The Hunting of Billy the Kid
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From this point on, Clifford’s account becomes much like all the others, so it was exciting to discover a version of these events that has never been published. In 1942, Amarillo newspaperman John L. McCarty interviewed Garrett H. “Kid” Dobbs at Farmington, N.M., and elicited the following information:
Garrett and his men had some letters from Wallace, Chisholm [Chisum] and Capt. Leech [Lea] offering Kid amnesty if he would surrender. Pat sent a Mexican to Billy and Charley [Bowdre] telling them of these letters and asking them to meet him one at a time at a cross fork near by [Punta de la Glorieta above Fort Sumner]. Bowder sent word back he would meet Pat at 10 o’clock the next morning. He did and he and Garrett shook hands and Garrett showed him the letters. Bowder said he would go back and tell Billy and whatever Billy decided to do he would do.
Bowder told Billy about the letters and Billy offered $100 to [Thomas] Wilcox for a bottle of strychnine. He said he could get the Mexican woman cook at Fort Sumner to poison [the meals she cooked for] Garrett and all his deputies. Wilcox wouldn’t sell him any poison. That night Billy and his men slept in a stack lot and [Billy] made his last resolution for the next day which was to meet Garrett and feint a surrender and kill Pat. Leech, Wilcox’s partner [Manuel Brazil] slipped out that night to Sumner and told Garrett of Billy’s plans. Garrett got ready. But Billy didn’t meet Garrett that morning. That evening a bad blizzard and snow storm came up and Billy thought Pat wouldn’t follow them, but he did. Billy was in a deserted rock house 15 miles East; Garrett’s men surrounded the shack during the night.
Billy and his men had tied their horses to a vegas [viga] on the south side of the shack….Charley Bowder got up first the next morning before good daylight. He picked up the Kid’s Mexican hat by mistake. This was a $200 hat and had more silver on it than any hat I ever saw. Bowder put on this hat and stepped outside. Pat was 50 feet away. One of his men recognized the hat and said “That’s Billy.” Pat shot Bowder under the heart. Bowder knew it was Pat and said, “Don’t shoot any more, Pat, you’ve got me.” Garrett said “Is that you Charley” and he said “yes.”
Pat told him to crawl on down where they were and Bowder did. He told Pat he didn’t blame him for shooting and said he had a will in his pocket he wanted Pat to carry out. Pat told him he would. Bowder lived 40 minutes. He left his horse, saddle and blankets and $118 in cash to the Mexican woman cook in Fort Sumner. She got every bit of it that day, too.
Knowing the element of surprise was gone, Garrett decided to wait the Kid out. After a while they saw the tie ropes of the horses tethered outside the cabin move and figured the Kid and his men were trying to get the horses inside so they could mount up and come out running. Without compunction he shot one of the horses dead; it fell across the doorway, blocking it. After a while Garrett called to the Kid that he had them surrounded and there was no chance of escape. The Kid told him to go to hell. About sundown, according to Jim East, this is what happened:
A white handkerchief was stuck up through the chimney tied to a Winchester barrel. Garrett asked them what they wanted and Billy said they wanted to surrender, but they wanted the condition that we would give them safe conduct to Santa Fe….So Garrett promised them safe conduct through Las Vegas. The Kid and his men came out with their hands up. Barney Mason said: “Kill the S — B — he is slippery and may get away.” Mason had been one of the Kid’s gang at one time, had deserted him and now was afraid of him. He leveled his gun at the Kid and Lee Hall and I threw our guns down on him and said “If you fire a shot we will kill you.” Mason lowered his gun.
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Tags: Historical Figures, The Wild West
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One Comment to “The Hunting of Billy the Kid”
Where can I get information on Pinto Tom Longworth?
By Shirley Grammer on Aug 5, 2008 at 4:37 pm