Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-13

kN k\,TNM business of life.
hLfH M<Sl\ To be able to drink.
W|M&&A and. as the phrase
WNNNS& y was, protect oneself
In the games cur
rent and popular in that region, re-
bounded nightly to the social advantage
Of man. At one time and another 1 camp
Cd from one end Of New Mexico to the
other Naturally, for his fame was rife at
that time. / heard references to Billy the
Kid. The story OF this outlaw is known
In New Mexico and runs something like
this:
Billy Bonney. or Bill the KiG, was born
1n the Bowery. in New York city, some
time in the last of the ffties. His parents
were Irish people. and while honest enough
were very poor. In some fashion they came
west. bringing the redoubtable Kid with
them-then a kid in fact They settled
briefly in Sante Fe. New Mexico. and lapsed
Into restaurant a method OF life The
restaurant must have failed by New Mexico
standards. Perhaps the over-ripe appetites
of a region given to chilli concarne as a
food. and mescal as beverage, failed to
appreciate the milder points of Bowery
cookery, as brought west by the Bonneys.
At any rate our honest couple. with the Kid
between them. veered further to the south
west. and the next one hears of them they
have pitched camp at Silver City.
"Silver City is in the far southwest corner
Of New Mexico and was at that time an
easy thousand miles from a railroad. 1t
was a land flowing with the hustler and the
desperate, and young Bonney grew up in
IN atmosphere of pistol smoke and poker.
At one time and another. it is not over
stated to say that Bonney heard more stor-
les Of bloody adventure. cattle stealing and
stage robbing, than the average eastern
boy, given over to dime novels a steady
literary diet. ever reads. He grew up feel
ing the nervous necessity of killing some
body; he must fx his social status. His
surroundings taught. him that In no other
way could he be regarded as a southwest
ern success The sooner he got a notch on
the handle Of his pistol the sooner he would
be regarded as in full southwestern fellow
ship- To kill a man was at that time re-
Garded as much Of a decoration in SOUTH
western New Mexico. as the order of the
Bath Is in England. At any rate, this was
the feverish view instilled into the rather
ardent nature Of Billy the Kid.
His First killing.
He arrived at his first success with a
negro soldier from Fort Cummings. This
Buffalo soldier-as the Indians called them,
on account of their woody heads-got very
drunk and very voluble; and in the full
expression of his feelings concluded to whip
Billy the Kid. The Kid at that time was
only about sixteen, and as he never at his
heaviest weighed more than Us pounds.
hrashing him didn't at first view present
q host or difficulties. But the coloreo troops
miscalculated in this instance, as they have
In many others. They overlooked the racial
Arer L.
casion the Kid produced a prompt pistol:
tne troop OF cavalry al Fort Cummings was
eny one man; and colored spirit entered
everlasting life- The Kid, it would SEEM
was OF a very nervous nature Silver CITY
sentiment JUSTIFIED the killing and nobody
Tor one moment thought of interfering with
tne Kid Still, the reflection must have
preyed on Bonney. Not that he regretted
H. but the thought made him nervous and
ne seemed in more or less fear of the VEN
geance of his colored victims friends
II 5 Well enough to pause to say that
several years experience in the southwest
nas shown that most killers begin their
bloody operations before they are twenty
years old. They kill first in a spirit of mis-
guided romance. and seem to keep il I'D ne
cause tney go crazy. They are haunted by
tne rear or arrest, as we'll as by apprenen-
sions OF vengeance op the part of the other
fellows friends. Jesse James WAS as clean
q case OF n luHatic in the last fifteen wears
OF MS BE as one night wish - SEE Every
H.
cious. and so il turned out with the Kid.
Launched on career of killing by his from
Die with the black sollier just chronic,ed.
ne never seemed To let NJ ,Iu.iI he disou
peared at the ranch If r'ete Maxwell : air.
III explain why used the wcrd 'disap-
Ieared.'
For one or -wo years noLoiy heard
much of the Nil. The 1ex- time Lis hut-
terinSs attract attention he is indus
NioCS.y stealing cattle IN eastern New
1ieAico. He lid most of his stealing in the
Texas pan-handie. and drove his cattle
west: i.'..ed them sold tlI",n TN about
Fort Stanton or Fort Union He was hunt
% ard rehtntr'l b. cattle people and had
q great rlarI shooting scrapes and wo.
once or twice captured. But there was
Q strong interest in protecting him in New
Mexico. as he was the cause of n great dsal
OF cheap cattle to cattle-buyers in that re-
gion. great deal of the Kids shooting
was forced. As soon as he had name ana
1enle as blood-lettcr. every drunken cow
boy who happened to meet him couldn't re-
siSt the temptation of tapping his game
Wouldn't Let Him Alone.
The exuberant nature Of the average
COWBOY, especially when assisted by the in
cautious drinks of his region, results in this:
1hat there are no men whom he fears To
point MIN out some western hotspur like
Billy, the Kid. was to Simply issue an in
NtaCoh 70 20 after him. The cowboy is an
Optlmlst and he is also a fatalist He he
lieves that he will never go until his time
comes: that his fate is already written ON
leaves of steel This breeds recklessness sn
more tnan once some youth of the range
painting for glory. anxious to sienaliza him,
self, crowded up for trouble with the re-
nowned Kid Time and again the Kid
seemed to suffer all things to avoid war.
and there are many men in the Southwest
today who Will describe the Kid as a preat
coward. oasing their opinions on Instances
where he fled frcm trouble AT Chaparita
little DOLBY aggregation southeast from
Vegas some fifty miles. there was one per
sistent cowpuncher who simply would NOT
let the Kid alone. He drove him into a
fight. There was a brief fusillade. ana the
cowboy went hence without day. They COW
cred his body with blanket, and then the
Kid sat down on a coffee sack in a store
near by and wept copiously.
1t seems. he said as though 1 had
more of this sort of thing forced on me
than any boy in the territory
when the John Chisholm. Lincoln coun-
", war broke out, the Kid was employed by
Chlsholm-emplcyed for his qualities as
Killer He was to get s. day, and. of
course, all expenses John Chisholm him
SELF was rude, rough nature. who had
grown 10 be worth uncounted millions in
the cattle business. The last time / saw
him was at Stoneroad's ranch. sixty miles
southeast of Las Vegas, on the Concha, in
NJ IL was a hot night at the ranch-house.