Oakland Tribune (Newspaper) - February 11, 1923, Oakland, California OAKLAND TRIBUNE MAGAZINE FEBRUARY IT 1923 How Notorious Killer Be- came Central Figure in Lincoln County War Days of New Mexico B the North-west tha Southwest in- frontier days had their fun quota of bad men many of picturesque typo names live as long as that of Robin Hood The lives ol such as Slade and Plummer so interwoven with events ol great historical interest during periods of romance in the West that they will always remain out- standing figures in that great drama of the century The some to his credit The Southwest has developed many more bad men than the Northwest due to a larger tion of mixed bloods and there have been no more desperate out- laws than those of Texas New ico and Arizona Of these one ure stands forth as the most inent in a of outlawry along the Southwestern border which found its climax IB the Lincoln county war known first locally and then nationally as Billy the Kid Killed by a sheriff at the age of 21 he had more than a score of killings marked up against him some to his credit The true name of this outlaw was William H Bonney He was born in the slum district of East Side New York in November 1859 In 1862 his father removed to Kan on the border of the Indian Nations in 1862 where soon after he died Tne mother then moved to Colorado where she took a second husband and then lowing the shifting frontier the family moved to New Mexico The Kid was precocious far be- his years find being roared amid surroundings where ness was tile rule he picked as his heroes men who led as gunfighters gamblers or both When still a little boy having passed his twelfth birthday he became in- in a saloon quarrel in a friend was badly beaten and killed with a pocket knife a man who had previously insulted him a companion only a in Arizona There the youngsters killed three Apache Indians stoie a band of horses and drove them to Tucson where they sold them The Kid despite his tender years was make a comfortable living as a monte dealer until la a blers quarrel be killed man He fled across the line Into Qld Mexico where he had his first real gun He accused a can Jose Martinez of cheating The latter Was with a gun As they sprang to their feet both the Kid and the Mexican drew The Kid was a second tJie quieter and the Mexican fell with a bullet through his heart The Kid was now a confirmed killer He had served an apprenticeship that fitted him for the of fighting and bloodshed In lie was to play a leading role in the time imh fi a-r V reality a feud inspired by terest ranged against self-interest Bad feeling which had four years and had resulted in several series of killings turned to actual border 1874 The Kid went to John Chisum as a cowpuncher and it is known that when he left his service he cherished a against the cattleman He then got ment with a young Englishman j H Tunstall took a great liking At this time right hand man was Alexander A a- lawyer Tunstall formed a ship with McSween in the banking and mercantile business and he also started a cattle ranch of hia own Being thus with tha Chisum faction he won the enmity of Major Murphy who had by non- gained much power Murphy as the result of some legal encounter with McSween secured a writ of attachment on the latter's property and sent out a posse which claimed legal authority to levy on cattle Members of this posse meeting alone oa the road killed him in a most brutal manner This act was the beginning of the Lincoln county war Billy the Kid hating Chisum nevertheless ranged himself with lieutenant is the feud and swore to avenge death by killing every ber of the posse that had murdered his friend foreman Dick Brewer became leader of tha McSween fighting men and Billy the Kid was his chief lieutenant They organized a band and started for Murphy's range to seek revenge oa him and hia friends On the way they carne across a party of five men two of whom Morton and been present at the killing of Tunstall Tile pair rendered to on promise of safety and were held for a time at Roswell The kid had not forgotten his vow to kill all of slayers but he bided his time In the under Brewer was one who had promised the prisoners Morton and Baker his protection On the trail between and Agna Negra a member of the posse Joe turned McClosky and shot him dead The two captives fearing the worst threw themselves from their horses and fell on their knees ging to bfr spared The Kid then doa Murder having now been com- mitted on both sides the side began rapidly to line up with one faction or the other Every man must take his choice or be under suspicion by both The next fisht took place when Brewer's band attacked a house ia which Roberts a phy man was staying Roberta waa killed but first shot and ally wounded Brewer His death left Billy tbe Kid as chief of Chisum arid forces A term of the circuit court waa to held at Lincoln but the dis- judge Warren Bristol kaew McSween men planned him and sent word to would not nold court at time Tba sheriff Brady waa on his way to the to apes ft when ht by of A deputy sheriff was also killed Three months later Jn July the Kid and his gang were rounded up at the in coin there being a dozen white and soine Mexicans in their party The following morning troop of negro cavalry from Fort ton entered Lincoln but declined to take a hand in the combat the commanding officer saying that the sheriff a Murphy man was there and in charge of his own posse Mrs McSween who wag in the besieged house with her band came out and begged the of- ficer to stop the fighting He ly offered her a safe escort to tha fort but she refused to go and re- turned to her husband for what she knew must be the end That evening tho Murphy forces eet to the house in front and rear and set a keg of powder the flames would reach it Suddenly out of the back door of the burning dwelling there burst a group of desperate men followed by the one- woman Ahead ran Billy the Kid and half a dozen of his followers There was a flashing of at close range McSween fell dead with three other men Mrs McSween escaped unharmed as did aiao the Kid and several of his men Murphy forces one or two of their number This fight cost McSween his life at a time ishen his star seemed on the ascent Four days before the siege began he had word that the president had deposed nor Angeli of New Mexico because the latter had appointed a Murphy man as sheriff General Lew Wallace the famous soldier and author of Ben Hur was sent to Lincoln to replace the Governor He promised Mrs McSween but he quickly reached a snv of the Lincoln county war was im- possible Governor Wallace recognized however that the most important figure in the feud that had em- broiled an enormously big county Billy the Kid He asked tha Kid to Lincoln fof a conference promising him tion The Kid came in fully armed and the governor was surprised to maet a bright-faced boy Jn the presence of General Wallace asked the promised to pardon him if he would stand and should be ed in the courts The Kid his engaging manner but declined no justice for me in the courts this county he said I've too He left the room ana returned to his outlaw band and the certain fate that awaited him or later A after this in uary 1880 the ed a bad roan from the Texas Pan- handle of the name of Grant had some to New Mexico to kill Eld cntlaw by this tims gathered a formidable band of bad men around him and to ior cattle stealing on large In November 1880 a posse set forth from town to bring in the Kid dead or They hit cant it f Slaying of His Captors One of Pastimes of The Pat Gar- rett Ends His Career house ranch and siege of the posse Jimmy after parley took otT hia pistol belt and went unarmed into tha ranch house lor a conference Two hours later waa seen by tho rest of the posse to break through a window and start to run eral shots followed and fell dead This murder had a biff effect in sealing the doom of the Kid for waa popular in that district Tat the new sheriff of Lincoln county organized a of such size and strength that the Kid finally was run to earth In a ranch housa and forced to der His first trial for murder ed in his acquittal but a second trial for the killing of Sheriff Brady at resulted in hia conviction and sentence of death He was held under guard in second story ol a store building from which he escaped after killing both his Then the chasa was on again and Sheriff Garratt after some weeks rode with two deputies into tha little town ot Sumner The trio went to the house of a Pete well who was a friend both to Gar- rett and to tha Kid The two ties remained on the porch whila Garrett entered Maxwell's room to talk to him A few utes previously the Kid hac ridden Into the yard and had started to to feed Jn a cabin behind the house Being hungry he went to tho well kitchen to food He was bareheaded and barefooted pistol hung at his side and in he carried a with which to cut the meat The night was dark and as the Kiel onto tho verandah deputies moved his foot jingling spur This mada the Kid suspicious and he stepped into bedroom to inquire who was on the porch Garrett waa sitting on Maxwell's bed The Kid spoke to Maxwell As he did so Garrett fired at the dim form dead Ho was 21 years and seven months Old and had killed 21 men The date of his death waa July 14 1881 Pat Garrett who killed the Kid was shot and on tha road between Tularosa and Laa it j O f C the two deputies who stood out- side the door when the Kid killed is now a wealthy banker of With the Killing of Billy the Kid the real end came to ths county war and the Jaw Regan to assert itself Not one of the la this conflict the border legally Tha fighting was so desperate and so it to held not murder from the fighting along boundaries of Kansas and ot wan
