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A Kid called BillyThe short life of an angry young manBy BOB PINNELLi Very little factual information is available on the early life of the man who came to be known as Billy the Kid. It is usually reported that he was born in New York City in November of 1859 although this, like so many other stories, may be in error.His real name, however, was Henry McCarty, and he was just a child when his father died soon after the family had emigrated to Kansas.On May 1,1873 his mother was remarried in Santa Fe, NM to a man by the name of William Henry Harrison Antrim. Soon after the wedding the Antrims moved to Silver City. Young Henry’s mother died there of tuberculosis just eighteen months later at the age of 45.Modern day sociologists and welfare workers would probably make much of the fact that the boy who was to become known as the notorious Billy the Kid was orphaned at such a tender age and perhaps this did have its effect. In this raw new land, however, Henry McCarty’s situation was not that unique. There were other orphans at the time, many of them, and most managed to achieve adulthood without too much recourse to the wrong side of the law.It has been said that Henry’s mother operated a boarding house in Silver City during her brief existence there. A comely woman, she was reportedly insulted on the street one day, a gallant bystander coming to the rescue and killing the man who had insulted her. Soon after, that defender himself became involved in a saloon fight and was getting the worst of it when young Henry, who idolized his mother, evened the scorebv slinninsr a knife between the ribs of the man’s opponent.This account may or may not be true. It could have been taken from the fanciful account of a writer of pulp fiction, those “penny dreadfuls” so prevalent a few years later, for the boy at that time would have been 12 or 13 years of age If true, this may have been the first of the 21 men he reputedly killed in his lifetime of but 21.In any event, from then on, from his teen years into manhood, the Kid was mostly on the wrong side of the law. Drifting from Silver City to Arizona and back into New Mexico he was known by several names . . . Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, Kid Antrim. Eventually the boy changed his name to William Henry (for his stepfather), and added Bonney as a surname for no reason that can be ascertained at this date.From there on, Billy became a drifter. Homeless, his mother dead and his stepfather either unwilling or unable to care for him, he kept moving. A murder in Arizona, horse stealing in Texas were added to his resume before he came to Lincoln County in 1877.CENTRAL NEW MEXICO ELECTRICMOUNTAINAIR, NMEMERGENCY NUMBERS-Mountainair Willard:......................847 2522Vaughn Corona:...........846-4511 Ot 846-4211Morlarty Estancia:......................832-4481Edgewood/Sandia Knolls: .....................832-4483On George Coe’s ranch Billy met John H. TXmstall, an Englishman turned merchant, and Alexander McSween, a Lincoln lawyer and rancher. These two men had opened a store and a bank in old Lincoln town. One of their backers was the powerful cattleman, John Chisum. The establishment of these businesses was the trigger that started “The Lincoln County War.”Lawrence G. Murphy and a partner, Emil Fritz, had long been the economic and political powers of the county and wanted no competition. They had been selling cattle stolen from rancher Chisum as beef to the Army at Fort Stanton and to the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation. When Fritz returned to his native Germany, dying there, a $10,000 insurance policy benefitting his heirs was turned over to Lawyer McSween for collection. The lawyer did his job but charged $4,000 for his fee. The profession has changed little in the intervening century.Upon Fritz’s death, Jim Dolan and John Riley became new partners in the Murphy operation, a strong monopoly no individual could challenge. Ranchers and townsfolk began choosing sides, and Lincoln County was in a turmoil. It was a power struggle between hard men. Hatred seethed and close neighbors became enemies.It must be noted that at this time that Lincoln County in the Territory of New Mexico was the biggest county in the United States. The states of Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont could have been placed within its borders.In January of 1878 Tunstall wrote a letter to the newspaper in which he accused the Murphy group of stealing county tax money. His partner, McSween, meanwhile continud to refuse to hand over the balance of the $10,000 insurance money. Their property was attached, McSween was indicted and a warrant put out for his arrest.At this stage, McSween and Murphy both hired gunmen to protect their separate interests. One of the men working for McSween and his partner Tunstall was Billy the Kid. That February 18th, Sheriff Brady of Lincoln County, a supporter of the Dolan faction, with a posse 18 men strong, ambused Tunstall, Billy and three other men. In this confrontation Tunstall was killed and in the ensuing days many men were slain as Lincoln became more than ever an armed battleground. In late July of the same year lawyer McSween, in a last ditch attempt to gain control of the town of Lincoln, was himself killed in battle. The McSweenforces were beaten and scattered but the lawlessness and violence were to continue for a long time.Billy the Kid took command of what was left of the band and continued the fight where and when he could, stealing horses, living off the land and cutting a murderous swath through the countrysideRutherford B. Hayes was then President of the United States. He became so incensed at word of the Kid’s exploits that he dispatched New Mexico’s Territorial Governor, Lew Wallace, to Lincoln County in 1879 in an attempt to put an end to the feuding.Governor Wallace, who had been busily writing his novel “Ben Hur” in Santa Fe, obediently packed his manuscript of happenings in ancient Rome and journeyed to the hot spot of the territory resolved to do his best to settle things.The Governor met with Billy the Kid secretly on March 17th and, offered amnesty for his testimony, and Billy surrendered voluntarily to arrest. (As he had been charged with the murder of Sheriff Brady months before, it was understood by the Kid that the case would be thrown out, but the prosecutor refused to withdraw the charge of murder and Billy was held under house arrest until his escape in June of that year. With some cronies he returned to Fort Sumner, often his refuge and an old hangout of his, to gamble and otherwise raise Cain.A man named Pat Garrett was the owner of a bar and restaurant in Fort Sumner in those days and he and Billy became casual friends. Billy was a teetotaler as far as liquor was concerned, but he much like to gamble, a habit he probably picked up as a youngster swamping saloons in Silver City.A small man for all his daring exploits and slight of build as were most cowboys of the time, Billy the Kid Bonney stood but three inches over five feet and weighed about 125 pounds. Nevertheless, Billy was responsible for the fluttering of several feminine hearts in his short life. It is said that when he attended dances in White Oaks (from which he was later banished by the townsfolk) that he was most mannerly, well-washed and well-dressed. He was a good dancer and also liked to sing. He had a sweet, thin tenor voice and preferred mournful ballads of unrequited love.The year of 1880 saw Billy on the loose and surviving the only way he knew how, stealing horses and killing when necessary, gambling when it was possible. He continued to hope that Governor Wallace would get the indictments against him dropped, but in Fort Sumner in December of that year he learned that the governor had instead offered a $500 reward for his capture.Bitter, back against the wall, he and his men were finally taken and jailed two days before Christmas.On April 6,1881 young Mr. Bonney was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to hang for the slaying of Sheriff Brady. He was taken to Lincoln town, where on April 21 he was confined in a second floor room of the old Murphy-Dolan store which had been converted to a courthouseand jail.Not many jails held Billy the Kid. On April 28, just a few days before his date with the hangman, Billy broke out of his cell, in the process shooting Jailer J.W. Bell, a man he liked, with a smuggled handgun. Deputy Marshal Bob Olinger, a man Billy detested, came rushing from across the street to find the source of the commotion and in turn was shot from the window of the courthouse. Billy is then said to have fired Uie second barrel of the shotgu jpe had taken from Bell into Olinger exclaiming, “Take that to hell with you, you cowardly yellow cur!Prying his leg irons loose with a prospector’s pick, Billy rode once more to freedom. Again he fled to Fort Sumner, but should have used the time to ride out of the territory, once and for all. It was a fatal mistake. Erstwhile friend, Pat Garrett, now an elected sheriff, had to pursue the Kid. On the night of July 14, 1881, Pat Garrett, sitting in a chair, was waiting in a darkened bedroom for Billy who, entering the room in his stocking feet and unarmed was caught completely unawares and killed with a shot to the heart from Garrett’s six-shooter. It was finally over.Everyone close to Billy the Kid seems to have come to a violent end. Employers John H. Tunstall and partner, Alexander McSween, died violently. So did his close friends, Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard, who were shot to death and are buried beside him at Fort Sumner. (The tombstone epitaph states simply, “Pals.” The tombstone itself has been chipped away in part by souvenir hunters and other vandals.) Colonel Albert J. Fountain, the lawyer who defended Billy unsuccessfully on the Brady murder charge, disappeared with his small son near White Sands, most likely murdered though the case wasnever resolved. Pat Garrett, long after he killed Billy the Kid, was shot and killed himself. Violence begat more violence.There was a movement afoot several years ago to move the remains of Billy from Ft. Sumner where he is buried to the old town of Lincoln. Proponents think it would be fitting that he be interred where most of his fame originated and where his remains would be treated with dignity. The fact is that Billy, every chance he got, seemed to flee old Lincoln for Fort Sumner. I say let his bones lie.LEGAL------TWELFTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT COUNTY OF LINCOLNSTATE OF NEW MEXICO HOFFMANTOWN BAPTIST CHURCH Plaintiff,vs.JERRY E. DAVIS and •SHIRLEY R. DAVIS, husband and wife,Defenddants.No. CV-87-06NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF ACTIONAn action has been filed by plaintiff Hoffmantown Baptist Church against defendants Jerry E. Davis and Shirley R. Davis in the Twelfth Judicial District Court of Lincoln County, New Mexico. The action is to foreclose a mortgage on the property described in the complaint in said cause, located in the City of Ruidoso, County of Lincoln, State of New Mexico. The plaintiff’s attorneys for this action are Franklin, Abernethy Hughes, P.C. (Perry C. Abernethy) located at 215 Central, N.W., Post Office Box 1610, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103. Defendants Jerry E. and Shirley R. Davis, you are hereby notified that unless you file a responsive pleading or motion within 30 days after seivice of process by publication, the plaintiff may get a court judgment by default against you.Isl Margo E. Lindsay Clerk of the District Court By: Elizabeth Lueras Deputy Court ClerkPublished in the Lincoln County News on July 30, August 6, 13 and 20, 1987.CALENDAR of EVENTSThursday, August 6The Carrizozo Grizzly Athletic Booster Club meets at 7 p.m. at Four Winds Restaurant in Carrizozo. Purpose of the meeting is to organize and schedule moneymaking events for the coming year. Everyone is invited.Friday, August 7 Billy the Kid pageant in Lincoln at 8:30 p.m.Saturday, August 8 Fiddler’s contest in Lincoln at 1:30 p.m.Billy the Kid pageant in Lincoln at 8:30 p.m.Sunday, August 9 “The Sound of Music” will be presented at the Carrizozo schools old gym at 2 p.m.Billy the Kid pageant in Lincoln at 3:30 p.m. Playday for Capitan Junior Riding Club at fairgrounds in Capitan at 1 p.m.Monday, August 10 Capitan Village Council at 7 p.m.Tuesday, August 11 Carrizozo Chamber of Commerce meets at noon at United New Mexico Bank.Carrizozo town council meets at 6 p.m.Lincoln County Fair items will be received. Valley of Fires Lioness Club meets at 1:30 p.m. at R.E.A. building.South Central Mountain RCD meets at Apache Summit Restaurant, 10 miles west of Ruidoso on highway 70, at 10 a.m.Wednesday, August 12 Carrizozo Lodge #41, A.F. and A.M. meets at Carrizozo Lodge hall at 8 p.m.Capitan Senior Citizens monthly potluck dinner at 11:30 a.m. at Senior Citizens Center.Thursday, August 13 Capitan school board meets at 7:30 p.m.ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDSSealed bids will be accepted by the County Manager at the Lincoln County Courthouse, Carrizozo, New Mexico until 9:00 A.M., August 18, 1987, for the following:RE-BID NO. 87-3: Sale of 1979 Chevrolet Van 12 Passenger, Fair Condition, Mileage 72,674, Minimum Bid $2,500Van may be seen at the Zia Senior Citizens Center in Carrizozo.The opening and review of the sealed bids will be at the commission meeting at 9:00 A.M., August 18, 1987, Carrizozo.Lincoln County reserves the right to accept or relect all or any part of any bid, waive minor technicalities and award the bid to best serve the Interest of Lincoln County.MRS. SUZANNE COX, Lincoln County Manager.Published in the Lincoln County News on August 6, 1987.
Newspaper Details
Carrizozo Lincoln County News
Carrizozo, New Mexico, US
Thu, Aug 06, 1987
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Rich R.
USA 09 Mar 2024
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