Throwing crucial light on the doings of Billy the Kid in the last part of 1880 are the daily reports of Secret Service Agent Azariah F. Wild, who was sent to New Mexico to investigate a counterfeiting ring: U.S. Treasury Department, Secret Service Division, New Orleans District, Reports of Special Operative Azariah F. Wild (T915, Roll 308), RG 87, Records of U.S. Secret Service Agents, 1875–1936.
For Governor Lew Wallace, his personal papers at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis are unusually rich in documenting his role in the concluding stages of the Lincoln County War, including his exchange of missives with Billy the Kid. The New Mexico portion of the Wallace Papers may be consulted on microfilm.
Newspapers are important sources if handled properly. They feature letters from the scene, usually by anonymous correspondents, and when shorn of bias they help in establishing the chronology and course of events. The most helpful are the Mesilla Valley Independent, Mesilla News, Silver City Grant County Herald, Santa Fe New Mexican, Las Vegas Gazette, and Las Vegas Optic.
MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS
Chisum, Sallie. Diary. Chavez County Historical Society, Roswell, N. Mex.
Ealy, Taylor F. “The Lincoln County War as I Saw It.” MS, c. 1927. Ealy Papers, UAL.
Meadows, John P., in collaboration with Maurice G. Fulton. “Billy the Kid as I Knew Him.” MS, c. 1931. Rasch Collection, LSM.
Naegle, Conrad Keeler. “Silver City, New Mexico’s Frontier Paradox.” MS, n.d., New Mexico State Library, Santa Fe.
Polk, Cal. “Life of Cal Polk, Commenced January 25, 1896.” MS, PHPHM.
Walz, Edgar. “Retrospection.” MS, October 1931. Museum of New Mexico Historical Library, Santa Fe.
Wood, Miles. Reminiscences. MS, c. 1911–23. In collection of Jerry Weddle, Tucson, Arizona.
INTERVIEWS
Abraham, Louis. With Helen Wheaton. HHC (Mullin Collection).
Barber, Sue (McSween). With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Bousman, Louis P. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Brady, Robert. With Edith L. Crawford. NMSRCA.
Brent, Carlota Baca. With Frances E. Totty. NMSRCA.
Buckbee, Joe. With Philip J. Rasch. LSM.
Casey, Robert A. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Chavez, Florencio. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Chisum, William. With Allen A. Erwin. AHS.
Coe, Frank. El Paso Times, September 16, 1923.
——. New Mexico State Tribune (Albuquerque), July 23, 1928.
——. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Coe, George. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Connor, Anthony B. Independent (Silver City, N. Mex.), March 22, 1932.
East, James H. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Gauss, Godfrey. Lincoln County Leader (White Oaks), March 1, 1890.
Gildea, A. M. Daily Citizen (Tucson), March 28, 1931.
Maxwell, Deluvina. With J. Evetts Haley. PHPHM.
Meadows, John P. Alamogordo News (N. Mex.), June 11, 1936.
——. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Owens, W. R. (Jake). With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Peppin, Juan. With Maurice G. Fulton. HHC (Mullin Collection).
Salazar, Yginio. With J. Evetts Haley. HHC.
Steck, Joseph. Lincoln County Leader (White Oaks), December 7, 1889.
Truesdell, Chauncey O. Arizona Republic (Phoenix), December 30, 1951.
——. With Robert N. Mullin. HHC (Mullin Collection).
Trujillo, Francisco. With Edith L. Crawford. NMSRCA.
Wallace, Lew. Indianapolis World, June 8, 1902.
Whitehill, Harvey C. Enterprise (Silver City N. Mex.), January 3, 1902.
Whitehill, Henry. With Helen Wheaton. HHC (Mullin Collection).
Wier, William. With J. Evetts Haley. Vandale Collection, Barker History Center, University of Texas.
Wilson, Gorgonio. With Edith L. Crawford. NMSRCA.
NEWSPAPERS
Albuquerque Advance
Albuquerque Review
Arizona Daily Citizen (Tucson)
Arizona Weekly Citizen (Tucson)
Arizona Weekly Star (Tucson)
Cimarron News and Press (N. Mex.)
Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe)
Grant County Herald (Silver City, N. Mex.)
Las Vegas Gazette (N. Mex.)
Las Vegas Optic (N. Mex.)
Mesilla News (N. Mex.)
Mesilla Valley Independent (Mesilla, N. Mex.)
Mining Life (Silver City, N. Mex.)
New York Sun
Newman’s Semi-Weekly (Las Cruces, N. Mex.)
Rio Grande Republican (Las Cruces, N. Mex.)
Silver City Enterprise (N. Mex.)
Weekly New Mexican (Santa Fe)
PUBLISHED MATERIAL
Adams, Ramon F. A Fitting Death for Billy the Kid. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960.
Adler, Alfred. “Billy the Kid: A Case Study in Epic Origins.” Western Folklore 10 (April 1951): 143–52.
Ball, Eve. “Billy Strikes the Pecos.” New Mexico Folklore Record 4 (1949–50): 7–10.
——. Ma’am Jones of the Pecos. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1969.
Ball, Larry D. The United States Marshals of New Mexico and Arizona, 1846–1912. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978.
Bender, Norman J., ed. Missionaries, Outlaws, and Indians: Taylor F. Ealy at Lincoln and Zuni, 1878–1881. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.
Blazer, Almer. “The Fight at Blazer’s Mill in New Mexico.” Frontier Times 16 (August 1939): 461–66.
Blazer, Paul. “The Fight at Blazer’s Mill: A Chapter in the Lincoln County War.” Arizona and the West 6 (Autumn 1964): 203–10.
Brothers, Mary Hudson. A Pecos Pioneer [Bell Hudson]. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1943.
Brown, Richard Maxwell. Strain of Violence: Historical Studies of American Violence and Vigilantism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Burns, Walter Noble. The Saga of Billy the Kid. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1926.
Callon, Milton W. Las Vegas, New Mexico. . . The Town That Wouldn’t Gamble. Las Vegas: Las Vegas Daily Optic, 1962.
Cawelti, John G. “The Gunfighter and Society.” American West 5 (March 1968): 30–35, 76–78.
Cline, Donald. Alias Billy the Kid: The Man Behind the Legend. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 1986.
Coe, Frank. “A Friend Comes to the Defense of Notorious Billy the Kid.” El Paso Times, September 26, 1923.
Coe, George W. Frontier Fighter: The Autobiography of George W. Coe, as related to Nan Hillary Harrison. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1934. 2d ed., Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1951. Lakeside Classics ed., ed. Doyce B. Nunis, Jr., Chicago: R. R. Donnelley and Co., 1984.
Cunningham, Eugene. “Fought with Billy the Kid.” Frontier Times 9 (March 1932): 242–47.
Curry, George. An Autobiography. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1958.
DeMattos, Jack. “The Search for Billy the Kid’s Roots—Is Over!” Real West 23 (January 1980): 20–25.
——. “John Kinney.” Real West 27 (February 1984): 20–25.
Denton, J. Fred. “Billy the Kid’s Friend Tells for First Time of Thrilling Incidents.” Tucson Daily Citizen, March 28, 1931.
Dobie, J. Frank. “Billy the Kid.” Southwest Review 14 (Spring 1929): 314–20.
Dykes, J. C. Billy the Kid: The Bibliography of a Legend. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1952.
Earle, James H., ed. The Capture of Billy the Kid. College Station, Texas: Creative Publishing Co., 1988.
Fulton, Maurice G. History of the Lincoln County War, ed. Robert N. Mullin. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1968.
Garavaglia, Louis A., and Charles G. Worman. Firearms of the American West, 1866–1894. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985.
Garrett, Pat F. The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid. Santa Fe: New Mexican Printing and Publishing Co., 1882. Ed. and with
an introduction by Maurice G. Fulton, New York: Macmillan Co., 1927. With introduction by Jeff C. Dykes, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954.
Gibson, A. M. The Life and Death of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.
Haley, J. Evetts. “Jim East, Trail Hand and Cowboy.” Panhandle-Plains Historical Review 4 (1931): 48–61.
——. Charles Goodnight, Cowman and Plainsman. Boston, 1936. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949.
——. George W. Littlefield, Texan. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1943.
Hertzog, Peter. Little Known Facts about Billy the Kid. Santa Fe: Press of the Territorian, 1963.
Hinton, Harwood P. “John Simpson Chisum, 1877–84.” New Mexico Historical Review 31 (July 1956): 177–205; 31 (October 1956): 310–37; 32 (January 1957): 53–65.
Hobsbawm, Eric J. Social Bandits and Primitive Rebels. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1959.
Hoyt, Henry. A Frontier Doctor. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1929. Lakeside Classics ed., ed. Doyce B. Nunis, Jr., Chicago: R. R. Donnelley and Sons, 1979.
Hutchinson, W. H., and Robert N. Mullin. Whiskey Jim and a Kid Named Billie. Clarendon, Texas: Clarendon Press, 1967.
Hutton, Paul A. “Billy the Kid as Seen in the Movies.” Frontier Times 57 (June 1985): 24–29.
Hyde, Albert E. Billy the Kid and the Old Regime in the Southwest. Ruidoso, N. Mex.: Frontier Book Co., n.d.
Irwin, Helen. “When Billy the Kid Was Brought to Trial.” Frontier Times 6 (March 1929): 214–15.
Kadlec, Robert F., ed. They “Knew” Billy the Kid: Interviews with Old-Time New Mexicans. Santa Fe: Ancient City Press, 1987.
Kajencki, Francis C. “Alexander Grzelachowski: Pioneer Merchant of Puerto de Luna, New Mexico.” Arizona and the West 26 (Autumn 1984): 243–60.
Keleher, William A. The Maxwell Land Grant: A New Mexico Item. Santa Fe: Rydal Press, 1942.
——. Violence in Lincoln County, 1869–1881: A New Mexico Item. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1957.
——. The Fabulous Frontier: Twelve New Mexico Items. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1962.
Klasner, Lily (Casey). My Girlhood among Outlaws, ed. Eve Ball. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1972.
Koop, Waldo. Billy the Kid: Trail of a Kansas Legend. Kansas City: Kansas City Westerners, 1965.
Lavash, Donald R. William Brady: Tragic Hero of the Lincoln County War. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 1987.
McCarty, John L. Maverick Town: The Story of Old Tascosa. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946.
McCright, Grady E., and James H. Powell. Jessie Evans: Lincoln County Badman. College Station, Texas: Creative Publishing Co., 1983.
McDonald, A. B. “Tascosa’s Lone Settler [Mrs. Mickie McCormick] Recalls Wild Days.” Frontier Times 8 (February 1931): 234–36.
Metz, Leon. Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973.
Mullin, Robert N. The Boyhood of Billy the Kid. Southwestern Studies Monograph No. 17. El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1967.
——. “Here Lies John Kinney.” Journal of Arizona History 14 (Autumn 1973): 223–42.
——, and Charles E. Welch, Jr. “Billy the Kid: The Making of a Hero.” Western Folklore 32 (1973): 104–12.
Nolan, Frederick W., ed. The Life and Death of John Henry Tunstall. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1965.
O’Neal, Bill. Encyclopedia of Western Gun-Fighters. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
——. Henry Brown, the Outlaw Marshal. College Station, Texas: Creative Publishing Co., 1980.
Otero, Miguel. The Real Billy the Kid: With New Light on the Lincoln County War. New York: Rufus Rockwell Wilson, 1936.
Pearce, T. M., ed. “Billy the Kid Symposium.” New Mexico Folklore Record, 1949–50 4 (1950).
Perrigo, Lynn W. Gateway to Glorieta: The History of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Press, 1982.
Poe, John W. The Death of Billy the Kid. Introduction by Maurice G. Fulton. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933.
Poe, Sophie A. Buckboard Days. 2d ed., introduction by Sandra L. Myres. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981.
Rasch, Philip J. “A Note on Henry Newton Brown.” Los Angeles Westerners Brand Book 5 (1953): 58–67.
——. “The Twenty-One Men He Put Bullets Through.” New Mexico Folklore Record 9 (1954–55): 8–14.
——. “Five Days of Battle.” Denver Westerners Brand Book 11 (1955): 295–323.
——. “A Man Named Antrim.” Los Angeles Westerners Brand Book 6 (1956): 48–54.
——. “The Pecos War.” Panhandle-Plains Historical Review 29 (1956): 101–11.
——. “Prelude to War: The Murder of J. H. Tunstall.” Los Angeles Westerners Brand Book 7 (1957): 78–96.
——. “Amende Honorable—The Life and Death of Billy Wilson.” West Texas Historical Association Year Book 34 (1958): 97–111.
——. “The Murder of Huston I. Chapman.” Los Angeles Westerners Brand Book 8 (1959): 69–82.
——. “The Story of Jessie J. Evans.” Panhandle-Plains Historical Review 33 (1960): 108–21.
——. “The Short Life of Tom O’Folliard.” Potomac Westerners Corral Dust 6 (May 1961): 9–11, 14.
——. “Death at the Baile.” Potomac Westerners Corral Dust 6 (August 1961): 30.
——. “John Kinney: King of the Rustlers.” English Westerners Brand Book 4 (October 1961): 10–12.
——. “Alias ‘Whiskey Jim.’” Panhandle-Plains Historical Review 36 (1963): 103–14.
——. “The Olingers, Known Yet Forgotten.” Potomac Westerners Corral Dust 8 (February 1963): 1, 4–6.
——. “Garrett’s Favorite Deputy [Barney Mason].” Potomac Westerners Corral Dust 9 (Fall 1964): 3–5.
——. “He Rode with the Kid: The Life of Tom Pickett.” English Westerners Tenth Anniversary Publication, 11–15. London, 1964.
——. “War in Lincoln County.” English Westerners Brand Book 6 (July 1964): 2–4.
——. “The Hunting of Billy, the Kid.” English Westerners Brand Book 11 (January 1969): 1–10.
——. “The Quest for Joseph Antrim.” NOLA Quarterly 6 (July 1981): 13–17.
——, Joseph E. Buckbee, and Karl K. Klein. “Man of Many Parts [Doc Scurlock].” English Westerners Brand Book 5 (January 1963): 9–12.
——, and Robert N. Mullin. “New Light on the Legend of Billy the Kid.” New Mexico Folklore Record 7 (1952–53): 1–5.
——, and Robert N. Mullin. “Dim Trails: The Pursuit of the McCarty Family.” New Mexico Folklore Record 8 (1954): 6–11.
——, and Lee Myers. “The Tragedy of the Beckwiths.” English Westerners Brand Book 5 (July 1963): 1–6.
Rickards, Colin W. “Better for the World That He is Gone.” English Westerners Brand Book 2 (April 1960): 2–8.
——. The Gunfight at Blazer’s Mill. Southwestern Studies Monograph No. 40. El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1974.
Roberts, Gary L. “Violence and the Frontier Tradition.” Kansas and the West: Bicentennial Essays in Honor of Nyle H. Miller. Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society, 1976.
Rosa, Joseph G. The Gunfighter: Man or Myth? Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968.
Rudulph, Charles Frederick. “Los Bilitos”: The Story of “Billy the Kid” and His Gang. New York: Carlton Press, 1980.
Shinkle, James D. Fort Sumner and the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation. Roswell, N. Mex.: Hall-Poorbough Press, 1965.
——. Robert Casey and the Ranch on the Rio Hondo. Roswell, N. Mex.: Hall-Poorbough Press, 1970.
Shipman, Jack. “Brief Career of Tom O’Folliard, Billy the Kid’s Partner.” Voice of the Mexican Border 1 (January 1934): 216–19.
Siringo, Charles A. A Texas Cowboy; or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony. Chicago: M. Umbdenstock & Co., 1885.
——. A Lone Star Cowboy. Santa Fe:
n.p., 1919.
——. History of “Billy the Kid.” Santa Fe: n.p., 1920.
——. Riata and Spurs. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1927.
Sonnichsen, C. L. “I’ll Die Before I’ll Run”: The Story of the Great Feuds of Texas. New York: Devin-Adair, 1962.
——. Tularosa: Last of the Frontier West. 2d ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1980.
——, and William V. Morrison. Alias Billy the Kid. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1955.
Stanley, F. Dave Rudabaugh: Border Ruffian. Denver: World Press, 1961.
——. Notes on Joel Fowler. Pep, Tex.: n.p., 1963.
Steckmesser, Kent Ladd. The Western Hero in History and Legend. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.
Tatum, Stephen. Inventing Billy the Kid: Visions of the Outlaw in America, 1881–1981. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
Traylor, Leslie. “Facts Regarding the Escape of Billy the Kid.” Frontier Times 13 (July 1936): 506–13.
Tuska, Jon. Billy the Kid: A Handbook. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.
Utley, Robert M. Four Fighters of Lincoln County. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1986.
——. High Noon in Lincoln: Violence on the Western Frontier. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987.
Wallace, Lew. Lew Wallace: An Autobiography. 2 vols. New York and London: Harper and Bros., 1906.
Watson, Marilyn. “Was Sallie Billy’s Girl?” New Mexico Magazine (January 1988): 57–60.
Weisner, Herman B. “The Prisoners Who Saw the Kid Kill Olinger.” Rio Grande History 9. Las Cruces: New Mexico State University Library, 1978.
White, Richard. “Outlaw Gangs of the Middle Border: American Social Bandits.” Western Historical Quarterly 12 (October 1981): 387–408.
Wilson, John P. Merchants, Guns & Money: The Story of Lincoln County and Its Wars. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1987.
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