did not qualify. Overwhelmed with having enemies outside and inside the law, Billy knew it would be a matter of time before he was gun down and decided to offer a peace parley to Jesse Evans and James Dolan.

 

Arrangements were made and the two sides met. After an argument instigated by Evans who wanted to shoot Billy on sight, the two sides calmed down and began their peace talk. A peace treaty was drawn up and it stated that no one on either side could kill, molest or testify against the other and if one is arrested, the others must aid in his escape. The treaty was signed and both parties put away their differences and went to a saloon to celebrate.

 

After going from one drinking and eating establishment to another, the men were getting drunk and obnoxious. The townspeople hid in their homes and locked their doors. As the group walked down the street they came upon Susan McSween’s attorney Huston Chapman. Dolan and his friend Billy Campbell wasted no time in threatening the man’s life. The sober Billy sensed trouble and wanted no part in this, so he turned to walk away but Jesse Evans blocked him and witnesses say he pulled out his gun and made Billy look on. Campbell pulled out his six-shooter and pointed it in Chapman’s face. Dolan also did the same but his gun went off. Startled by the sound of a gunshot Campbell’s reflects pulled the trigger of his gun. Chapman was shot in the chest and was killed. Unfazed by what happened, Dolan and Campbell suggested an oyster meal at another restaurant. The drunken men continued on down the street as if nothing happened. Billy had no choice but to go along.

 

While sitting around a table eating oysters and talking boastfully about the killing, Dolan tells one of his men to go back to Chapman’s body and place a gun in his hand, so they could cry self-defense. But the man refused, so Billy volunteered to do it. Once outside and joined by Folliard, the two bypass Chapman’s body, mounted their horses, and skinned out. Billy who had good intentions to clear himself from any more trouble was now involved in yet another murder.

 

When Governor Wallace heard about the cold-blooded killing of Chapman, he was fed up. After learning the story of what happened by witnesses he put out warrants against all who were involved, including Billy. The army and lawmen were unable to capture Billy who evaded them every time. Tired of running and being hunted like a coyote, Billy wrote a letter to the governor offering himself as a key witness to Chapman’s murder. Billy pointed out that he didn’t qualify for the governor’s amnesty, but if he would give the desired information in exchange to having his charges dropped, he would surrender. Billy also tried to convince the governor of his true feelings of laying down his arms and living an honest life. The governor immediately wrote back and told Billy to meet with him at old Squire Wilson’s house in the late evening: “Come alone. Don’t tell anybody –not a living soul- where you are coming or the object. If you could trust Jesse Evans, you can trust me.”

 

The meeting took place and Billy agreed to submit to a fake arrest for his own protection and testify against the Dolan bunch and Colonel Dudley for his illegal conduct during the battle at McSween’s house. The governor told Billy that if he stuck to his end of the bargain, “I will let you go scot-free with a pardon in your pocket.” They shook hands to close the deal and Billy left. The governor had no real intention to pardon Billy; he was just using him to convict Chapman’s killers. But Billy was taking the deal seriously, not to mention he was risking his life. By making an honest effort to clear himself, he violated the treaty with Dolan that was punishable by death.

 

On March 21, 1879 Billy and Tom Folliard surrendered to the Lincoln County Sheriff, George Kimbrell and placed in confined at Patron’s store in Lincoln. Billy would remain in custody for almost three months and during those months Billy followed through on his deal and was obedient to Governor Wallace’s wishes. He testified in court against James Dolan, Colonel Dudley, and other participants of the late Lincoln County War and even went one step further and told Wallace about the rustling trade and outlaw hideouts.

 

Although Billy, Susan McSween and other former Regulators testified against Colonel Dudley, just as many testified in his favor. Defending counsel, Henry Waldo closed his argument by verbally tearing into Billy’s testimony by calling him a liar and that the court shouldn’t go by the word of a murderous outlaw of the worst type, like William Bonney. It was no surprise that the bias military court found Dudley not guilty.

 

Billy was now expected to testify against Dolan for Chapman’s murder, but Dolan’s friend, prosecutor Attorney William Rynerson, refused to go along with Wallace’s plan for Billy and instead focused on putting Billy on trial first for the murder of Brady. If Billy was convicted and hung he couldn’t appear as an eyewitness against Dolan. Rynerson succeed in getting a change of venue to Mesilla for Billy’s trial. Mesilla was unfriendly territory for Billy. If Billy had faced a jury in Lincoln he would most likely be acquitted, but in Mesilla, Billy didn’t stand a chance and he knew it. Attorney Ira Leonard, who was in on the “deal” between Billy and the governor, wrote a worrisome note to Wallace, “I tell you Governor, the District Attorney here is no friend to law enforcement. He is bent on going after the Kid. He proposes to destroy his evidence and influence and is bent on pushing him (Billy) to the wall. He is a Dolan man and is defending him (Dolan) in every way possible.” Indeed when his trial took place on July 5, Dolan was acquitted, even though his testimony was very inconsistent.

 

Billy’s trial in Mesilla was scheduled for July, so Wallace still had plenty of time to come through for him, but would he? Billy saw how things were going in the courtroom and how truly powerful his enemies were. To make matters worse, Wallace had lost interest in him and had return to Santa Fe to concentrate on his novel Ben Hur. Billy wasn’t stupid he saw the writing on the wall and lost his trust in the governor. On June 17, while his partial guard looked the other way, Billy and Folliard walked out of Patron’s store and rode out of Lincoln.

 

Back on the run and in hiding, Billy felt betrayed and was terribly disappointed that his attempts to clear himself with the law had failed and now his situation was worse. He went back to the only life he knew…outlawry.

 

For the next couple of months Billy laid low and made his living by gambling and rustling Chisum’s cattle. Billy felt that John Chisum owed him fighting wages during the Lincoln County War, but Chisum denied the debt, so Billy stole from his herd. But Chisum had more cattle than he knew what to do with, so it was more of a nuisance than a lost of profit.

 

Billy wasn’t involved in anything too exciting (by outlaw standards) until January 10, 1880. While at Bob Hargove’s Saloon in Fort Sumner, Billy was confronted by a drunken bully who stated, “I bet $25 I kill a man today before you do.” Billy replied back, “What do you want to kill a man for?” and shrugged him off. Billy then learned Jim Chisum (John’s brother) and his cowboys were camped outside of the fort recovering stolen livestock, so Billy went out to investigate. When Billy and two Mexican comrades approached the cowboys, they demanded to inspect their stock. Billy saw that his jig was up and couldn’t sucker Jim out of the cattle and instead invited him and his men for a round of drinks.  Back at the saloon, as they had their drinks, Joe Grant stirred up trouble by taking one of the Chisum cowboy’s fine ivory-handed revolver and replaced it with his own. In seeing this Billy went up to Grant and innocently commented on his revolver and lifted it out of the hostler. He then secretively spun the barrel so the hammer would hit an empty chamber and then gave it back. But the drunken man wasn’t through causing trouble, he pulled out his gun and pointed it in Jim’s face and threatened to kill him thinking he was John Chisum. But Billy quickly stepped forward and pointed out that he was John’s brother and as Billy turned away, Grant squared off at him and pulled the trigger. When Billy heard the gun click, he whirled around and fired his own gun three times killing Grant before the dead man knew what hit him. Later when Billy was asked about the shooting he nonchalantly replied, “Oh it was nothing, just a game of two and I got there first.”

 

During the months that passed, rustling was at an all time high, though Billy played an active part in the rustling trade he was not by any means alone. There were other rustlers who kept themselves busy in the New Mexico and Panhandle area, but due to Billy’s growing reputation all rustling thefts were blamed on him. Aside from rustling and gambling, Billy was also dabbling in counterfeiting (thanks to a new gang member named Billy Wilson and other associates). Due to complaints of bogus bills being passed, an investigation was under way.

 

By mid October of 1880, Billy was once again tired of his outlaw lifestyle and made another attempt to reform. He sent a letter to Attorney Ira Leonard asking him if they could meet and if he would help him straighten things out regarding his pardon. Leonard showed the letter to the counterfeiting investigator, Azariah Wild, and claimed Billy maybe useful in prosecuting the counterfeiters. Wild agreed and both Leonard and the investigator promise Billy that they would use their influences with Governor Wallace to fulfill his promise of the pardon, if he would testify against the counterfeiters. Leonard wrote a note to Billy to come immediately to White Oaks (a neighboring town of Lincoln) to meet with them. This was the same sort of promise Wallace gave Billy, was it another trick? Could he trust them?

 

But Billy did show up in White Oaks, but a month later. Was it because he sensed another betrayal? Or was it because Wilson and Billy robbed the U.S. mail in route to Fort Sumner with Leonard’s letter aboard and Wilson learned of Billy’s secret rendezvous with the attorney and Billy backed out? Or was it because Wild appointed one of Billy’s worse enemies, Bob Olinger as his US Marshal that Billy would have to surrender to? Whatever the reason for not going to White Oaks right away, Billy’s behavior didn’t make a good impression on Wild and he abandoned the agreement.

 

Meanwhile, thirty-year old Pat Garret, former buffalo hunter and employee of Pete Maxwell, was elected sheriff of Lincoln County. He won the election because he was familiar with Billy and his gang and knew their hideouts. Could this mean he was a rustler himself? But Garrett wouldn’t become sheriff until January 1, 1881, so Investigator Wild crossed out the name of John Hurley on a commission note sent by U.S. Marshall John Sherman and wrote in Pat Garrett’s name. Illegitimately, Garrett is now a deputy U.S. Marshall and began his hunt for Billy the Kid.

 

On November 20, 1880 a month late for his appointment and after picking up a new member named Dave Rudabaugh, Billy arrived in White Oaks and learned Leonard was not there, but in Lincoln. After stocking up on supplies, which they did not pay for, the boys headed to Lincoln. But word quickly got out on Billy’s whereabouts and the White Oaks posse led by deputies William Hudgens and James Carlyle went after him and his gang (I hate to use the word “gang,” because it really wasn’t one, but more like a small group of friends that outlawed together. It was not organized and Billy was not the “leader.” But I will reluctantly continue to use the word throughout this biography.)

 

The posse tracked them down at a camp and opened fire on the outlaws who scattered in different directions. Billy and Wilson’s horses were shot out from under them and the two got away on foot through the deep snow. The gang would then regroup and head to Jim Greathouse’s ranch. The posse did not take chase but instead gather up the stolen supplies.

 

The gang finally reach Greathouse’s ranch, as the White Oaks posse resumed the pursuit and it wouldn’t be long before they trailed them to the station house. When Billy got up the next morning he found the house surrounded by the posse. Deputy Carlyle bravely went into the house to negotiate with the outlaws, for his safety Greathouse went outside with the posse as a hostage. In a letter to the governor in the days to come, Billy wrote, “I asked for their papers and they had none. So I concluded it amounted to nothing more than a mob and told Carlyle that he would have to stay in the house and lead the way out at night. Soon after a note was brought in stating that if Carlyle did not come out from inside in five minutes they would kill the station keeper (Greathouse) who had left the house and was with them. In a short time a shot was fired on the outside and Carlyle thinking Greathouse was killed jumped through the window breaking the sash as he went and was killed by his own party, they thinking it was me trying to make my escape. The party then withdrew.”

 

Of course Carlyle’s death was blamed on Billy. The posse claimed Billy shot down Carlyle as he leaped out the window and ran. But logical thinking proves otherwise: First, when Billy’s reply note was carried back to the posse, the messenger heard the sound of broken glass followed by a hail of bullets coming his way. This means the posse did open fire on the figure that jumped through the window. Secondly, the posse had Billy trapped and now (if they believed so) he had just killed their deputy, so why would they suddenly leave and allow Billy to his escape? Because they had just killed one of their own men and panicked. Lastly, although the people of White Oaks blamed Carlyle’s death on Billy, they never officially charged him with the killing; the reason being, was in fear of an investigation revealing what “really” happened.

 

After the posse left with their tails between their legs, Billy and his gang waited till nightfall and headed for Anton Chico. Billy would soon learn that Garrett was hunting for him and narrowly missed capturing Tom Folliard at Yerby’s ranch (one of Billy’s stopping grounds and also where Charlie Bowdre was employed), he was also not happy to learn Garrett had confiscated a pair mules of his that he had left at the ranch. But Billy was more frustrated when he read in the Las Vegas Gazette that not only was he being blamed for Carlyle’s death, but he was being portrayed as a ring leader of a large organized gang of rustlers that consisted of forty to fifty men and that he was terrorizing the people of Fort Sumner and the surrounding vicinity. Not only did this article turn public opinion against him, but also it made him the most wanted man in New Mexico. Billy was concerned that any chance of going square was lost, so he wrote a desperate letter to the governor pleading his innocence:

 

“I noticed in the Las Vegas Gazette a piece which stated that Billy “the” Kid, the name by which I am known in the County, was the captain of a band of outlaws who hold forth at the Portales. There is no such organization in existence. So the gentleman must have drawn heavily on his imagination. My business at White Oaks the time I was waylaid and my horse killed was to see Judge Leonard who has my case in hand. He had written me to come up, that he thought he could get everything straightened up. I did not find him at the Oaks and should have gone to Lincoln if I had met with no accident.” This is where Billy tells about the ordeal at the stationhouse and how Carlyle was killed, he also mentions how Garrett confiscated his mules. Billy closes with:

“I have been at Sumner since I left Lincoln making my living gambling. The mules were bought by me the truth of which I can prove by the best citizens around Sumner. J.S. Chisum is the man who got me into trouble and has benefited thousands by it and is now doing all he can against me. There is no doubt but there is a great deal of stealing going on in the territory and a great deal of property is taken across the plains as it is a good outlet. But as far as my being at the head of a band there is nothing of it. Several instances I have recovered stolen property when there was no chance to get an officer to do it. One instance for Hugo Zuber Post office Puerto de Luna, another for Pablo Analla same place. If some impartial party were to investigate this matter they would find it far different from the impression put out by Chisum and his tool. Yours Respect-William Bonney”

 

Other than a few grammatical errors in the letter, this is proof that Billy was not the uneducated illiterate moron that he has been described as. It also shows Billy’s true feelings about the accusations against him. Unfortunately, it did not have the desired effect on the governor; Wallace’s response was placing a $500 reward for the capture of Billy the Kid.

 

Finally seeing the hopelessness of his situation and that the law was bent out for his capture, Billy decided to leave New Mexico, by Rudabaugh’s account, their destination was Old Mexico. But with Garrett breathing down their necks and not giving them a chance to get money and supplies, their departure from the territory was being delayed. Garrett wrote in The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, “The Kid had written to Captain Lea at Roswell that if the officers of the law would give a little time and let him alone until he could rest up his horses and get ready, he would leave the country for good.” But Garrett wasn’t about to let the fame and fortune get away, he was determined to capture or kill Billy the Kid.

 

Winter had set in and the ground was covered in snow and frost, if Billy thought the bad weather would deter his pursuers, he was wrong. Garrett recruited cattle detective Frank Stewart and his men to join him in the hunt for Billy the Kid. The posse then headed to Fort Sumner where word was out that Billy and his gang were there and getting ready to head south for Old Mexico.

 

On December 19, 1881 Garrett’s posse arrived at Fort Sumner and learned that Billy, aware of his presences, was hiding at a nearby roadhouse owned by Tom Wilcox and Manuel Brazil. Garrett sent a spy to the roadhouse to tell Billy that the coast was clear and that Garrett had left the fort and was heading back to Lincoln. Back in their saddles, Billy the Kid, Tom Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, Dave Rudabaugh, Billy Wilson and Tom Pickett headed to Fort Sumner and into a waiting ambush.

 

Garrett and his men hid in the darkness of the old military hospital waiting for Billy and his gang to come riding in. Getting cold and impatience the men went inside one of the abandon rooms of the hospital to play cards while one man kept a look out. Suddenly the lookout man came barging in and reported that riders were approaching. Grabbing their guns, Garrett and the others took their places and waited.

 

Tramping through the snow, cold and tired, Billy and the others rode pass the hospital when (supposedly, by Garrett’s account) the sheriff yelled out “Halt!” Folliard who was riding up front, went for his gun and the posse opened fire. In the commotion of flashing gun power, Billy and the others spun their horses around and ran for their lives, as the wounded Folliard pulled back on his horse and cried out, “Don’t shoot Garrett, I’m killed.” They took him from his horse, carried him into the room where they were playing poker and laid him on a bedroll. Garrett knew it was no use to chase after the outlaws in the snow and darkness and decided to wait till morning to pick up the pursuit. As Garrett and his men resumed their card game, Folliard died.

 

The surviving outlaws headed back to the Wilcox & Brazil roadhouse. Billy who may have been wondering what happened to his longtime companion, Tom Folliard, sent Brazil to go to the fort and found out what happen and if Garrett was still there. When Brazil got there he found Garrett and told him Billy was back at the house. Garrett told Brazil to go back, keep the boys there as long as possible and he and his men will ride to the ranch in the middle of the night for another ambush. But soon after leaving Brazil quickly returned, before Garrett’s departure from Fort Sumner, and told him that the gang ate supper and left the ranch. But Garrett had a hunch where they could be.

 

On the morning of December 23, Billy and the others, who had taken refuge in an old rock cabin in Stinking Springs, started to wake up. Bowdre took a feedbag for his horse and stepped outside, only to be met by bullets. During the night, Garrett and his posse had descended on the cabin and waited for morning to ambush the outlaws. On instructions that if Billy was to appear, they were to gun him down. When Bowdre came out of the cabin he was wearing a hat similar to Billy’s, thinking he was the Kid, Garrett signaled his men and they fired. Bowdre then either went back into the cabin but came right Back out to surrender or after being shot he staggered towards the posse and collapsed.

 

No sooner did the posse laid Bowdre’s body down on the ground, that Garrett spotted the trapped outlaws leading one of the horses into the cabin. The plan was they were going to mount up and make a mad dash out of the cabin and hope for the best. Billy and Rudabaugh hid their horses inside, while Wilson, Pickett and Bowdre had theirs tethered outside. As they started to reel one horse in Garrett shot the animal dead, which then blocked their escape route. Billy would later say, “If it hadn’t been for that dead horse in the doorway, I would have ridden out on my bay mare and taken my chances of escaping. But I couldn’t ride out over that, for she would have jumped back and I would have got it in the head.”

 

A standoff lasted throughout the day, but by late afternoon the trapped fugitives were getting hungry and when they smelled the lawmen cooking meat over a hot fire the temptation was too great. Waving a dirty white rag, Rudabaugh came out to talk over terms of surrender. When Rudabaugh learned they would be taken to Las Vegas he explained that the Vegas townsmen would lynch him since he killed an officer there not long ago. So Garrett promised to protect them and deliver them safely to Santa Fe. Satisfied Rudabaugh went back inside to talk it over with the others, a few minutes later they came out with their hands up.

 

After spending the night at Wilcox & Brazil roadhouse, the posse and prisoners headed back to Fort Sumner. As the prisoners were being shackled at the blacksmith shop, Charlie Bowdre’s corpse was taken to his wife. Crazed with grief Manuela attacked the men who dropped the body and made a hasty retreat. Garrett gave her money for Charlie’s funeral clothes and burial. The next morning the prisoners were loaded up in a wagon and the posse headed to Las Vegas. Garrett instructed his deputies that if the prisoners (particular Billy and Rudabaugh who were shackled together) made any attempt to escape to shoot first then ask questions.

 

Word spread fast about the capture of Billy the Kid and by the time the posse and their quarry arrived in Las Vegas, a huge crowd had gathered to catch a glimpse of the noted outlaw they had read so much about. Expecting to see a brutish looking man, the folks were surprised to see a boyish teenager who was giddy with excitement by the crowd he had drawn. A reporter quoted him saying, “There was a big crowd gazing at me wasn’t there. Well, perhaps some of them will think me half man now; everyone seems to think I was some kind of animal.” There’s no doubt Billy was taking his predicament in stride and with a sense of humor, “What’s the use of looking on the gloomy side of everything. The laugh’s on me this time.” Even the reporter had to admit that Billy had agreeable and winning ways.

 

After spending the night in the Las Vegas jail, the prisoners were rushed over to the depot to board a train for Santa Fe. As they boarded, another crowd surrounded them but these men weren’t curious onlookers but a mob that wanted to take Rudabaugh. As the lawmen had a standoff with the mob, Billy stuck his head out the window and engaged himself in another interview with a reporter. He would interrupt his interview periodically to shout back at the mob and beg Garrett to arm him and turn him loose in the crowd on the promise of returning to him holding his wrists out for the handcuffs. But the crowd was more bark than bite and Garrett was able to stand them off without incident, but it would be almost an hour before they were able to pull out.

 

In Santa Fe the prisoners were turned over to authorities and locked up. It didn’t take long until Billy and his pals tried an escape attempt. Their cell had a dirt floor and they began the tedious job of digging underneath the wall. They hid the excess dirt in a mattress and just when they were near liberty, the jailer spoiled their plan by discovering the hole (thanks to a blabber mouth prisoner). Billy was separated from the others, shackled, and thrown in a dark isolated cell where he was chained to the floor. Billy then focused on contacting the governor.

 

After writing two short notes to the governor to come and see him, Billy received no visitor a reply. Even his attorney Ira Leonard was showing lack of attention. Discourage and frustrated, Billy wrote another desperate letter to the governor.

 

Dear Sir

 

I wrote you a little note the day before yesterday but have received no answer. I expect you have forgotten what you promised me, this month two years ago, but I have not and I think you had ought to have come and seen me as I requested you to. I have done everything that I promised you I would and you have done nothing that you promised me.

 

I think when you think the matter over you will come down and see me, and I can then explain everything to you.

 

Judge Leonard Passed through here on his way East, in January and promised to come and see me on his way back, but he did not fulfill his promise. It looks to me like I am getting left in the cold. I am not treated right by Sherman; he lets every stranger that comes to see me through curiosity in to see me, but will not let a single one of my friends in, not even an attorney.

 

I guess they mean to send me up without giving me any show but they will have a nice time doing it. I am not intirely without friends.

 

I shall expect to see you some time today.

 

Patiently Waiting

 

I am truly Yours Respect-

 

Wm. H. Bonney

 

Just like with the other letters, the governor ignored them. As far as he was concern Billy was a distant memory. In Wallace’s mind he had more important matters to deal with: completing his novel, getting out of this miserable governor’s job and persuading the president to appoint him an ambassador. He would get his wish.

 

On March 28, 1881 Billy was transported by train to the Mesilla jail and was quickly put on trial. The judge presiding was Warren Bristol and prosecuting for the Buckshot Roberts case was Sidney Barnes and for the Sheriff Brady case was Simon Newcomb (a close friend of William Rynerson). There were also a number of men brought in to testify against Billy including James Dolan and Bill Mathews. All these men were prejudice against Billy and wanted nothing more than to see him hang –no doubt, Billy was a lamb among wolves. Defending him was Ira Leonard, the same attorney that had tried to help Billy during his “witness protection” ordeal.

 

The Buckshot Roberts case was first and Billy gave a pled of not guilty. But the pled was not necessary; Leonard was able to successfully get the case thrown out on the bases that the shooting was not on Federal land but private. On April 8, Billy was then tried for the murder of Sheriff Brady. Judge Bristol didn’t want to take any chances of Leonard succeeding on getting Billy off for this case, so he dismissed Leonard and appointed John Bail and Albert Fountain. Not only were they unprepared, but neither men were sympathetic towards their client. A matter of fact, Fountain detested rustlers and had set out to prosecute or run them out of the territory, years later his mission would be the result of his demise.

 

The trial only lasted one day and it’s not surprising -with so much going against him- that Billy was found guilty of first degree murder and sentence to hang. On April 13, Billy went before Judge Bristol to have his sentence passed, when asked if he had anything to say, Billy answered no. Then Judge Bristol directed that the prisoner be transported to Lincoln and confined until May 13 (which would happen to be Friday the 13th) and between the hours of nine and three, he would be hung until his body was dead.

 

Understandably Billy felt he was made a scapegoat; not only was he one of six who fired at the sheriff and the only one indicted, but out of all the participants on both sides of the Lincoln County War, he was the only one convicted and sentence to death. During an interview before his departure to Lincoln, Billy voiced his feelings by stating, “I think it hard that I should be the only one to suffer the extreme penalties of the law.” Billy had heard threats of being lynched on his way to Lincoln by a mob from White Oaks for the killing of Carlyle. But there were also rumors of a rescue attempt, so the lawmen that were transporting Billy, were instructed to shoot the prisoner first if they met with trouble on the road. In the same interview Billy would say it was a toss up whether or not he was lynched or shot in the wagon.

 

Billy was shackled, handcuffed and chained inside an ambulance. It was bad enough there was a chance of being mobbed on the journey to Lincoln, but now Billy was being escorted by a rough bunch of deputized men that had their own personal grudges against him. If Billy ever experienced the feeling of being uneasy, it may have been at this time. In the ambulance with him, there was “King of the Rustlers” John Kinney, the murderous bully Bob Olinger, and Bill Matthews; all of them despised the prisoner and wouldn’t think twice about killing him. Escorting the caravan was a number of heavily armed men riding horseback, so any chance of an escape or rescue attempt was impossible.

 

During the trip, Olinger teased Billy and dared him to escape so he could have the pleasure of blowing him away with his shotgun. Olinger and Billy were bitter enemies. Besides the fact that Olinger was a jerk anyway, he had fought on the Dolan side of the Lincoln County War and had brutally killed Billy’s friend, John Jones, in which Billy vowed to revenge his friend’s death. Olinger, of course, heard word of this and he now taunted Billy to act on his

 

Billy arrived in Lincoln in one piece and was confined on the second level of the courthouse in a room adjoined to Garrett’s office. Garrett wasn’t taking any chances with Billy escaping, so he posted a 24-hour guard in the room and kept Billy shackled and handcuff at all times. Even a chalk line was drawn on the floor and Billy was warned that if he crossed it he would be shot. For the 24-hour guard, Garrett appointed Olinger and another deputy, James Bell. Due to the fact that Bell was a friend of Carlyle’s and was present when he was killed, one would expect Bell to be prejudice against Billy, but that was not the case. Garrett would say that Billy had taken a “likening” to Bell and a friendly relationship was developing between the two (maybe because Bell knew what “really” happened to Carlyle). But Garrett noticed an entirely different relationship between Billy and Olinger, “Between these two there existed a reciprocal hatred and neither attempted to disguise or conceal his antipathy from the other."

 

Olinger teased and provoked Billy regularly; on one such occasion, while Olinger was loading his 10-gauge double barrel shotgun, he glared meanly at Billy and said sneeringly, “The man that gets one of these loads will feel it.” But no matter what Olinger did or said, Billy never gave him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him. He remained calm and either ignored Olinger or would deliver a sarcastic remark right back. But inside Billy was fluming, he would tell his friend John Meadows, a Lincoln resident, that Olinger would get him so worked up he could hardly contain himself.

 

During Billy’s confinement, Garrett would occasionally sit and chat with him. Garrett recalled one conversation with Billy about him being singled out for punishment, “Billy, I pass no opinion as to whether your sentence is just for the killing of Brady, but had you been acquitted on that charge, you would most surely have been hung for the murder of Jimmie Carlyle, and I would have pronounce that sentence just. That was the most detestable crime ever charged against you (actually Billy was never legally charged–just blamed).” Billy’s reply was “There’s more about that than people know of.”

 

Within in the week Garrett left for White Oaks to collect taxes, leaving his two guards in charged. Before leaving, he reminded both deputies that Billy was a dangerous and desperate man and not to let their guard down. The next day on April 28, around 5pm it was Olinger’s turn to take the other prisoners that were confined in the courthouse, across the street to the Wortley Hotel for dinner. But Billy was not allowed to leave his room (except to use the outhouse), so his meals were brought to him. Bell stayed in the room to guard Billy and after his meal Billy ask to be taken out back to the privy. On their way back from outside, Billy made his move.

 

What happened next is a subject for debate, either a gun was hidden in the outhouse by a friend and Billy got the drop on Bell or Billy slipped his small hand out of the cuff and conked Bell across the head with it (later when examining the body, Garrett did find two gashes on Bell’s head), the two then got into a tussle until Billy succeeded in grabbing Bell’s gun. Billy told Bell to hold up his hands, but Bell panicked and ran down the stairs, forcing Billy to pull the trigger. It sounds cold-blooded (and maybe it was), but if Billy had let Bell go, he would’ve given an alarm, he and Olinger would’ve organize a mob to surround the courthouse, and Billy would’ve been riddle with bullets trying to make a break. Billy was fighting for his life and would do any means necessary. The mortally wounded deputy stumbled outside and into the arms of Gottfried Gauss, a resident on the grounds, and died. Gauss would later recall hearing a scuffle inside the building, shots fired and then Bell bursting out the door into his arms.

 

Over at the Wortley, Olinger heard the shots and bolted out the door. He came up to the fence and started to make his way around the building when Gauss came around on the other side facing him. The shaken gardener said, “The Kid’s shot Bell,” no sooner said, Olinger heard a familiar voice coming from up above, “Hello Bob!” Looking up he saw Billy leaning out the window pointing his own shotgun at him. Olinger than mumbled, “Yes, and he’s killed me too.”

 

Billy then fired both barrels and the buckshot torn into Olinger’s chest and head. Billy then smashed the stock of the shotgun against the side of the building and threw it down at Olinger’s corpse. Billy yelled down at the body, “You damned son-of-a-bitch, you won’t corral me with that thing again!” He then turned his attention to Gauss, who was probably shaking in his boots, and told him to throw up a pickaxe that was lying out in the yard and to saddle him a horse.

 

As Billy used the pickaxe to free himself from the shackles, the townspeople slowly began to gather in the streets. Billy managed only to free one leg from the burdensome chains and began rummaging through the armory for revolvers, rifles and ammo. He then noticed the crowd outside and came out on the balcony; he announced that he didn’t wish to harm anyone, but if anyone tried to stop him he would kill him. He also expressed regret for killing Bell, one bystander remembers, “He told the people that he did not want to kill Bell, but as he ran, he had to. He said he grabbed Bell’s revolver and told him to throw up his hands and surrender, but Bell decided to run and he had to kill him (this statement clearly backs up the “Knocking Bell over the head” theory).

 

After arming himself, Billy made his way downstairs and immediately came across Bell’s body out in the yard. Gauss was stand nearby with a horse and heard Billy said, “I’m sorry I had to kill you, but couldn’t help it.” As they rounded the building from the back and came out towards the street, Billy looked down at Olinger’s bloody body and gave him a kick and said, “You’re not going to round me up again.” Billy mounted the horse, but on the count of his cumbersome chains, it spooked the skittish horse and it bucked him off. The horse was brought back and Billy swung up and rode out of Lincoln for the last time.

 

Now you would think Billy would’ve hightailed south for the border, but not so. Billy leisurely made his way to his friends’ ranchers outside of Lincoln. First he went to the home of Yginio Salazar where he freed his other leg from the shackles. After staying there for a day or two, he made his way to John Meadows ranch. His friend told him to leave the country but Billy said he was going to Fort Sumner where he would lay low until he got enough money to leave the country. “Sure as you do, Garrett will get you,” Meadows warned.

 

Billy headed north to Fort Sumner and dropped by on friends, who were shocked and bewildered that Billy didn’t leave New Mexico. Even when his friends warned him that a posse was hunting for him in the vicinity, Billy’s attitude was “Oh, I’ll be alright.” It absolutely boggles the mind, how someone so slippery, when it came to avoiding capture, could also be so careless.

 

Meanwhile, Garrett who had resumed his hunt for Billy the Kid had heard rumors that Billy was in or around Fort Sumner. But Garrett couldn’t believe it! So he sent a note to Manuel Brazil asking if he had heard anything about Billy in that area, Brazil replied back and informed Garrett that Billy was indeed in the area. The sheriff was joined by two deputies, John Poe and Kip McKinney, and made his way to Fort Sumner.

​

On July 14, 1881 Garrett slipped into Fort Sumner unseen and hid in the orchards, he was hoping to hear word of Billy’s whereabouts or spot the outlaw himself. But if not, he and his two deputies would give up and head back the next day. By midnight, Garrett decided to talk with Pete Maxwell, in once last effort to get some information. Maxwell may have been one of those that tipped Garrett off that Billy was at the fort and Garrett was waiting until the coast was clear to sneak over and speak with him.

 

Around midnight Garrett and his deputies approached Maxwell’s house. As Garrett entered Maxwell’s room, his deputies sat themselves down on the porch to wait. Garrett walked over to the bed and woke Maxwell. As the two talked, Billy was making his way to Maxwell’s house. Billy had been hiding out all day at a nearby sheep camp and had now stopped off at a friend (or girlfriend’s) living quarters for the night. Exhausted Billy kicked off his boots and made himself comfortable. But he was also starving, so he was told to help himself to some meat from Pete Maxwell’s house. Grabbing a knife, Billy made his way to Maxwell’s. While strolling through the plaza, he ran into a friend, Jesus Silva and they exchanged greetings and Billy continued on his way. As he approached the Maxwell’s porch he saw two figures sitting down; thinking they were Mexicans he asked in Spanish “¿Quien es?” (Whose there?) The men rose and told Billy not to be startled. Billy realized these men where not Mexican or locals, but gringo strangers. Could they be lawmen? Billy backed away slowly into Pete Maxwell’s room. Here is Garrett’s account of what happened next:

 

“I walked to the head of the bed and sat down near the pillow and beside Maxwell’s head. I asked him as to the whereabouts of the Kid. He replied that the Kid had certainly been about, be he did not know whether he had left or not. At that moment, a man sprang quickly into the door, and looking back, called out in Spanish “¿Quien es? ¿Quien es? No one replied, and he came on into the room. I could see he was bareheaded and from his tread I could perceive he was either barefoot or in his stocking feet. He held a revolver in his right hand and a butcher knife in his left. He came directly towards where I was sitting at the head of Maxwell’s bed. Before he reached the bed, I whispered, “Who is it, Pete?” but received no reply for a moment. The intruder came close to me, leaned both hands on the bed, his right hand almost touching my knee, and asked in a low tone, “Who are they Pete?” At the same instant Maxwell whispered to me, “That’s him.” Simultaneously the Kid must have seen or felt the presence of a third person at the head of the bed. He raised quickly his pistol –a self-cocker- within a foot of my breast. Retreating rapidly across the room, he cried, “¿Quien es? ¿Quien es?” As quick as possible I drew my revolver and fired, threw my body to one side and fired again. The second shot was useless. The Kid was fell dead at the first one. He never spoke. A struggle or two, a little strangling sound as he gasp for breath and the Kid was with his many victims.”

 

But did it really happen that way?

 

Although, Pat Garrett and John Poe had similar accounts on what happened. Kip McKinney gave a different version of what could’ve really happened. He confided to a friend that Garrett knew Billy was going to pay a midnight visit to one of his sweethearts, so they tied and gagged the girl, put out the lights and Garrett hid behind a sofa. When Billy entered, Garrett gunned him down. As for Pete Maxwell’s version of what happened- he refused to talk about it.

 

Could the death of Billy the Kid been a lot hasher than we believe? Garrett had gunned down Folliard and Bowdre in thinking they were Billy the Kid. Both times he gunned them down from hiding, at night or dawn, and without warning. Garrett had received a tip (or tips) from reliable sources and could very well count on trapping Billy in Fort Sumner. Instead of organizing a posse, he only recruited two deputies. Was it because he didn’t expect to find him or was it because he planned on ambushing and to assassinate Billy the Kid and be rid of him once and for all?

 

Also, was Billy the Kid really armed? Deluvina Maxwell who was the first to enter the room had stated Billy was unarmed. That could be possible. When Billy arrived at his friend’s house, he kicked off his boots to relax and he may have taken his gun belt off as well, and may not have bothered to put it back on when he left to get the meat. After all, he was only going to be a few minutes, it was late at night and everyone was a sleep or in their houses. Billy always claimed that he was safe in Fort Sumner and probably wasn’t expecting trouble. Garrett stated above that Billy had a gun in hand when he enter the room, but then he said Billy leaned both hands on the bed and his right hand almost touched his knee. But then the gun magically appeared in his hand again when he saw Garrett’s silhouette. John Poe stated that when he saw Billy approaching the porch, he was fastening his trousers –a little awkward to do with a knife and revolver in hand. Also, the Maxwell family retrieved the knife but no gun. What happened to it? This may not be much to go by, but it’s definitely some food for thought.

 

After firing his shots, Garrett and Maxwell darted out the door and almost ran over the two deputies outside. As the men huddled outside the door, they didn’t know whether Billy was truly dead or just wounded, but then they heard a death rattle as Billy gave one more struggle for breath. Maxwell then got a candle to hold up to the window and the four peered inside and saw Billy lying on the floor dead. Jesus Silva heard the shots and came running to the scene, as well Deluvina Maxwell. Silva and Deluvina entered the room first to see if Billy was dead. Devastated, Deluvina lounged at Garrett and cursed him. She wasn’t the only one, slowly men and women began to gather and several of Billy’s female admirers became hysterical with grief. Even the men shook their fist at Garrett; worried of being mobbed, Garrett and his deputies hid in Maxwell’s house till morning.

 

Billy’s body was taken from the room and carried to a carpenter’s shop where candles were placed around his body and his friends prayed over him. By morning word reached Sunnyside (a small town a few miles away) that Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Pat Garrett. Justice of the Peace Alejandro Seguro and Milnor Rudulph and his son Charles, arrived in Fort Sumner. The men formed a jury, viewed the body, and documented Garrett’s story. They concluded that the killing was justifiable and Garrett should be rewarded. They then made up a document and got the signatures of the jurors. They signed it, but most if any, knew what they were signing. If they did, they may have had something to say about the verdict.

 

By afternoon, Billy’s body was ready for burial and it was taken to the Fort Sumner Military Cemetery. Billy was laid to rest near the graves of his two fallen comrades, Charlie Bowdre and Tom Folliard. He was barely twenty-one years old; a life cut short, but even so this young man made a lasting impact in his time and ours.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Bob Boze, Bell The Illustrated Life and Times of Billy the Kid Second Edition, Tri Star Boze Productions, Inc. 1996

 

Fulton, Maurice G. History of the Lincoln County War, A Classic Account of Billy the Kid Edited by Robert Mullin, The University of Arizona Press, Fifth print 1997

 

Nolan, Frederick The West of Billy the Kid University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1998

 

Weddle, Jerry Antrim is My Stepfather’s Name: The Boyhood of Billy the Kid Historical Monograph No. 9 The Arizona Historical Society, 1993