July 15, 2025 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Billy the Kid didn’t live past 21, but his name still echoes through American folklore. In a lawless land, he became the face of rebellion: part folk hero, part criminal, and all mystery. Historian Roger McGrath traces the true story of the young drifter behind the legend — from his first brush with the law to the bullet that ended it all.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American People.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
In the eighteen seventies, the American West was a refuge
(00:31):
for outcasts as the nation recovered from the Civil War.
In fact, life was so hard that eighty percent of
the population was under thirty. It was in this harsh
and lawless place where a legend was forged. Roger McGrath
is the author of Gunfightershiowomen and Vigilantes Violence on the Frontier.
(00:51):
A US marine and former history professor at UCLA, doctor
McGrath has appeared on numerous History Channel documentaries, and he's
a regular contributor to Hear for Us at Our American Stories.
Here's McGrath with the story of Billy the Kid.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Billy the Ged is an American legend. He's been portrayed
as everything from a gallant young man fighting for justice
to a psychopathic killer. I think the truth lies much
closer to gallant young man. Billy the Ged is born
Henry McCarty in eighteen fifty nine. To Irish immigrant parents
(01:34):
Patrick and Catherine in New York City. He is an
older brother named Joseph. The father dies when the boys
are still young, and the mother takes them west to Indiana,
then to Kansas, then.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
To New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
In Santa Fe, Katherine McCarty marries William Antrim in eighteen
seventy three. Shortly after the wedding, the new Antrim family
moves to Silver City, a booming mining town in southwestern
New Mexico. There in Silver City, Henry McCarty gets his
new nickname, Kid Antrim. He is described by a schoolmate
(02:11):
as being full of fun and mischief, but a school
teacher says he is no more of a problem than
any other.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Boy.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Is described as a handsome boy with blue eyes, sandy
blonde hair, pale skin, and rosy cheeks. He has a
charming smile that has already melting girls' hearts. Early in
eighteen seventy four, the Kid's mother dies at tuberculosis and
he's taken in by another family. He works at odd jobs,
(02:44):
but within a year he's in trouble for petty thefts.
Deciding it's time for him in Silver City at a
part company, he heads west for Arizona and finds work
as a cowboy. All of fifteen years old, he's on
his own. While working on Arizona ranches, the kid makes
(03:05):
trips with his cowboy buddies in New Mexico to russell cattle.
As long as his wrestling stays south of the border,
Arizona lawman pay him no mind. However, in eighteen seventy seven,
he starts stealing horses from Arizona ranches and selling them
at mining camps. He's soon arrested, shackled, and jailed. Within
(03:28):
a day, he makes a daring escape as a newspaper
reports shackles and all. Six months later, he's arrested again,
but again he breaks free. The Kid is an escape artist.
In August eighteen seventy seven, the Kid rides into Bonita,
a small settlement next to Camp Grant in southeastern Arizona,
(03:52):
and runs into the old nemesis. Frank Cahill kl is
a browny thirty two year old irishman from County Galway
who pummeled the Kid in a recent fistfight. A second
fight erupts. This time the kid pulls a gun and
puts a bullet in Key Hill's belly. A day later,
(04:14):
Cayhill dies from the womb. The kid doesn't wait around
to see if his shooting of Cahill will be declared
self defense and rides hard for New Mexico. By the
fall of eighteen seventy seven, the kid is working as
a cowboy on a ranch in Lincoln County owned by
twenty four year old Englishman John Tunstall.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Dunstall arrived in.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
New Mexico in eighteen seventy six with a plan to
take control of Lincoln County through land acquisitions and business operations.
He's financed by his wealthy father working with Hunstall is
a lawyer, Alexander MacSween. MacSween is the son of Scottish
immigrants to Canada. He starts his adult life as a
(04:58):
Presbyterian minister, but after moving to the United States, he
attends law school and later establishes a practice in the
town of Lincoln, the county seat for Lincoln County. Business
in Lincoln County focuses on supplying the Fort Stanton Army
Post and the Mescalero Apache Reservation with beef, corn, and flour.
(05:20):
Tunstall reckons he can make a small fortune if he
monopolizes the trade. However, there is already someone in Lincoln
doing just that. That someone is Lawrence Murphy. Murphy is
an Irish immigrant in his middle forties with sandy blonde
hair and a red beard. Is a veteran of both
the U. S. Army and the New Mexico Volunteers and
(05:43):
served in Indian Wars and in the Civil War. Is
stationed at Fort Stanton at the close of the Civil
War and has risen to the rank of major. When
he leaves the service, he develops a mercantile business, first
located at Fort Stanton and then in the town of Lincoln.
In Lincoln, he builds a store two stories high and
(06:06):
three thousand square feet that dwarfs every other building in town.
Murphy's business thrives. Residents of Lincoln County refer to L. G.
Murphy and Company as the House of Murphy, or simply
the House. Murphy has two young protegees. One is Irish
born James Dolan. The other, even younger protege is John Riley.
(06:33):
John Tunstall thinks he can overthrow the House and establish
his own monopoly. As he writes to his father back
in England, everything in New Mexico that pays it all
is worked by a ring. There is the Indian Ring,
the Army Ring, the Political Ring, the Leagal Ring, the
Roman Catholic Ring, the Cattle Ring, the horse thieves Ring,
(06:56):
the land Ring, and half a dozen other rings make
things stick. To do any good, it is necessary to
either get into a ring or to make one for yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And you're listening to Roger McGrath tell the story of
Billy the Kid and who would think born in New
York City of all places? When we come back more
of the story of Billy the Kid with doctor Roger
McGrath here on our American Stories. Lee Habib here and
(07:31):
I'm inviting you to help our American Stories celebrate this
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(07:51):
Go to Ouramericanstories dot com and click the donate button.
Any amount helps. Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and give,
and we continue with our American Stories Billy the Kid
(08:13):
is working as a cowboy on a ranch in Lincoln County,
New Mexico, in eighteen seventy seven, and it's owned by
a twenty four year old Englishman named John Tunstall. Hunstall
thinks he can overthrow the county's business monopoly and its owner,
Lawrence Murphy Constall plans on doing this by either becoming
a part of a special interest group or making one
(08:34):
up himself. Let's return to Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Dunstall makes ones for himself, and he has the money
to do it. He writes to his father. It is
his goal to get the half of every dollar that
is made in the county by anyone. To put this
into effect, Tunstall first needs a cattle ranch. Mac Sween
gets him a four thousand acre spread some thirty miles
(09:03):
south of Lincoln. Dunstall now thinks here will open the
store in Lincoln to compete with the house, but he
needs a hook to lure farmers away from Murphy's business.
Dunstall decides here'll issue what he calls green notes to
customers against the future harvest of crops. In this way,
(09:24):
farmers can buy on credit, but they will then be
attached to Tunstall's store by debt. By the fall of
eighteen seventy seven, Tunstall's store is up and running. The
timing is propitious. Nearly fifty years old and drinking heavily,
Lawrence Murphy decides to retire. He sells his company to
(09:44):
his understudies, James Dolan and John Riley, to buy the business.
Dolan and Riley have to secure financing in Santa Fe
and making payments on the loan will not be easy.
This plays right into Tunstall's hands, although Tunstall news it
(10:05):
will be some time before he starts turning a profit.
Unlike Dolan and Riley, he has his father's fortune behind
him and doesn't have to worry about paying off a loan.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Everybody in Lincoln.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
County begins to take sides.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Some think Tunstall will.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Liberate them from monopoly of the house. Others hate Alex MacSween,
Tunstall's partner and attorney. In his few years in Lincoln,
MacSween has become involved in a number of controversial transactions
and legal battles, and has made many an enemy. Tensions
mount and each side higher.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
A gunman.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Into all this walks an eighteen year old boy who
is using the alias William Bonnie. However, he's already known
popularly as the Kid, so now he's called not Bill
Bonnie but Billy the Kid. With a boyish face and
only a little peach fuzz on his upper lip to
(11:10):
occasionally shave, he still looks like a kid, but he
can ride a horse with the best of them, and
can shoot a revolver or a rifle with incredible speed
and accuracy. He has nerves of steel and is cool
and deliberate under fire. With tensions mounting in Lincoln County,
(11:32):
a spark that ignites a war comes. On an evening
in February eighteen seventy eight. Armed with a writ of attachment,
a Bossi sweeps down upon Tunstall, who is out on
the trail helping to drive a herd of horses. Several
of Tunstall's hired hands, including Billy the Kid, are with
(11:52):
the herd also, but are far from Tunstall and don't
see what happens between Tunstall and the posse. The Bossi
members later say that Tunstall threw his gun first and
fired before they opened up. Perhaps so, but probably not.
Only two weeks earlier, Jimmy Dolan stomped up to Tunstall
(12:14):
and challenged him to shoot it out on the spot.
Three times. Dolan issued the challenge three times, Tunstall refused
to go for his weapon. Dolan finally gave up in disgust.
The Lincoln County War rages for two years, and Billy
the Kid is not only in the thick of the fighting,
(12:35):
but he becomes the leader of the Regulators as the
Tunstall Masween faction of gunmen as called. Some say the
Kid kills as many as twenty one men, but one
third that number is probably closer to the truth. Nonetheless,
he is clearly the war's most deadly fighter. Some of
his exploits defy the imagination. The first target for Billy
(13:02):
the Kid and the Regulators are members of the posse
that had shot Tunstall in March eighteen seventy eight. The
Regulators catch up with two of them, Frank Baker and
William Morton. Both of them are shot dead, likely by
the Kid. The next target for the Kid is William Brady,
(13:23):
the Lincoln County Sheriff. Brady is a fair and honest
sheriff and a longtime friend of Lawrence Murphy. The two
have much in common. Brady was born in Ireland, and
immigrates to the United States in eighteen fifty one. Immediately
enlists in the US Army and serves for ten years
before being discharged in New Mexico.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
He then joins the New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Volunteers and serves throughout the Civil War with Murphy. Like Murphy,
Brady rises to the rank of major. Following the Civil War,
Brady serves as a member of the Territorial Legislature and
then as.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Of Lincoln County.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
He lives on a farm where he and his Hispanic
wife were several children. In all ways, he's well respected
because of his friendship with Murphy, He's aligned with a
house faction. On a day in April eighteen seventy eight,
as Sheriff Brady and four of his deputies walk down
Lincoln's main street, the kid and several other regulators open
(14:25):
fire from behind an adobe wall. Brady and Deputy George
Henman are killed, and Deputy Billy Matthews is wounded. As
Matthews and the other two deputies run for cover, the
kid bolts into the street and rifles the pockets of
Sheriff Brady. The kid is looking for an arrestaurant that
(14:46):
the sheriff supposedly has for Alex Maxween from cover. The
deputies now open fire and the bullet goes clean through
the kid's eye. He limps away to his horse and
gallops out of town. Another one of the regulators, Big
Jim French, is also wounded. Unable to ride, he hides
(15:08):
in town. That night, the Kid returns and rescues Big Jim.
Over the next three months, the Kid is involved in
a half dozen Dun battles. Then, in the middle of July,
occurs a five day fight in the town of Lincoln,
which is known as a Five Day Battle or the
(15:29):
Battle of Lincoln. Leading up to the battle, the regulators
take positions in different locations in Lincoln. The Kid and
ten others set up in Max Sween's house on Main
Street in the middle of town. Another forty regulators are
spread throughout the town. The Dolan Riley forces, led by
the new County Sheriff George Peppin, number about forty. Most
(15:54):
residents of the town, mostly old time Hispanic settlers, flee
in terror. Others hunker down in their homes fearing for
their lives. The shooting starts when the regulators open fire
on some of the Peppin's deputies. Several are wounded. After
that initial blast, there is intermittent shooting both.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Day and night. On the fourth day of the battle, Colonel.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Nathan Deadley and several dozen troops from nearby Fort Staff
arrive not to stop the fighting, but to evacuate non
combatant citizens. Colonel Deadley says he has no authority to
intervene on one side or the other, but he is
there to escort Lincoln residents to safety. Although Deadly says
he is neutro The sight of the troops cause half
(16:42):
of the regulators to bend in their positions and ride
for the hills. Most of the regulators reckon that should
shooting erupt, the army will naturally side with the sheriff
Peppin forces. Not only would the regulators then be facing
federal forces, but those forces have not only their rifles
and side arms, but also a small howitzer and a
(17:04):
gatling gun.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
And you're listening to Roger McGrath tell one heck of
a story, and remember the key fact that let off
this storytelling, eighty percent of the population was under thirty.
No good comes of that anywhere in the world. And
my goodness, what naturally happens is gang's form. You can
call them what you want. This was gang warfare. Long
before there were bloods and crips, and long before the
(17:29):
Five crime Families of New York. We had the great
Wars of Lincoln County. And what could the federal government do?
Empty Lincoln out and let these guys go at it.
When we come back, McGrath tells more of the story
of Billy the Kid, orphaned at the age of fifteen
and in the middle of one of the great gunfights
(17:51):
battles gang battles in American history. The story continues here
on our American stories, and we continue with our American
stories and the story of Billy the Kid. Businessman John
(18:14):
Unstall was the first to be killed in what we
now know is the Lincoln County War. This battle was
fought against the county's business monopoly run by Lawrence Murphy
James Dolan, and backed by Sheriff George Peppen. Constall's eighteen
year old employee, Billy the Kid, along with other men,
vow revenge and take refuge in the home of Alexander McSween,
(18:35):
Constall's friend and business partner. Let's return to Roger McGrath
and the story of Billy the Kid.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Sheriff Peppin takes advantage of the lull in fighting to
try to serve warrants for the rest of Maxween. A
deputy approaches Max Sween's house and shots for Maxween to surrender.
Max Sween replies he will not and says he has
warrants for the arrest of the Bosse members. The deputy
(19:05):
demands to see the warrants. Big Jim French shouts out.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Our warrants are in our guns, you sucking sons of Well,
this will be a fight to the finish.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Sheriff Peppin decides to set the mac sween house on fire,
but that proves easier said than done. Gunfire drives torch
wielding deputies back several times before a small blaze is started.
Mac Sween's wife, Susan, leaves the house to plead with
Colonel Dudley, but Dudley says he has come only to
(19:42):
evacuate the women and children and that Sheriff Peppin is
doing his lawful duty and trying to serve the warrants.
Susan returns to the house, but leaves for a final time.
In the early evening. By nightfall, the fire is roaring
and has consumed all of the Maxween House but the kitchen,
where the regulators are huddled. They decide to make a
(20:06):
break for it through the rear door. Led by Billy
the Kid. Out the back door, they go headed for
a gate at the rear of the property. Suddenly they're
illuminated by the flames and Pepin's men open fire. Half
of the fleeing regulators are cut down by flying lead,
but the kid and four others race through the gate
(20:28):
and disappear into a dense stand timmer along a river.
The Kid has escaped once again. The next morning, daylight
reveals the carnage. Five bullet riddled bodies lie in the
yard behind the smoking ruins of the Maxsween House. Alex
(20:49):
Maxween's corpse is there, along with the bodies of three
of the regulators and the body of a deputy. Chickens
peck at the corpses all together, the bacoln takes eight
lives and leaves that many.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
More seriously wounded.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
By now, the Lincoln County War has caught the attention
of officials in Washington. The territorial governor is removed from
office and a new one appointed. The new governor for
New Mexico Territory is Lou Wallace, a lawyer from Indiana.
Wallace is very active in Republican Party politics. The appointment
(21:26):
as governor is his reward for faithful service through the party.
When Wallace arrives in New Mexico, he's a fifty.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
One year old veteran about the.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Mexican War and the Civil War, having risen to the
rank of brigadier general. He's tall and thin, with a
weather beaten face and dark hair that is turned in gray.
He's a true renaissance man, a lawyer, politician, soldier, scholar, writer,
and musician. Wallace declares Lincoln County to be in the
(21:59):
state of insurrection and orders all factions to disband and
return to their homes by the middle of October. After that,
he will allow the army to assist civilian authorities against
those failing to comply. By November, everything seems to be
going so smoothly that Wallace issues what is called a
(22:23):
general pardon to all those involved in the Lincoln County
War who have not yet been indicted by a grand jury.
Wallace draws severe criticism for the amnesty. Many people think
it's an open invitation to those who have fled New
Mexico to return and renew their Outlawry Wallace thinks he's
(22:45):
done with the problem, and he resumes work on a
novel he started some time earlier. Each night he secludes
himself in the Governor's mansion and writes a few more
pages of a manuscript that is eventually public has been
her In February eighteen seventy nine, a peace conference is
(23:08):
proposed to be held in Lincoln between the old warring factions.
Billy the Kid endorses as the proposal. He tells other
regulators tired of fighting and tired of running from Sheriff
Peppin and his posses played. In February, some two dozen
of the old antagonists gather in Lincoln, exactly one year
(23:28):
since the killing of John Dunstall. The conference has an
inauspicious beginning. One of Dolan's boys, Jesse Evans, says the
Kid can't be dealt with peaceably and should be killed
on the spot. A Kid says he has come to
make peace. Temper is cool, and a formal treaty is
drawn up. A treaty stipulates that no one on either
(23:50):
side will kill anyone without first withdrawing from the treaty.
It also says that those soldiers will be killed for
any past defense, and that no one will give evidence
in a civil prosecution. Finally, it says anyone who fails
to live up to the agreement will be killed. After
(24:11):
general handshaking, the boys go out and get drunk.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
In their revelry.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
While shooting their guns on Main Street, they kill Houston Chapman,
a lawyer who has worked with Maxween. The killing doesn't
seem to phase them in the least. They continue walking
down the street to the next saloon and another round
of drinks. The killing prompts Governor lou Wallace to finally
make a trip to Lincoln. He's afraid the killing might
(24:39):
signal a new round of fighting. While in Lincoln, a
messenger brings Wallace a note from a participant in the
peace conference. The writer of the note explains that he
came to Lincoln to make friends with old enemies so
as to be able to lay aside my arms and
go to work. I was present when mister Chapman was
(25:03):
murdered and know who did it, but I have indictments
against me for things that happened in the past in
the Lincoln County War, and am afraid to give up
because my enemies would kill me. I am called Kid Antrim,
but Antrim is my stepfather's name. Governor Wallace loses no
(25:24):
time in sending a reply and setting up a secret meeting.
On the night of Saint Patrick's Day, March seventeenth, eighteen
seventy nine, the Governor in the outlaw rendezvous in a
small house. The kid, as instructed, knocked softly on the
side door.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
At nine pm.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
The doors open and the kid enters wearily, a rifle
in one hand and a revolver in the other. A
small room is illuminated only by a flickering oil lamp.
The fifty one year old governor, a scholar, general, lawyer
and author, sits facing the nineteen year old kid, a cowboy,
(26:10):
catle wrestler, horts, thief, gunfighter and leader of the regulators.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
An agreement is reached.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Wallace will contrive and arrest of the kid and confine
him in Lincoln until the District Court convenes. The kid
will identify the killers of Chapman for the grand jury,
and in return, Wallace will protect him from prosecution for
the killing of Sheriff Brady and others. A few days later,
the kid is arrested and confined in a private home
(26:38):
in Lincoln. In a letter to the U S Secretary
of the Interior, Governor Wallace writes, a precious specimen nicknamed
the kid, whom the sheriff is holding here in the plaza,
is an object of tender regard. I heard singing in
music the other night. Going to the door, I found
minstrels of the village actually serenading the fellow in prison.
(27:03):
The Governor might also have mentioned the girls and young
women of Lincoln who bake pies and cookies for the kid.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
And pine for him.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
The teenage outlaw is a babe magnet.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And you've been listening to Roger McGrath do what he
does best. The story of Billy the Kid, as told
by Roger McGrath continues here on our American stories. And
(27:37):
we continue with our American stories and with the story
of Billy the Kid. Let's pick up where we last
left off. Here again is Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
The Grand Jury of Lincoln County meets early in April.
The kid is one of those who testify. The grand
jury returns some two hundred indictments against fifty men. However,
none of the indicted men come to trial when the
district court convenes later in April, and.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Most never do.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
After testifying by the kid simply rides out of Lincoln.
He kept his end of the bargain. Now it's up
to Governor Wallace to protect the kid from any prosecution.
With the war ended, though Wallace loses interest in Lincoln
County and does nothing about earlier grand jury indictments of
the kid, Kidd writes letters to the governor but gets
(28:29):
no response. Growing desperate, the kid returns to al lawry.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Only then does the.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Governor respond and announces a five hundred dollar reward for
capture of the kid, something like fifty thousand dollars today.
In eighteen eighty, Pat Garrett is elected the new sheriff
of Lincoln County. Garrett is a tall, lanky, thirty year
old former cowboy and buffalo hunter. He arrived in New
(28:56):
Mexico a few years earlier from Texas. Prior to become sheriff,
Garrett knew the kid as a casual friend. The two
spent some time together drinking in saloons, and Garrett is
familiar with the kid's habits and his favorite haunts. Now,
Garrett sets out to capture it. The notorious bill at
a kid and click the five hundred dollars reward. Late
(29:20):
on a December night in eighteen eighty, after many weeks
of tracking, Sheriff Garrett and his posse.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Catch up with the kid and a few of his
gang members.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
In an old stone cabin at Stinking Springs, one hundred
miles to the northeast of Lincoln. Garrett and his deputies
surround the cabin and wait for sunrise. Soon, one of
the kid's men, Charlie Bowdrey, walks out to feed the horses,
which are tethered just outside the cabin door. Garrett calls
(29:51):
out to Boudery to throw up his hands. Instead, Boudrey
reaches for his guns, a dozen rifles. Instantly bark and
Boudery is with bullets. With Bowdery dead on the ground,
all is suddenly quiet. From inside the cabin, the kid
yells out, asking if that's Pat Garrett out there. The
(30:13):
following exchange occurs. Garrett, I'm here, the kid, Pat, Why
don't you come up like a man? And give us
a fair fight. Garrett, I don't aim to the kid,
you old long legged son of a The kid decides
(30:37):
they should pull their horses inside the cabin, saddle them,
and make a dash for it by bolting through the
cabin door through a hail of gunfire. They get two
of the horses inside, but a third one drops dead
in the doorway. They are now stuck inside the cabin.
Desultory shooting continues. During bulls in the action, the kid
(31:00):
cracks jokes, yells back and forth with Garrett, and challenges
Garrett to duel.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Finally, late in the.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Afternoon, a stick with a white rag on it is
way from the cabin. One of the kid's men comes
out with his hands up. He says the kid will
surrender if Garrett will take him and the others not
to Lincoln, but to Santa Fe. If not, they will
stay in the cabin and fight to the death. Garrett
(31:28):
agrees to.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Take them to Santa Fe.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Once in jail and Santa Fe, the kid again writes
to Governor Wallace for help. Says the kid, I have
done everything I promised you, and you have done nothing
that you promise me. Wallace ignores the kids please. In
April eighteen eighty one, the kid is transported to Messia
(31:55):
for the spring term of the District Court and has
tried for the murder of Sheriff Brady. The trial lasts
for two days and the jury returns a verdict of guilty.
The judge sentences the kid to be taken Lincoln and hanged.
Two weeks later, Governor Wallace takes time away from writing
ben Or to sign the kid's death warrant. The kid
(32:18):
is chained and shackled and bloated into a wagon for
the journey to Lincoln. Five armed guards ride alongside the wagon.
Another three guards ride in the wagon with the kid,
including Deputy U. S.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Marshal Bob Ollinger.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Ollinger is a tall, powerfully built bully who takes pleasure
in tormenting the kid. By late April, the kid is
lodged in a second floor room of the County Courthouse
in Lincoln. The kid is wearing leg shackles in his
chain to the floor. Deputies Bob Ollinger and James Bell
(32:55):
guard him. Ollinger draws a chalk line on the floor
the kid and says if he crosses that.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Line, he will be shot dead.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Bill treats the kid decently, but Ollinger constantly taunts him
about his approaching hanging and regularly invites him to try
to make a break so that he Ollinger will have
the pleasure of blasting him in half with the shotgun
he carries. At noon on April twenty eight, Ollinger escorts
(33:29):
some other prisoners across the street to a hotel restaurant
for lunch and leaves Bell with the kid. Ollenger is
armed with a revolver but has left his shotgun behind.
The kid asks Bill to take him to the privy
behind the courthouse. Inside the privy, the kid finds a
hidden gun planted by a friend back in the courthouse.
(33:53):
While ascending the stairs to the second floor, the kid
whirls about gun in hand. Bill leaps for the gun,
but the kid shoots him. Bill staggers down the stairs
and falls dead into the arms of the courthouse janitor.
The kid churns his shackled legs up the stairs and
grabs Ollinger's double barreled shotgun. At the same time, Ollinger
(34:18):
emerges from the hotel restaurant and steps into the street.
The janitor yells to him the kid has killed Bill.
The next thing the stunned Ollinger ears comes from the kid,
who is leaning out of a second story window. Hello, Bob,
look up and see what you get. Ollinger looks up
(34:44):
and sees the kid leaning out the window with shotgun
in hand. Ollinger says, yes, and he's killed me too.
At that moment, the kid squeezes both triggers and a
double load of bucksh more than a quarter pound of
lead tear into Ollinger's chest.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
He drops to the ground dead.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
The kid then walks out onto the second floor balcony
of the courthouse and greets the residence of Lincoln.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
The kid explains he didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Kill Bell and it's sorry about it, but Ollinger got
the killing he deserved. Still with shackles on his legs,
the kid then walks downstairs and into the street with
his booted foot. He turns Ollinger's body over and says,
you aren't gonna round me up again. After more than
(35:39):
two months of chasing the kid in vain, sure, if
Pat Garrett receives a tip that the kid is at
Pete Maxwell's ranch on the night of July fourteenth, eighteen
eighty one, Garrett positions himself in a room used by
the kid. Garrett's deputies are hidden nearby. Where is the kid.
(36:00):
He's out in Maxwell's peach orchard making love to a girlfriend. Meanwhile,
Garrett waits in the dark room.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
After a while, the.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Kid, unarmed in barefoot, steps onto the threshold of the
doorway leading into the room, sensing someone is in the room.
The kid stops suddenly and calls out ke and s
thinking it might be one of Maxwell's workers. Garrett replies
by shooting twice at the kid. One bullet hits a
(36:32):
kid in the chest, penetrating his heart. He slumps to
the floor dead. He's twenty one years old.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
And already legendary. He becomes an even greater legend in death.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
And what a story you just heard? By none better
on storytelling about the American West and so many other things.
And that's Roger McGrath. A special thanks to him for
all he does. He's the author of Gunfighters, Howiman and
Vigilantes Violence on the Frontier, a US Marine, A former
history professor at UCLA, Doctor McGrath has appeared a numerous
(37:08):
History Channel documentaries and we are grateful to have him
as a regular contributor here on our American Stories and
as always, all of our history stories are brought to
us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, where you
can go to learn all the things that are beautiful
in life, all the things that matter in life, and
they're terrific and superbly crafted. Teaching series is available to
(37:32):
all in this country for free. Go to Hillsdale dot edu.
I learned more from their Constitution one oh one class
than I did it three years at the University of
Virginia School of Law. If you'd like to hear more
of doctor McGrath's storytelling on the West, Jedediah Smith, Kit
Carson bat Masterson, the story of the King's Ranch, and
the story of how the West shaped Teddy Roosevelt, and
(37:55):
so many more, go to our American Stories dot com
and search for the word McGrath and you will not
be disappointed. The story of Billie the Kid here on
our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American People.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
In the eighteen seventies, the American West was a refuge
(00:31):
for outcasts as the nation recovered from the Civil War.
In fact, life was so hard that eighty percent of
the population was under thirty. It was in this harsh
and lawless place where a legend was forged. Roger McGrath
is the author of Gunfightershiowomen and Vigilantes Violence on the Frontier.
(00:51):
A US marine and former history professor at UCLA, doctor
McGrath has appeared on numerous History Channel documentaries, and he's
a regular contributor to Hear for Us at Our American Stories.
Here's McGrath with the story of Billy the Kid.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Billy the Ged is an American legend. He's been portrayed
as everything from a gallant young man fighting for justice
to a psychopathic killer. I think the truth lies much
closer to gallant young man. Billy the Ged is born
Henry McCarty in eighteen fifty nine. To Irish immigrant parents
(01:34):
Patrick and Catherine in New York City. He is an
older brother named Joseph. The father dies when the boys
are still young, and the mother takes them west to Indiana,
then to Kansas, then.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
To New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
In Santa Fe, Katherine McCarty marries William Antrim in eighteen
seventy three. Shortly after the wedding, the new Antrim family
moves to Silver City, a booming mining town in southwestern
New Mexico. There in Silver City, Henry McCarty gets his
new nickname, Kid Antrim. He is described by a schoolmate
(02:11):
as being full of fun and mischief, but a school
teacher says he is no more of a problem than
any other.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Boy.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Is described as a handsome boy with blue eyes, sandy
blonde hair, pale skin, and rosy cheeks. He has a
charming smile that has already melting girls' hearts. Early in
eighteen seventy four, the Kid's mother dies at tuberculosis and
he's taken in by another family. He works at odd jobs,
(02:44):
but within a year he's in trouble for petty thefts.
Deciding it's time for him in Silver City at a
part company, he heads west for Arizona and finds work
as a cowboy. All of fifteen years old, he's on
his own. While working on Arizona ranches, the kid makes
(03:05):
trips with his cowboy buddies in New Mexico to russell cattle.
As long as his wrestling stays south of the border,
Arizona lawman pay him no mind. However, in eighteen seventy seven,
he starts stealing horses from Arizona ranches and selling them
at mining camps. He's soon arrested, shackled, and jailed. Within
(03:28):
a day, he makes a daring escape as a newspaper
reports shackles and all. Six months later, he's arrested again,
but again he breaks free. The Kid is an escape artist.
In August eighteen seventy seven, the Kid rides into Bonita,
a small settlement next to Camp Grant in southeastern Arizona,
(03:52):
and runs into the old nemesis. Frank Cahill kl is
a browny thirty two year old irishman from County Galway
who pummeled the Kid in a recent fistfight. A second
fight erupts. This time the kid pulls a gun and
puts a bullet in Key Hill's belly. A day later,
(04:14):
Cayhill dies from the womb. The kid doesn't wait around
to see if his shooting of Cahill will be declared
self defense and rides hard for New Mexico. By the
fall of eighteen seventy seven, the kid is working as
a cowboy on a ranch in Lincoln County owned by
twenty four year old Englishman John Tunstall.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Dunstall arrived in.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
New Mexico in eighteen seventy six with a plan to
take control of Lincoln County through land acquisitions and business operations.
He's financed by his wealthy father working with Hunstall is
a lawyer, Alexander MacSween. MacSween is the son of Scottish
immigrants to Canada. He starts his adult life as a
(04:58):
Presbyterian minister, but after moving to the United States, he
attends law school and later establishes a practice in the
town of Lincoln, the county seat for Lincoln County. Business
in Lincoln County focuses on supplying the Fort Stanton Army
Post and the Mescalero Apache Reservation with beef, corn, and flour.
(05:20):
Tunstall reckons he can make a small fortune if he
monopolizes the trade. However, there is already someone in Lincoln
doing just that. That someone is Lawrence Murphy. Murphy is
an Irish immigrant in his middle forties with sandy blonde
hair and a red beard. Is a veteran of both
the U. S. Army and the New Mexico Volunteers and
(05:43):
served in Indian Wars and in the Civil War. Is
stationed at Fort Stanton at the close of the Civil
War and has risen to the rank of major. When
he leaves the service, he develops a mercantile business, first
located at Fort Stanton and then in the town of Lincoln.
In Lincoln, he builds a store two stories high and
(06:06):
three thousand square feet that dwarfs every other building in town.
Murphy's business thrives. Residents of Lincoln County refer to L. G.
Murphy and Company as the House of Murphy, or simply
the House. Murphy has two young protegees. One is Irish
born James Dolan. The other, even younger protege is John Riley.
(06:33):
John Tunstall thinks he can overthrow the House and establish
his own monopoly. As he writes to his father back
in England, everything in New Mexico that pays it all
is worked by a ring. There is the Indian Ring,
the Army Ring, the Political Ring, the Leagal Ring, the
Roman Catholic Ring, the Cattle Ring, the horse thieves Ring,
(06:56):
the land Ring, and half a dozen other rings make
things stick. To do any good, it is necessary to
either get into a ring or to make one for yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And you're listening to Roger McGrath tell the story of
Billy the Kid and who would think born in New
York City of all places? When we come back more
of the story of Billy the Kid with doctor Roger
McGrath here on our American Stories. Lee Habib here and
(07:31):
I'm inviting you to help our American Stories celebrate this
country's two hundred and fiftieth birthday coming soon. If you
want to help inspire countless others to love America like
we do, and want to help us bring the inspiring
and important stories told here about a good and beautiful country,
please consider making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories.
(07:51):
Go to Ouramericanstories dot com and click the donate button.
Any amount helps. Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and give,
and we continue with our American Stories Billy the Kid
(08:13):
is working as a cowboy on a ranch in Lincoln County,
New Mexico, in eighteen seventy seven, and it's owned by
a twenty four year old Englishman named John Tunstall. Hunstall
thinks he can overthrow the county's business monopoly and its owner,
Lawrence Murphy Constall plans on doing this by either becoming
a part of a special interest group or making one
(08:34):
up himself. Let's return to Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Dunstall makes ones for himself, and he has the money
to do it. He writes to his father. It is
his goal to get the half of every dollar that
is made in the county by anyone. To put this
into effect, Tunstall first needs a cattle ranch. Mac Sween
gets him a four thousand acre spread some thirty miles
(09:03):
south of Lincoln. Dunstall now thinks here will open the
store in Lincoln to compete with the house, but he
needs a hook to lure farmers away from Murphy's business.
Dunstall decides here'll issue what he calls green notes to
customers against the future harvest of crops. In this way,
(09:24):
farmers can buy on credit, but they will then be
attached to Tunstall's store by debt. By the fall of
eighteen seventy seven, Tunstall's store is up and running. The
timing is propitious. Nearly fifty years old and drinking heavily,
Lawrence Murphy decides to retire. He sells his company to
(09:44):
his understudies, James Dolan and John Riley, to buy the business.
Dolan and Riley have to secure financing in Santa Fe
and making payments on the loan will not be easy.
This plays right into Tunstall's hands, although Tunstall news it
(10:05):
will be some time before he starts turning a profit.
Unlike Dolan and Riley, he has his father's fortune behind
him and doesn't have to worry about paying off a loan.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Everybody in Lincoln.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
County begins to take sides.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Some think Tunstall will.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Liberate them from monopoly of the house. Others hate Alex MacSween,
Tunstall's partner and attorney. In his few years in Lincoln,
MacSween has become involved in a number of controversial transactions
and legal battles, and has made many an enemy. Tensions
mount and each side higher.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
A gunman.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Into all this walks an eighteen year old boy who
is using the alias William Bonnie. However, he's already known
popularly as the Kid, so now he's called not Bill
Bonnie but Billy the Kid. With a boyish face and
only a little peach fuzz on his upper lip to
(11:10):
occasionally shave, he still looks like a kid, but he
can ride a horse with the best of them, and
can shoot a revolver or a rifle with incredible speed
and accuracy. He has nerves of steel and is cool
and deliberate under fire. With tensions mounting in Lincoln County,
(11:32):
a spark that ignites a war comes. On an evening
in February eighteen seventy eight. Armed with a writ of attachment,
a Bossi sweeps down upon Tunstall, who is out on
the trail helping to drive a herd of horses. Several
of Tunstall's hired hands, including Billy the Kid, are with
(11:52):
the herd also, but are far from Tunstall and don't
see what happens between Tunstall and the posse. The Bossi
members later say that Tunstall threw his gun first and
fired before they opened up. Perhaps so, but probably not.
Only two weeks earlier, Jimmy Dolan stomped up to Tunstall
(12:14):
and challenged him to shoot it out on the spot.
Three times. Dolan issued the challenge three times, Tunstall refused
to go for his weapon. Dolan finally gave up in disgust.
The Lincoln County War rages for two years, and Billy
the Kid is not only in the thick of the fighting,
(12:35):
but he becomes the leader of the Regulators as the
Tunstall Masween faction of gunmen as called. Some say the
Kid kills as many as twenty one men, but one
third that number is probably closer to the truth. Nonetheless,
he is clearly the war's most deadly fighter. Some of
his exploits defy the imagination. The first target for Billy
(13:02):
the Kid and the Regulators are members of the posse
that had shot Tunstall in March eighteen seventy eight. The
Regulators catch up with two of them, Frank Baker and
William Morton. Both of them are shot dead, likely by
the Kid. The next target for the Kid is William Brady,
(13:23):
the Lincoln County Sheriff. Brady is a fair and honest
sheriff and a longtime friend of Lawrence Murphy. The two
have much in common. Brady was born in Ireland, and
immigrates to the United States in eighteen fifty one. Immediately
enlists in the US Army and serves for ten years
before being discharged in New Mexico.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
He then joins the New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Volunteers and serves throughout the Civil War with Murphy. Like Murphy,
Brady rises to the rank of major. Following the Civil War,
Brady serves as a member of the Territorial Legislature and
then as.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Of Lincoln County.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
He lives on a farm where he and his Hispanic
wife were several children. In all ways, he's well respected
because of his friendship with Murphy, He's aligned with a
house faction. On a day in April eighteen seventy eight,
as Sheriff Brady and four of his deputies walk down
Lincoln's main street, the kid and several other regulators open
(14:25):
fire from behind an adobe wall. Brady and Deputy George
Henman are killed, and Deputy Billy Matthews is wounded. As
Matthews and the other two deputies run for cover, the
kid bolts into the street and rifles the pockets of
Sheriff Brady. The kid is looking for an arrestaurant that
(14:46):
the sheriff supposedly has for Alex Maxween from cover. The
deputies now open fire and the bullet goes clean through
the kid's eye. He limps away to his horse and
gallops out of town. Another one of the regulators, Big
Jim French, is also wounded. Unable to ride, he hides
(15:08):
in town. That night, the Kid returns and rescues Big Jim.
Over the next three months, the Kid is involved in
a half dozen Dun battles. Then, in the middle of July,
occurs a five day fight in the town of Lincoln,
which is known as a Five Day Battle or the
(15:29):
Battle of Lincoln. Leading up to the battle, the regulators
take positions in different locations in Lincoln. The Kid and
ten others set up in Max Sween's house on Main
Street in the middle of town. Another forty regulators are
spread throughout the town. The Dolan Riley forces, led by
the new County Sheriff George Peppin, number about forty. Most
(15:54):
residents of the town, mostly old time Hispanic settlers, flee
in terror. Others hunker down in their homes fearing for
their lives. The shooting starts when the regulators open fire
on some of the Peppin's deputies. Several are wounded. After
that initial blast, there is intermittent shooting both.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Day and night. On the fourth day of the battle, Colonel.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Nathan Deadley and several dozen troops from nearby Fort Staff
arrive not to stop the fighting, but to evacuate non
combatant citizens. Colonel Deadley says he has no authority to
intervene on one side or the other, but he is
there to escort Lincoln residents to safety. Although Deadly says
he is neutro The sight of the troops cause half
(16:42):
of the regulators to bend in their positions and ride
for the hills. Most of the regulators reckon that should
shooting erupt, the army will naturally side with the sheriff
Peppin forces. Not only would the regulators then be facing
federal forces, but those forces have not only their rifles
and side arms, but also a small howitzer and a
(17:04):
gatling gun.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
And you're listening to Roger McGrath tell one heck of
a story, and remember the key fact that let off
this storytelling, eighty percent of the population was under thirty.
No good comes of that anywhere in the world. And
my goodness, what naturally happens is gang's form. You can
call them what you want. This was gang warfare. Long
before there were bloods and crips, and long before the
(17:29):
Five crime Families of New York. We had the great
Wars of Lincoln County. And what could the federal government do?
Empty Lincoln out and let these guys go at it.
When we come back, McGrath tells more of the story
of Billy the Kid, orphaned at the age of fifteen
and in the middle of one of the great gunfights
(17:51):
battles gang battles in American history. The story continues here
on our American stories, and we continue with our American
stories and the story of Billy the Kid. Businessman John
(18:14):
Unstall was the first to be killed in what we
now know is the Lincoln County War. This battle was
fought against the county's business monopoly run by Lawrence Murphy
James Dolan, and backed by Sheriff George Peppen. Constall's eighteen
year old employee, Billy the Kid, along with other men,
vow revenge and take refuge in the home of Alexander McSween,
(18:35):
Constall's friend and business partner. Let's return to Roger McGrath
and the story of Billy the Kid.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Sheriff Peppin takes advantage of the lull in fighting to
try to serve warrants for the rest of Maxween. A
deputy approaches Max Sween's house and shots for Maxween to surrender.
Max Sween replies he will not and says he has
warrants for the arrest of the Bosse members. The deputy
(19:05):
demands to see the warrants. Big Jim French shouts out.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Our warrants are in our guns, you sucking sons of Well,
this will be a fight to the finish.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Sheriff Peppin decides to set the mac sween house on fire,
but that proves easier said than done. Gunfire drives torch
wielding deputies back several times before a small blaze is started.
Mac Sween's wife, Susan, leaves the house to plead with
Colonel Dudley, but Dudley says he has come only to
(19:42):
evacuate the women and children and that Sheriff Peppin is
doing his lawful duty and trying to serve the warrants.
Susan returns to the house, but leaves for a final time.
In the early evening. By nightfall, the fire is roaring
and has consumed all of the Maxween House but the kitchen,
where the regulators are huddled. They decide to make a
(20:06):
break for it through the rear door. Led by Billy
the Kid. Out the back door, they go headed for
a gate at the rear of the property. Suddenly they're
illuminated by the flames and Pepin's men open fire. Half
of the fleeing regulators are cut down by flying lead,
but the kid and four others race through the gate
(20:28):
and disappear into a dense stand timmer along a river.
The Kid has escaped once again. The next morning, daylight
reveals the carnage. Five bullet riddled bodies lie in the
yard behind the smoking ruins of the Maxsween House. Alex
(20:49):
Maxween's corpse is there, along with the bodies of three
of the regulators and the body of a deputy. Chickens
peck at the corpses all together, the bacoln takes eight
lives and leaves that many.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
More seriously wounded.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
By now, the Lincoln County War has caught the attention
of officials in Washington. The territorial governor is removed from
office and a new one appointed. The new governor for
New Mexico Territory is Lou Wallace, a lawyer from Indiana.
Wallace is very active in Republican Party politics. The appointment
(21:26):
as governor is his reward for faithful service through the party.
When Wallace arrives in New Mexico, he's a fifty.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
One year old veteran about the.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Mexican War and the Civil War, having risen to the
rank of brigadier general. He's tall and thin, with a
weather beaten face and dark hair that is turned in gray.
He's a true renaissance man, a lawyer, politician, soldier, scholar, writer,
and musician. Wallace declares Lincoln County to be in the
(21:59):
state of insurrection and orders all factions to disband and
return to their homes by the middle of October. After that,
he will allow the army to assist civilian authorities against
those failing to comply. By November, everything seems to be
going so smoothly that Wallace issues what is called a
(22:23):
general pardon to all those involved in the Lincoln County
War who have not yet been indicted by a grand jury.
Wallace draws severe criticism for the amnesty. Many people think
it's an open invitation to those who have fled New
Mexico to return and renew their Outlawry Wallace thinks he's
(22:45):
done with the problem, and he resumes work on a
novel he started some time earlier. Each night he secludes
himself in the Governor's mansion and writes a few more
pages of a manuscript that is eventually public has been
her In February eighteen seventy nine, a peace conference is
(23:08):
proposed to be held in Lincoln between the old warring factions.
Billy the Kid endorses as the proposal. He tells other
regulators tired of fighting and tired of running from Sheriff
Peppin and his posses played. In February, some two dozen
of the old antagonists gather in Lincoln, exactly one year
(23:28):
since the killing of John Dunstall. The conference has an
inauspicious beginning. One of Dolan's boys, Jesse Evans, says the
Kid can't be dealt with peaceably and should be killed
on the spot. A Kid says he has come to
make peace. Temper is cool, and a formal treaty is
drawn up. A treaty stipulates that no one on either
(23:50):
side will kill anyone without first withdrawing from the treaty.
It also says that those soldiers will be killed for
any past defense, and that no one will give evidence
in a civil prosecution. Finally, it says anyone who fails
to live up to the agreement will be killed. After
(24:11):
general handshaking, the boys go out and get drunk.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
In their revelry.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
While shooting their guns on Main Street, they kill Houston Chapman,
a lawyer who has worked with Maxween. The killing doesn't
seem to phase them in the least. They continue walking
down the street to the next saloon and another round
of drinks. The killing prompts Governor lou Wallace to finally
make a trip to Lincoln. He's afraid the killing might
(24:39):
signal a new round of fighting. While in Lincoln, a
messenger brings Wallace a note from a participant in the
peace conference. The writer of the note explains that he
came to Lincoln to make friends with old enemies so
as to be able to lay aside my arms and
go to work. I was present when mister Chapman was
(25:03):
murdered and know who did it, but I have indictments
against me for things that happened in the past in
the Lincoln County War, and am afraid to give up
because my enemies would kill me. I am called Kid Antrim,
but Antrim is my stepfather's name. Governor Wallace loses no
(25:24):
time in sending a reply and setting up a secret meeting.
On the night of Saint Patrick's Day, March seventeenth, eighteen
seventy nine, the Governor in the outlaw rendezvous in a
small house. The kid, as instructed, knocked softly on the
side door.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
At nine pm.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
The doors open and the kid enters wearily, a rifle
in one hand and a revolver in the other. A
small room is illuminated only by a flickering oil lamp.
The fifty one year old governor, a scholar, general, lawyer
and author, sits facing the nineteen year old kid, a cowboy,
(26:10):
catle wrestler, horts, thief, gunfighter and leader of the regulators.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
An agreement is reached.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Wallace will contrive and arrest of the kid and confine
him in Lincoln until the District Court convenes. The kid
will identify the killers of Chapman for the grand jury,
and in return, Wallace will protect him from prosecution for
the killing of Sheriff Brady and others. A few days later,
the kid is arrested and confined in a private home
(26:38):
in Lincoln. In a letter to the U S Secretary
of the Interior, Governor Wallace writes, a precious specimen nicknamed
the kid, whom the sheriff is holding here in the plaza,
is an object of tender regard. I heard singing in
music the other night. Going to the door, I found
minstrels of the village actually serenading the fellow in prison.
(27:03):
The Governor might also have mentioned the girls and young
women of Lincoln who bake pies and cookies for the kid.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
And pine for him.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
The teenage outlaw is a babe magnet.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And you've been listening to Roger McGrath do what he
does best. The story of Billy the Kid, as told
by Roger McGrath continues here on our American stories. And
(27:37):
we continue with our American stories and with the story
of Billy the Kid. Let's pick up where we last
left off. Here again is Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
The Grand Jury of Lincoln County meets early in April.
The kid is one of those who testify. The grand
jury returns some two hundred indictments against fifty men. However,
none of the indicted men come to trial when the
district court convenes later in April, and.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Most never do.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
After testifying by the kid simply rides out of Lincoln.
He kept his end of the bargain. Now it's up
to Governor Wallace to protect the kid from any prosecution.
With the war ended, though Wallace loses interest in Lincoln
County and does nothing about earlier grand jury indictments of
the kid, Kidd writes letters to the governor but gets
(28:29):
no response. Growing desperate, the kid returns to al lawry.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Only then does the.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Governor respond and announces a five hundred dollar reward for
capture of the kid, something like fifty thousand dollars today.
In eighteen eighty, Pat Garrett is elected the new sheriff
of Lincoln County. Garrett is a tall, lanky, thirty year
old former cowboy and buffalo hunter. He arrived in New
(28:56):
Mexico a few years earlier from Texas. Prior to become sheriff,
Garrett knew the kid as a casual friend. The two
spent some time together drinking in saloons, and Garrett is
familiar with the kid's habits and his favorite haunts. Now,
Garrett sets out to capture it. The notorious bill at
a kid and click the five hundred dollars reward. Late
(29:20):
on a December night in eighteen eighty, after many weeks
of tracking, Sheriff Garrett and his posse.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Catch up with the kid and a few of his
gang members.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
In an old stone cabin at Stinking Springs, one hundred
miles to the northeast of Lincoln. Garrett and his deputies
surround the cabin and wait for sunrise. Soon, one of
the kid's men, Charlie Bowdrey, walks out to feed the horses,
which are tethered just outside the cabin door. Garrett calls
(29:51):
out to Boudery to throw up his hands. Instead, Boudrey
reaches for his guns, a dozen rifles. Instantly bark and
Boudery is with bullets. With Bowdery dead on the ground,
all is suddenly quiet. From inside the cabin, the kid
yells out, asking if that's Pat Garrett out there. The
(30:13):
following exchange occurs. Garrett, I'm here, the kid, Pat, Why
don't you come up like a man? And give us
a fair fight. Garrett, I don't aim to the kid,
you old long legged son of a The kid decides
(30:37):
they should pull their horses inside the cabin, saddle them,
and make a dash for it by bolting through the
cabin door through a hail of gunfire. They get two
of the horses inside, but a third one drops dead
in the doorway. They are now stuck inside the cabin.
Desultory shooting continues. During bulls in the action, the kid
(31:00):
cracks jokes, yells back and forth with Garrett, and challenges
Garrett to duel.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Finally, late in the.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Afternoon, a stick with a white rag on it is
way from the cabin. One of the kid's men comes
out with his hands up. He says the kid will
surrender if Garrett will take him and the others not
to Lincoln, but to Santa Fe. If not, they will
stay in the cabin and fight to the death. Garrett
(31:28):
agrees to.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Take them to Santa Fe.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Once in jail and Santa Fe, the kid again writes
to Governor Wallace for help. Says the kid, I have
done everything I promised you, and you have done nothing
that you promise me. Wallace ignores the kids please. In
April eighteen eighty one, the kid is transported to Messia
(31:55):
for the spring term of the District Court and has
tried for the murder of Sheriff Brady. The trial lasts
for two days and the jury returns a verdict of guilty.
The judge sentences the kid to be taken Lincoln and hanged.
Two weeks later, Governor Wallace takes time away from writing
ben Or to sign the kid's death warrant. The kid
(32:18):
is chained and shackled and bloated into a wagon for
the journey to Lincoln. Five armed guards ride alongside the wagon.
Another three guards ride in the wagon with the kid,
including Deputy U. S.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Marshal Bob Ollinger.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Ollinger is a tall, powerfully built bully who takes pleasure
in tormenting the kid. By late April, the kid is
lodged in a second floor room of the County Courthouse
in Lincoln. The kid is wearing leg shackles in his
chain to the floor. Deputies Bob Ollinger and James Bell
(32:55):
guard him. Ollinger draws a chalk line on the floor
the kid and says if he crosses that.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Line, he will be shot dead.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Bill treats the kid decently, but Ollinger constantly taunts him
about his approaching hanging and regularly invites him to try
to make a break so that he Ollinger will have
the pleasure of blasting him in half with the shotgun
he carries. At noon on April twenty eight, Ollinger escorts
(33:29):
some other prisoners across the street to a hotel restaurant
for lunch and leaves Bell with the kid. Ollenger is
armed with a revolver but has left his shotgun behind.
The kid asks Bill to take him to the privy
behind the courthouse. Inside the privy, the kid finds a
hidden gun planted by a friend back in the courthouse.
(33:53):
While ascending the stairs to the second floor, the kid
whirls about gun in hand. Bill leaps for the gun,
but the kid shoots him. Bill staggers down the stairs
and falls dead into the arms of the courthouse janitor.
The kid churns his shackled legs up the stairs and
grabs Ollinger's double barreled shotgun. At the same time, Ollinger
(34:18):
emerges from the hotel restaurant and steps into the street.
The janitor yells to him the kid has killed Bill.
The next thing the stunned Ollinger ears comes from the kid,
who is leaning out of a second story window. Hello, Bob,
look up and see what you get. Ollinger looks up
(34:44):
and sees the kid leaning out the window with shotgun
in hand. Ollinger says, yes, and he's killed me too.
At that moment, the kid squeezes both triggers and a
double load of bucksh more than a quarter pound of
lead tear into Ollinger's chest.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
He drops to the ground dead.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
The kid then walks out onto the second floor balcony
of the courthouse and greets the residence of Lincoln.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
The kid explains he didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Kill Bell and it's sorry about it, but Ollinger got
the killing he deserved. Still with shackles on his legs,
the kid then walks downstairs and into the street with
his booted foot. He turns Ollinger's body over and says,
you aren't gonna round me up again. After more than
(35:39):
two months of chasing the kid in vain, sure, if
Pat Garrett receives a tip that the kid is at
Pete Maxwell's ranch on the night of July fourteenth, eighteen
eighty one, Garrett positions himself in a room used by
the kid. Garrett's deputies are hidden nearby. Where is the kid.
(36:00):
He's out in Maxwell's peach orchard making love to a girlfriend. Meanwhile,
Garrett waits in the dark room.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
After a while, the.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Kid, unarmed in barefoot, steps onto the threshold of the
doorway leading into the room, sensing someone is in the room.
The kid stops suddenly and calls out ke and s
thinking it might be one of Maxwell's workers. Garrett replies
by shooting twice at the kid. One bullet hits a
(36:32):
kid in the chest, penetrating his heart. He slumps to
the floor dead. He's twenty one years old.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
And already legendary. He becomes an even greater legend in death.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
And what a story you just heard? By none better
on storytelling about the American West and so many other things.
And that's Roger McGrath. A special thanks to him for
all he does. He's the author of Gunfighters, Howiman and
Vigilantes Violence on the Frontier, a US Marine, A former
history professor at UCLA, Doctor McGrath has appeared a numerous
(37:08):
History Channel documentaries and we are grateful to have him
as a regular contributor here on our American Stories and
as always, all of our history stories are brought to
us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, where you
can go to learn all the things that are beautiful
in life, all the things that matter in life, and
they're terrific and superbly crafted. Teaching series is available to
(37:32):
all in this country for free. Go to Hillsdale dot edu.
I learned more from their Constitution one oh one class
than I did it three years at the University of
Virginia School of Law. If you'd like to hear more
of doctor McGrath's storytelling on the West, Jedediah Smith, Kit
Carson bat Masterson, the story of the King's Ranch, and
the story of how the West shaped Teddy Roosevelt, and
(37:55):
so many more, go to our American Stories dot com
and search for the word McGrath and you will not
be disappointed. The story of Billie the Kid here on
our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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