Billy the Kid

by Robert M. Utley

  3. The others were “Dirty Steve” Stevens, John Scroggins, “Tiger Sam” Smith, and Ygnacio Gonzalez. According to the Mesilla Valley Independent, April 13, 1878, Smith and Gonzalez did not stop at Blazer’s Mills and thus did not participate in the fight.

  4. The gunfight has been reconstructed from the Blazer and Coe accounts cited in nn. 1 and 2, from the account in the Mesilla Valley Independent, April 13, 1878, and from the testimony of David M. Easton, a Blazer employee, at the Dudley Court of Inquiry, in the Dudley Court Record, NARA. The Blazer accounts, which depart in some important ways from the version given here, draw on Billy Bonney himself. After his murder conviction in Mesilla in April 1881, the deputies escorting Billy to Lincoln for execution paused for the night at Blazer’s Mills. Here the Kid gave his version of the fight, even acting it out on site in pantomime. The Coe accounts draw substantiation in their essentials from the contemporary report in the Independent, which was probably written by Albert J. Fountain. Besides being editor of the Independent, Fountain was clerk of the district court and among the party the Regulators allegedly plotted to ambush. Thus he would have been at Blazer’s Mills only a day or so after the fight. My reconstruction closely follows that of Rickards, Gunfight at Blazer’s Mill.

  5. These quotations and those that follow are from Coe’s New Mexico State Tribune account. In the Haley interview, Coe explains the personal enmity behind Roberts’s remark as stemming from a scrap the week before. According to Coe, Roberts said, “If it was you, George Coe, and Brewer, I would surrender to you. But there is the Kid and Bowdre, and if we had got them last week we would have killed them, and I won’t surrender.” Coe adds, “The week before they had had a running fight with the Kid and Bowdre down below San Patricio but they got up a side canyon and got away.” Coe also alludes to this episode in the account included in Burns’s Saga of Billy the Kid. This encounter, if it occurred, is otherwise undocumented.

  6. Joe Buckbee (grandson of Scurlock, quoting Scurlock), interview with Philip J. Rasch, Austin, Texas, July 20, 1963, Scurlock File, Rasch Collection, Lincoln State Monument, N. Mex. (hereafter LSM).

  7. In the New Mexico State Tribune account, but not in his others, Frank Coe includes Billy with Bowdre, Middleton, and George Coe in the initial group that descended on Roberts. David Easton, however, testified, “I was standing in front of the house conversing with Billy Bonnie alias ‘Kid’ [when] some three or four men of the party passed around the corner of the house to where Roberts was sitting and immediately some eight or ten shots were fired in succession.” Easton said that Roberts, just before dying, identified these men as Bowdre, Middleton, McNab, and Brown and that he named Bowdre as the one who fired the fatal shot (Dudley Court Record, NARA).

  8. This is part of the story the Kid told and acted out at Blazer’s Mills in April 1881. Blazer, “Fight at Blazer’s Mill.” Almer Blazer was present. The Kid, in fact, thought he had inflicted the fatal wound on Roberts and so boasted at the time and during the telling at Blazer’s Mills three years later. This story is not corroborated by any other participant.

  9. Testimony of Easton, Dudley Court Record, NARA. The Blazers name the Kid as the one who threatened Blazer and Godfroy, but Coe identifies Brewer, which is more believable, since he was the leader.

  10. Ealy, “Lincoln County War.”

  8. THE WARRIOR

  1. For the session of district court, see Lincoln County, District Court Journal, 1875–79, April 1878 term, April 8–24, 1878: 164–91, NMSRCA. Judge Bristol’s charge to the grand jury is given verbatim in a supplement to the Mesilla Valley Independent, April 20, 1878. Two reports of the grand jury are printed in ibid., April 27 and May 4,1878, and in the Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), May 4,1878.

  2. Mesilla Valley Independent, March 16 and 23, 1878; U.S. Marshal John Sherman to Lt. Col. N.A.M. Dudley, Fort Stanton, April 8, 1878, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA; Grady E. McCright and James H. Powell, Jessie Evans: Lincoln County Badman (College Station, Texas: Creative Publishing Co., 1983), 109–13.

  3. The Mesilla Valley Independent, May 4, 1878, prints a “card to the public,” dated April 23, in which Dolan and Riley give notice of the closing of their store.

  4. Diary of Reverend Ealy, March 10, 1878, Ealy Papers, Special Collections, UAL.

  5. A photocopy of McNab’s surety bond as deputy constable, April 27, 1878, is in the Research Files, Mullin Collection, HHC. That McNab obtained his commission at San Patricio is speculation, but Wilson had not been reelected in Lincoln, and the inference seems reasonable. Justice Trujillo proved a consistently reliable McSween supporter.

  A revealing chronicle of Copeland’s activities during the last week of April, replete with excitement, confusion, and heavy drinking, is the report of a soldier detailed to aid him: Cpl. Thomas Dole to CO Fort Stanton, May 1, 1878, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA. See also “J” to Ed., Lincoln, May 3,1878, Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), May 18, 1878; and Mesilla News, May 18, 1878.

  6. Mary Ealy to Maurice G. Fulton, c. 1927, Fulton Collection, Box 1, Folder 8, UAL.

  7. Like Mathews’s February posse, this one consisted of both a Lincoln and a Seven Rivers contingent. From Lincoln were Mathews, Peppin, John Hurley, John Long, and Manuel Segovia (“Indian”). From Seven Rivers were William H. Johnson (Hugh Beckwith’s son-in-law), Robert and John Beckwith, Robert and Wallace Olinger, Lewis Paxton, Milo Pearce, Thomas B. “Buck” Powell, Joseph Nash, Samuel Perry, Thomas Cochran, Thomas Green, Richard Lloyd, Charles Kruling, Reuben Kelly, Charles Martin, John Galvin, and one Perez. See Mesilla Valley Independent, May 11, 1878.

  8. Frank Coe, interview with J. Evetts Haley, San Patricio, N. Mex., August 14, 1927, HHC, gives a detailed account of this event. See also “Outsider” to Ed., Fort Stanton, May 1,1878, Mesilla Valley Independent, May 11, 1878.

  9. George Coe, interview with J. Evetts Haley, Glencoe, N. Mex., March 20, 1927, HHC, describes the shot in loving detail. The following sources are the basis for my account: Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), May 11, 1878; “El Gato” to Ed., Fort Stanton, May 10, 1878, ibid., June 1, 1878; “Van” to Ed., Lincoln, May 3, 1878, Mesilla News, May 18, 1878; and “Outsider” to Ed., Fort Stanton, May 1, 1878, Mesilla Valley Independent, May 11, 1878. “Outsider,” whose account is the most reliable and objective, was probably Edgar Walz, Catron’s agent. Military sources are Dudley to AAAG, DNM, Fort Stanton, May 4,11, and 15, 1878, with enclosures (including Lt. George W. Smith’s informative report of May 1) in File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA. Frank and George Coe left detailed and graphic reminiscences in interviews with J. Evetts Haley, HHC. Also, George Coe gives an account in Frontier Fighter, 113–24.

  10. Dudley to AAAG, DNM, Fort Stanton, May 4, 1878, with enclosures, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA; Dudley to Justice of the Peace David Easton, May 1,1878, RG 393, Post Records, Fort Stanton, LS, Vol. 19: 15–16, NARA. McSween’s arrest in San Patricio is described in Lieutenant Goodwin’s deposition, June 25, 1878, in the Angel Report, NARA. He erroneously dates it May 6, but other documents show it to have been May 2. See also “El Gato” to Ed., Fort Stanton, May 10, 1878, Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), June 1,1878.

  11. “El Gato” to Ed., Fort Stanton, May 23, 1878, Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), June 1,1878.

  12. Francisco Trujillo, interview with Edith L. Crawford, San Patricio, N. Mex., May 10, 1937, WPA Files, Folder 212, NMSRCA. See also Florencio Chavez, interview with J. Evetts Haley, Lincoln, N. Mex., August 15, 1927, HHC. Chavez got the killing of Indian badly mixed up with the killings of Morton, Baker, and McCloskey. He says he was present, however, and adds, “Billy the Kid told him if he would tell the truth [about the slaying of McNab] he would turn him loose. The Navajo told him the truth. Billy told him to get on his pinto mare and run away, and he could go. The Indian got on and just got started, and the Kid shot him in the back, and four or five men shot him.” Other sources bearing on the cow camp raid are Mesilla News, June 1,1878; Cimarron News and Press, June 6,1878; and Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), June 8,1878.

>   13. Dudley to AAAG DNM, Fort Stanton, May 25, 1878, with enclosures, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA.

  14. Catron to Axtell, May 30, 1878; Axtell to Hatch, May 30, 1878; Hatch to AAG, Department of the Missouri (hereafter DM), June 1; Loud to co Fort Stanton, June 1; endorsement by Brig. Gen. John Pope, June 7; all in File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA.

  15. Compare the two depositions in Angel Report, NARA.

  16. Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), June 1, 1878; Executive Record Book No. 2, May 31, 1878, TANM, Roll 21, Frame 502, NMSRCA. For Dolan’s letters to the newspaper, see issues of May 25 and June 1. Catron’s anger over the Regulator raid of May 15, which scattered cattle that now belonged to him, had nothing to do with Axtell’s action. Catron did not learn of the raid until two days later.

  17. Frank Coe, interview with J. Evetts Haley, February 20, 1928, HHC. For the advent of Sheriff Peppin, see Mesilla News, June 15, 1878; “Scrope” to Ed, Fort Stanton, June 18, 1878, and Lincoln, June 22, 1878, both in ibid., June 29, 1878 (“Scrope” was probably Dolan); Andrew Boyle to Ira Bond, Lincoln, August 2, 1878, Grant County Herald (Silver City, N. Mex.), August 24, 1878. See also Peppin to Dudley, Fort Stanton, June 18, 1878; Goodwin to Post Adjutant, Fort Stanton, June 22, 1878; Dudley to AAAG, DNM, Fort Stanton, June 22, 1878; all in File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA. Also Special Order 44, Hq. Fort Stanton, June 16 [sic, June 18], 1878; and Dudley to Axtell, Fort Stanton, June 20, 1878, Exhibits 77–34 and 77–28, Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  18. The warrant and subsequent indictments named Henry Antrim, Charles Bowdre, Doc Scurlock, Henry Brown, John Middleton, Stephen Stevens, John Scroggins, George Coe, Fred Waite, and Richard Brewer. U.S. District Court, Third Judicial District, Record Book 1871–79, Criminal Case 411, June 22, 1878, p. 687, RG 21, Records of the District Court of the United States, Territory of New Mexico, DFRC.

  19. George Washington named the men in this contingent as McSween, Copeland, Bonney, Waite, Bowdre, French, Scroggins, Stevens, Jesús Rodriguez, Atanacio Martinez, and Esequio Sanchez. Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), July 6,1878.

  20. The clash of June 27 has been reconstructed from Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), July 6,1878; Mesilla News, July 6,1878; “Julius” (probably Dolan) to Ed., Lincoln, June 27, 1878, ibid.; Andrew Boyle to Ed., Lincoln, August 2,1878, Grant County Herald (Silver City, N. Mex.), August 24, 1878. Also Dudley to AAAG DNM, Fort Stanton, June 29, 1878, with enclosures; Capt. Henry Carroll to Post Adjutant, July 1,1878; both in File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA. Also Special Order 48, Fort Stanton, June 27, 1878; Dudley to Carroll, Fort Stanton, June 27, 1878; and Special Order 49, Fort Stanton, June 28, 1878: Exhibits 77–43, 77–44, and 78–2 respectively, Dudley Court Record, NARA. Fort Stanton Post Returns, June 1878, NARA (M617, Roll 1218).

  21. George Coe, March 20, 1927, HHC. Other sources are Mesilla News, July 13, 1878; Andrew Boyle to Ed., Lincoln, August 2, 1878, Grant County Herald (Silver City, N. Mex.), August 24, 1878; and Dudley to AAAG, DNM, Fort Stanton, July 6,1878, with enclosures, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA.

  22. A scattering of entries in Sallie’s cryptic diary through July and August 1878 suggests more than a casual relationship. Excerpts from the original in Chaves County Historical Society in Roswell, N. Mex., provided by Harwood P. Hinton. An authoritative treatment is Marilyn Watson, “Was Sallie Billie’s Girl?” New Mexico Magazine (January 1988): 57–60.

  23. Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe), June 27, 1878; George Coe, interviews with J. Evetts Haley, Glencoe, N. Mex., March 20, 1927, and Ruidoso, N. Mex., June 12, 1939, HHC; Robert Beckwith to Josie Beckwith, Lincoln, July 11, 1878, Mullin Collection, HHC.

  9. THE FIRE

  1. El Paso Times, September 16, 1923.

  2. Frank Coe, interview with J. Evetts Haley, San Patricio, N. Mex., August 14, 1927, HHC. See also Jack Shipman, “Brief Career of Tom O’Folliard, Billy the Kid’s Partner,” Voice of the Mexican Border 1 (January 1934): 216–19; and Philip J. Rasch, “The Short Life of Tom O’Folliard,” Potomac Westerners Corral Dust 6 (May 1961): 9–11, 14.

  3. Sue (McSween) Barber to Maurice G. Fulton, White Oaks, N. Mex., March 21 and 24, 1926, and October 12, 1928, Fulton Collection, Box 1, Folder 4, UAL.

  4. Testimony of Appel, Dudley Court Record, NARA; Mary Ealy to Maurice G. Fulton, December 7,1927, Fulton Collection, Box 1, Folder 8, UAL.

  5. Testimony of David Easton, George Peppin, José María de Aguayo, Saturnino Baca, and John Long, Dudley Court Record, NARA. Easton watched the scene from the Dolan store, across the street from the Wortley Hotel. I recount the Five-Day Battle in High Noon in Lincoln: Violence on the Western Frontier (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987), 87–111. See also Philip J. Rasch, “Five Days of Battle,” Denver Westerners Brand Book 11 (1955): 295–323.

  6. Unaccounted for is Fred Waite. Whether he was at the Ellis store, or not even present, is not known.

  7. U.S. District Court, Third Judicial District, Record Book, 1871–79, p. 696 (June 28, 1878), RG 21, Records of the District Court of the United States, Territory of New Mexico, DFRC; Mesilla News, July 6,1878.

  Possemen identifiable by name are Robert and John Beckwith, Andrew Boyle, Roscoe L. Bryant, John Chambers, José Chavez y Baca, Thomas Cochran, John Collins, Charles Crawford, James J. Dolan, “Dummy,” Jesse Evans, Pantaleón Gallegos, John Galvin, Charles Hart, John Hurley, John Irvin, William H. Johnson, John and James Jones, John Kinney, John Long, Jacob B. Mathews, James McDaniels, “Mexican Eduardo,” Lucio Montoya, Joseph H. Nash, Robert and Wallace Olinger, W. R. “Jake” Owens, L. R. Parker, Milo L. Pearce, George W. Peppin, Samuel Perry, Thomas B. “Buck” Powell, James B. Reese, George A. Rose (Roxie), John Thornton, Marion Turner, and Buck Waters.

  8. Taylor F. Ealy, “The Lincoln County War As I Saw It,” MS, c. 1927, Ealy Papers, UAL; Mary Ealy to Maurice G. Fulton, c. 1928, Fulton Collection, Box 1, Folder 8, UAL.

  9. Pink Simms to Maurice G. Fulton, Great Falls, Mont., April 18, 1932, Fulton Collection, Box 4, Folder 5, UAL. The incidents involving the military are reported in Dudley to AAAG DNM, Fort Stanton, July 16, 17, and 18, 1878, with enclosures, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA. See also testimony of Capt. George A. Purington, Asst. Surgeon Daniel Appel, and Saturnino Baca, and affidavits of John Long, November 9,1878, and George Peppin, November 6,1878, Exhibits 6C and 8, all in Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  10. Testimony of Jose Maria de Aguayo, Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  11. Testimony of Lt. Millard F. Goodwin (Dudley’s adjutant), Dudley Court Record, NARA; Fort Stanton Post Returns, July 1878, NARA (M617, roll 1218).

  12. Testimony of Sue McSween and William H. Bonney, Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  13. The message to Dudley is enclosed with Dudley to AAAG DNM, Fort Stanton, July 20, 1878, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA. The reply was given from memory by Dudley’s adjutant, Lieutenant Goodwin, in his testimony, Dudley Court Record, NARA. Bonney’s testimony in ibid, says McSween showed his note to him after writing it. Although McSween’s carelessly phrased message literally states his intention to blow up his own house, surely he had reference to Dudley’s artillery. The constable was still Atanacio Martínez. By “here,” McSween may have meant Lincoln rather than his house, for Martínez’s name does not anywhere appear as one of the defenders of the McSween house.

  14. Testimony of Peppin, Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  15. Testimony of Isaac Ellis, George Washington, Martín Chavez, Sgt. Houston Lusk, Pvt. James Bush, George Peppin, Sgt. O. D. Kelsey, Capt. George A. Purington, Dr. Daniel Appel, Samuel Corbet, Sgt. Andrew Keefe, Lt. M. F. Goodwin, Theresa Philipowski, Sebrian Bates, and Francisco Romero y Valencia, Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  16. Pink Simms to Maurice G. Fulton, Great Falls, Mont., April 18, 1932, Fulton Collection, Box 4, Folder 5, UAL.

  17. Testimony of George Peppin, David M. Easton, Andrew Boyle, Robert Olinger, Joseph Nash, Milo Pearce, and Marion Turner, Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  18. A parade of witnesses, including Dudley and Sue, gave conflicting and partisan versions of this conversation, D
udley Court Record, NARA. For the encounter with Peppin, see his testimony and hers, ibid.

  19. Testimony of John Long, Andrew Boyle, and Thomas B. Powell, Dudley Court Record, NARA; George Coe, interview with J. Evetts Haley, Glencoe, N. Mex., March 20, 1927, HHC.

  20. Testimony of John Long, Andrew Boyle, and Joseph Nash, Dudley Court Record, NARA.

  21. Sue (McSween) Barber, interview with J. Evetts Haley, White Oaks, N. Mex., August 16, 1927, HHC.

  22. Testimony of Purington, Dudley Court Record, NARA; notes of Dr. D.M. Appel, July 20, 1878, Exhibit B6, ibid.

  23. The account that follows is reconstructed from the following sources: testimony of William H. Bonney, José Chavez y Chavez, Joseph Nash, and Andrew Boyle, Dudley Court Record, NARA; and affidavit of Yginio Salazar, Lincoln, July 20, 1878, encl. to Dudley to AAAG DNM, Fort Stanton, July 20, 1878, File 1405 AGO 1878, NARA.