Died by Violence: The Demise of Billy the Kid's Gang

foreign [Music] McCarthy otherwise known as William Bonnie and better known as Billy the Kid was one of the most notorious of the Batman of the Wild West a wrestler and Gunslinger who was purported to have killed 21 Men before he was 21 years of age the life and death of Billy the Kid had been a matter of public Fascination and sometimes even controversy as some claim that his well-publicized death was either a lie or a case of mistaken identity it is difficult to tell what is truth and what is fiction when listening to the stories of the Wild West but there have been many over the years who claim to have been present to witness the demise of an outlaw like Billy the Kid or a member of his notorious gang of wrestlers and those stories tend to illustrate a simple point that men who live by violence often die by violence the December 3rd 1880 edition of the Las Vegas Daily Gazette exclaimed there's a duty which the people of San Miguel County should immediately discharge in the ousting of a powerful gang of Outlaws who are continually harassing the stockmen in Pecos and Panhandle country and terrorizing the people of Fort Sumner and vicinity that gang was sometimes called the wrestlers but more often known as Billy the Kid's gang many of the men had been involved in the 1878 Lincoln County War conflict between rival factions over prophets in New Mexico territory in which more than 20 men had been killed the conflict had culminated in a five-day firefight in the town of Lincoln called The Battle of Lincoln a fight which had been suppressed by the intervention of the United States cavalry to be sure there is disagreement of the factions in the conflict and even the role that the Cavalry played the line between good and bad was often a matter of perspective but when the fight ended many of those involved were wanted men while many of the men involved in the war left the area were eventually given a general amnesty by Governor Lou Wallace others had remained in the area and engaged in criminal activities among those was 21 year old Billy the Kid The Daily Gazette wrote of him the gang is under the leadership of Billy the Kid A desperate cus who was eligible to the post of captain of any crowd no matter how mean and Lawless the gang includes from 40 to 50 men all hard characters the off scouring of society fugitives from Justice and Desperados by profession among them are men whose names indeeds the people of Las Vegas are perfectly familiar such as Billy the Kid Dave rudabaugh Charles budra and others equally unsavory reputation the band is well armed and have plenty of ammunition and as they have no hankering to be pulled in are very determined but the Gazette employers are the people of San Miguel County to stand this any longer shall we suffer the horde of outcasts and the scum of society who are outlawed by a multitude of crimes to continue their sway on the very border of our County many would not stand for it the Dodge City Globe wrote the same month the whole county is alive with determined men who if necessary will exchange an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth they will either capture the Outlaws and turn them over to the authorities or kill them on the spot one of those who wouldn't stand for it was a former Buffalo Hunter and cowboy named Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett November 1880 gear one election is Lincoln County Sheriff running on a reformed ticket and promising to fight the lawlessness of the territory while his term of office didn't start until January the current Sheriff deputized him and he secured a position also as U.S Marshal he made it his business to track down Billy's gang Garrett and a posse captured two members of the League's gang John Webb and George Davis while transporting the prisoners an incident occurred that showed what the gang might expect of the sheriff the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that while on his way to Las Vegas with the two prisoners the party stopped at Puerto de luna standing in the store Garrett heard a Mexican outside bragging of what a bad man he was but took no notice of the fellow till he heard the excavation by God even the Damned Pat Garrett can't take me upon which he walked out to look at the man the bomb bass kept damning Garrett in his posse until the sheriff walked up to where the man was standing and purposefully jostled him throwing him off the platform of which he was standing to the ground the Mexican immediately pulled revolver and fired a Garrett who drawing his own revolver very coolly and with a deliberate aim and just as the Mexican pulled his trigger again he became aware of the fact they had a shattered shoulder blade the result of Garrett's shot on Investigation it was found that the man was a professional horse thief and one of the gang of Billy the Kid the man Marino Libya survived but they would not be the last member of Billy's gang to be shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett on December 19th Garrett's Posse would catch up with Billy himself with deadly consequences for members of his gang W green who had been an agent for Harry Cattle Company and a member of Garrett's Posse described the events of December 1880 in an April 1920 edition of the Carlsbad New Mexico current Argus so to Fort Sumner the officials hide themselves knowing that the kid frequently the little Pecos River Town in the Old Fort where he had many strong acquaintances and a sweetheart so The Story Goes green said that as the Posse was playing poker one night about 10 o'clock the guard rushed into the house and forming Garrett and his men that Horsemen were riding in over the Portales Trail there were hurried preparations and the officers posted themselves in the undergrowth along the lane of cottonwood trees that led into the Old Fort Avenues the kid and his boys were riding in from Portales Springs to attend a dance at night as the writers approached the Ambush party Garrett fired on the leader and Tom o'felliers dropped from his horse the man Garrett had shot was Thomas Bigfoot o'fallier purportedly Billy's second in command as the rest of the gag wrote away Green Assisted in carrying o'falliard into a house where he died a few minutes later heaping curses on Garrett's head realizing that they couldn't catch the Outlaws at night the Posse left early the next morning guessing that the game would head for a small Point called stinking Springs green told the current Argus through the Rough Country of the Pecos River breaks they emerged upon the Little Rock House at The Springs in their tide were the horses of the Outlaws Garrett ordered his men to Dismount pick up their horses under cover of the bluff and to cover the house for any possible attempt at The Outlaws to escape Garrett then crawled up to the house under the cover of a blind stone wall and told the kid he might as well give up that he was prepared to starve him out and if he tried to shoot his way out he would be killed at first there was no response then green told the current Argus suddenly the door was opened and a man stepped out with the apparent intention of getting one of the horses Garrett's unerring aim dropped Charlie bowdry dead according to the Santa Fe New Mexican battery had recently written a letter to the territorial Governor proposing that he turned himself in in exchange for charges against him being dropped it's not very probable that the authorities would have complied with any such conditions the new Mexican rights but however this may be Charlie is now where no indictments can reach him the two of his gang killed and no means of Escape Billy surrendered along with gang members Tom Pickett and Dave rudabaugh Garrett was forced to defend the man from Lynch Bobs but they were safely delivered to Santa Fe Billy was convicted of a murder from the time of the Lincoln County War but on April 28 1881 while awaiting his execution he escaped from the Lincoln New Mexico jail killing two deputies in the process Mr w h Sammons who claimed to be an acquaintance ability told the Saint Paul globe in 1899 that Billy told two men as he was leaving town tell Pat Garrett who have to put the hanging off but Garrett wouldn't wait for a hanging three months later on July 14th Garrett caught up with Billy as he hidden the ranch of a friend when Billy came into a dark room one night salmon stole the globe instinctively suspecting something wrong he demanded who's there Garrett had recognized his voice and he fired in the direction from which it came well knowing that the time had come to either be killed or kill the kid fortunately his aim was well taken the Desperado fell dead in his tracks with a bullet in his heart but without a groan thus perished Billy the Kid whose blood-stained career is still talked of in the Southwest Billy's companions generally fared no better Dave rudabaugh who had been arrested by both Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson and who had played poker with Doc Holliday before drifting to New Mexico was wanted for the murder of a Jailer in an attempted Jailbreak in April 1880. in December 1881 while awaiting an appeal in his conviction he and six men escaped the Lincoln County Jail by tunneling a 1936 edition of the Fort Worth Star Telegram connected him to another famous Outlaw of the Wild West Jefferson Sophie Smith the paper writes that rudaba had eventually gone to the city of creed Colorado where under the protection of friends among them Sophie Smith rudabaugh went to work in the mines this occupation while reasonably safe did not appeal to his venturesome spirit and he left for Victor near Creek where he was killed in one of the battles staged by the miners Union forces and the mine owner's men but there is another even more gruesome story in 1953 historian F Stanley a Catholic priesthood been stationed in New Mexico and is known as a student of New Mexico history wrote in his book Desperados of New Mexico finally he drifted to the town of el peral in the state of chihuahua in his old Mexican Town of some five thousand Souls rudaba made himself obnoxious by stealing payrolls and by insulting the natives who he cursed as inferior beings came the night of February 18 1886 rudabar got into a card game at his favorite Cantina Buddha accused a player of cheating a man pulled a gun rude about shot him between the eyes until the second man through the heart and then fled but the town had had enough of Dirty Dave Stanley says that the street was barricaded rifles broke from the houses rudabaugh fell a man dashed from a doorway brandishing a sword Buddha's head was hacked off placed on a pole and paraded through the torchless streets violence also found many other members of the Gang in April 1931 edition of the Thompson Falls Montana Sanders County Ledger tells the story of Long Henry Thompson a member of Billy the Kid's gang who had purportedly killed four men Henry had been partied to scores of gun plays during his stormy career and thus have viewed his miraculous Escape as a special dispensation and guarantee of a Charmed Life the immutable laws however inevitably work out and he that lives by the sword shall die by the sword so in Long Henry's case he too Met Death at the hands of an armed foe dying on the floor of a shoe felt Saloon in Saco Montana with five bullets through him Paralyzed by the first shot so that his exquisitely perfected and lightning-like draw availed him not Colonel Jack Crawford of a western Adventurer in front of both Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody told the Chicago inter-ocean in 1903 that every man and Billy the Kid's gang was my friend I met them time and again in the Seven Rivers District along the Rio Grande and all through no man's land and they never once stopped or offered to harm me Crawford claimed to have been present at the deaths of several members of the Gang was a man named Jack Burke visiting Burke Crawford heard a rifle shot I found that Burke had been shot by a member of his own gang the wound was a frightful one the ball had ripped open his abdomen I got a sheet and tied it around his waist and he crawled into the house get me to the window Jack he said give me my gun and put a mattress up under the window there I will die but I will take a few along with me when I go this is not your fight Jack Crawford I have not long to live keep out of the way until I call you in another minute the Winchester began Spitting Fire for 20 minutes the battle kept up furiously when Jack fired his last shot it was what we call the dead man shot and it was always true he called to me I ran to him and he said stretch me out old man and pull off my boots I am going to die Comfort said that he had been game to the Finish when all was quiet I walked about the region to take a look at the Battleground Jack had killed five men the last one fell at the Dead Man's shot Crawford also wrote that I was witness of the passing of two other members of Billy the Kid's gang in Texas Crawford saw famous El Paso martial Dallas studenmeyer he was born in Texas was a man of variability full of resolution and faithful to his duty Sudan Meyer asked Crawford to bring his gun and join him as he planned to capture two of the men from Billy's gang they're desperate Lads and I hear they're in the upper end of town now I wish you would guard my rear so I'm not attacked I'll do the shooting it's not your job but I don't want to get shot in the back Crawford protected the sheriff with his revolver which he named old Betsy the two Desperados jump from behind the old Grand Central hotel and then an adobe house and brought their Winchesters down on Dow both weapons spoke but the balls went above the target without flinching or batting an eye or showing the least fear on earth now whipped out both revolvers they spoke almost simultaneously Campbell looked forward with a great ugly bullet hole directly between his eyes before he struck the ground stern was sinking in a heap shot through the head student Meyer himself would later be killed in a gunfight in 1882 on April 6 1887 the Los Angeles Times reported the death of what the paper called the last member of Billy the Kid's gang called The Notorious Bandit of The sandias Wanted for among other things a brutal murder and arson in which three men had been killed the Allah had been captured by deputies who had been compelled to shoot him The Outlaw was Mourinho Libya the man who Pat Garrett had shot in the shoulder in 1880. one of the strangest stories was that of gang member Billy Wilson after surrounding to Pat Garrett he had escaped from prison in 1884. he moved to Texas changed his name to Anderson and started a family but in 1885 he had a chance encounter with Pat Garrett who recognized him but instead of arresting him get realized that Wilson had become a law-abiding citizen and wrote a letter that helped Wilson or Anderson secure a pardon from president Rutherford Hayes the website head on West writes that no longer a felon Anderson moved to Sanderson Texas was hired as a U.S customs inspector and became a successful Cattleman and eventually was elected the sheriff of Terrell County Texas on June 4th 1918 the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported Sheriff D.L Anderson of Terrell County was shot and instantly killed here last night and Edward Valentine who was alleged to have been resisting arrest at the time sheriff Anderson was killed was shot and killed by a posse of citizens even going straight could not save the former member of Billy's gang the San Angelo Weekly Standard reported sheriff Anderson of Terrell County he's a wife and a 16 year old daughter to be sure not all of Billy the Kid's gang died by violence Tom Pickett for example who was captured with Billy and Dave rudabaugh at stinky Springs died of old age in 1934. he had however lost a leg due to an injury he had gotten in one of his many gun fights but by the time Colonel Jack Crawford's story was reported in 1903 the paper noted the old time brigands and Desperados have almost disappeared scores were killed in bloody battles with frontiersmen and he died in terrible feuds others have been captured and tame by these Stern lessons of stone walls and iron bars sometimes there's more than one conflicting story over how one of these Outlaws died and other times the stories are lost entirely even in 1903 the paper noted that the stories of the killing or capture of the notorious Desperados who scored the planes are kept only as a matter of erratic tradition meaning that it's hard to tell in all these stories what is truth and what is well just a a tall tale but it certainly does seem that as the Sanders County Ledger noted the immutable laws inevitably work out that men who live by the sword shall die by the sword I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy and if you did please feel free to like And subscribe and share the history guide with your friends and if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered then 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 109,755

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: 2zdsbyQgWiM

Length: 17min 3sec (1023 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 18 2023