NM gov. declines to pardon outlaw Billy the Kid

hosted ^ | Dec 31

[JoeProBono]

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Billy the Kid, the Old West outlaw who killed at least three lawmen and tried to cut a deal from jail with territorial authorities, won't be pardoned, Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday.

The prospect of a pardon for the notorious frontier figure nearly 130 years after his death drew international attention to New Mexico, centering on whether Billy the Kid had been promised a pardon from New Mexico's territorial governor in return for testimony in killings he had witnessed.

[JoeProBono]

Pat Garrett

"It was at the saloon that Pat Garrett met and often gambled with William Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid. The two were seen together so often they soon took on the nicknames of "Big Casino” and "Little Casino.”

On November 7, 1880, Garrett was appointed as the Lincoln County Sheriff. Friends or not, his first vow was to bring the current reign of lawlessness to an end with the primary goal of apprehending Billy the Kid.

On December 15, 1880, Governor Wallace put a $500 reward on Billy's head and Pat Garrett began the relentless pursuit of the outlaw. Garrett set-up many traps and ambushes in an attempt to apprehend Billy, but the Kid seemed to have an animal instinct that warned him of danger. However, that was not to last.

On December 19, 1880 Garrett confronted Billy and his gang when they rode into Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Killing Tom O'Folliard, the rest of the gang escaped. Soon, the determined Garrett and his posse tracked the outlaws down to Stinking Springs and surrounded the hideout. After a several day siege, the posse killed Charlie Bowdre and captured Billy the Kid, Dirty Dave Rudabaugh, Tom Pickett and Billy Wilson on December 23, 1880.

Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang in Lincoln, New Mexico on May 13, 1881. However, he escaped from jail on April 18, 1881, killing two guards in the process." Garrett went after the Kid once again and arrived at Peter Maxwell's ranch on July 14, 1881 to question him about Billy's whereabouts. As Maxwell and Garrett sat in Peter's darkened bedroom in Old Fort Sumner, Billy unexpectedly entered the room. The Kid didn't recognize Garrett in the poor lighting conditions and asked "¿Quien es? ¿Quien es?" (Spanish for "Who is it? Who is it?), to which Garrett responded with two shots from his revolver, the first striking Billy's heart. "

[Terry Mross]

I’m not so sure all cowboys of the day dressed like Robert Redford as The Sundance Kid.

Some historians say that Billy was just as legal as a peace officer as was Garrett. There were two factions and neither of them would survive a grand jury investigation today. I’ve never read where Billy ambushed anyone the way Garrett ambushed him.

Then there’s the theory that Garrett and Billy were friends and it wasn’t Billy who was killed. Garrett helped him assume a new life. He died an old man in Hutto, Texas. The key word is “theory”.

One of the most fun times I’ve ever had in my life was a day spent in Lincoln. The jail is still standing.

[bcsco]

I'd have to go back and dig it up, but I seem to recall there were a couple "McCarty" families in New York at the time he could have been tied to. This site goes so far to make his origins even more murky, suggesting that he was the older of the two boys, being Joe's half-brother, and that Catharine McCarty was actually married to a "Bonney" before becoming a McCarty, Bonney thus being the Kid's real surname, McCarty his half-brother Joe's.

Fred Nolan is a legitimate "Kid" biographer, so he should be taken with some seriousness. But, keep in mind, this is all speculation and abject reasoning. In any event, what tangled webs we weave...

[Frantzie]

BilL Richardson is a bigger crook and slime than Billy The Kid ever was.

[RckyRaCoCo]

Now let’s go after Billy the Kenyan.

[JoeProBono]

[Frantzie]

People should go up to Santa Fe in the winter. NM back in that day must have been very rough living. Cold in the winter and dry with not a lot of water. God help you if you got caught out in a blizzard.

It is not like you could turn on a washing machine or go to a dry cleaner.

Ditto Arizona. Texas must have been rough but there is more water in most parts. I bet there was a lot of kill or be killed. Fighting over land, cattle, water.

[Terry Mross]

Water and grass were scarce. It took a lot of land just to raise one cow. I’m sure it was rough. May get that way again before too long. All over the country. All over the world!

[Rebelbase]

There’s part of History Channel show that brings up the speculation that Bonny escaped and wasn’t killed by Garret and the town will not allow DNA testing of the corpse because of all the tourist revenue that would be lost if it’s found to be true.

[bcsco]

Billy and the "Regulators" he was part of were recognized as officers by the local Justice of the Peace. However, there was a legitimate Lincoln County Sheriff although he was tied to the Murphy/Dolan faction which had the Kid's employer, John Tunstill, murdered. It was that killing that set off the Lincoln County War. The Regulators fought on the Tunstill/McSween side of the feud. They really didn't have the recognized authority that the local sheriff, William Brady enjoyed. However, the sheriff, as well as the Murphy/Dolan faction, were an extension of the "Santa Fe Ring" of corrupt politicians. OTOH, John Tunstill was just as greedy and manipulative as Murphy and Dolan in his dealings. He simply came late to the game, and was seen as an interloper. An interloper who had to be dealt with.

The Kid was definitely part of at least one ambush/assassination. That was the killing of sheriff Brady in Lincoln, as well as his deputy, George Hindmann. The Kid was one of a party of Regulators who ambushed them from behind a stucco wall as they walked along Lincoln's one street. The killing of two of Tunstill's killers, Bill Morton and Frank Baker may also have been premeditated. The Kid was a part of that as well.

Garrett and the Kid did know each other, but their acquaintance has likely been made too much of. And the idea that Garrett let the Kid go, faking his death or substituting another body, is just another conspiracy theory too many people give credit to. That's really what's behind this pardon attempt.

That Lincoln County jail was actually the Murphy/Dolan store. Their business went bankrupt and the county took over the building. Garrett had his office upstairs on the 2nd floor along with a room for prisoners and a weapons room. The Kid was kept in Garrett's office, an upfront attempt to prevent him mingling with the other prisoners. Garrett was away on county business the day the Kid escaped by killing his two jailers. There's also nothing in the idea that Garrett had anything to do with that. What sheriff would be involved with a prisoner scheduled for execution, allowing his escape when he's as desperate and dangerous as the Kid was? That's just plain goofy thinking.

The Tunstill store is still there as well. It's reputedly exactly as it was at the time of the Lincoln County War, and a major attraction for the City today.

[JoeProBono]

Billy the Kid and the Regulators

[bcsco]

There’s part of History Channel show that brings up the speculation that Bonny escaped and wasn’t killed by Garret and the town will not allow DNA testing of the corpse because of all the tourist revenue that would be lost if it’s found to be true.

Yeah, I've seen that. It's a bunch of BS, IMO. An interesting article...

Here's another...

[bcsco]

That’s a neat painting. The first rider looks like Dick Brewer...

[PATRIOT1876]

*Maybe if he were wearing a real cowboy hat, instead of that ugly topper he’s got on in the photo, he wouldn’t look quite to retarded.

I suspect words to that effect were the last ones uttered by a number of bank tellers, bartenders and drifters.*

“Nice hat, kid! Harr harr harr!”

*BANG*

“Ow!”

[PATRIOT1876]

*Wow....that NM governor really knows how to make those tough calls.........like Billy gives a shitte....*

Do you think he’s celebrating on the Other Side with Jim Morrison?

[PATRIOT1876]

“Come on, Jim they pardoned you, my pardon is coming pretty soon, I reckon.”

[Hot Tabasco]

Pat Garrett

Is that Marge Simpson with him in that photo?

[JoeProBono]

[DesertRhino]

Got it, if the guy living and fighting in Lincoln County NM, circa 1880 wore a hat like a country singer in todays era, then he might look like a cowboy. Amazing. Btw,,bet he woulda shot you for making fun of his hat.

[jdub]

I learned just a couple of days ago that a second cousin of mine has a letter from The Kid to my great-great-grandmother’s father. Apparantly he courted my GG-grandmother in TX before he went to NM, and the letter was an apology to her father, explaining why he hadn’t returned to Texas to marry her (his criminal notoriety). I haven’t seen the letter, so I don’t know how he signed it. I’ll ask though.