The Southern herald., 1899-04-07
BILLY THE KID
A Tale Of the Border
(Wriiten for this paper
By ". W. Williams

II
III cd the southwest in the early days
none attracted more attention or COM
mitted more desperate deeds than
Billy the Kidd He was youug, boy
ish-looklng fellow, with retrs-ting
chin aud hooked nose-uot Of the Ro
man order, but more like the beak of
parrot. A stranger would never pick
him out for a desperate man, but he was
all that the name meimPlies. For reckless
dare-deviltry, handiness with a gun aud
bravery almost supernatural, he never
had an equal among the many Of his
class who made things lively on the
border in New Mexico and helped TO fill
the graveyards. Hundreds of times be
looked death in the face with that steel
blue, cold eye of his, which did not
seem TO know how TO finch. When oc-
casion seemed TO demand il he shot his
enemy dead in his tracks and turned
upon his heel with a cool indifference,
or fed to one of his strougholds, as oc-
casion seemed to require. The shots
that were fired at him by good marks
men were without number, but for
years he appeared to have a charmed
life, which no bullet, be it never so well
aimed, could cut short The chances
which he took to escape punishment
for his crimes are almost incredible
when related. No Jail could hold him
nor could any number of guards keep
him in their charge. He always found
some way to escape, and in doing so
usually left trail of blood behind him.
The incident in the career of Billy
the Kid, which Iam about to relate, was
given to Inc by Mr.. w. II. Sammons, of
Lake City, Col, Mr.. Sammons' part in
the affair will appear in the narrative.
He said:
an the spring of 1881 the com
mander Of the government post at Fort
Craig, n. NJ, received word from Fort
Cummings, near Cooks Peak, that a
gang of White Mountain Apaches were
off the reservation, and that they were
plundering and killing the settlers by
way of diversion; that they were sup
posed to have crossed the Rio Grande
and 10 be making their way towards
the Organ or San Andree mountains,
in New Mexico A call for troops was
made TO go out and intercept them,
Dispatches were to be carried to Fort
Stanton, near the Pecos river, to this
effect Capt, Jack Crawford, the "poet
scout was then in the employ of the
post as dispatch carrier, He was noti-
fled to leave at day break with the word
that would alarm and warn the settlers
in the Pecos valley and enable the off
GERS at Fort Stanton TO put cavalry in
The field and drive the Indians back TO
their reservation west of the Rio
Grande, beyond the Black Range noun
tains. | was stopping at the post for
few.days on visit to Capt. Jack, being
an old friend and acquaintance of his
years before in the Black Hills. vol
unteered TO accompany him upon his
hard and perilous trip, We left Fort
Craig shortly after daybreak, carrying
our saddles and blankets across the Rio
Grande in boat and swimming our
animals, which consisted of two saddle
horses and a government pack mule,
very nimble-footed animal that was
trained TO follow and could be depended
upon to- be at our heels whenever camp
was made. We were soon in our sad
dies after the river was crossed, and
made for the Tucson ranch the only
place where water was to be had for a
distance Of Is miles, having to cross
what was known as the Dry Hornado,'
a desert, sand and alkali waste, being
about 12j miles long and from GO to 50
wide. 1t lies just east of the Rio
Grande river. We arrived at the ranch
about nine o'clock that evening, very
much fatigued from the hot and dusty
ride. Remaining there until day break,
we once more hit the trail for what is
known as Dripping Springs where the
last water was to be had until we
reached some Of the tributaries of the
Pecos river TO the cast of the noun
tains, which we must cross that day
and which lay between the Pccos val
ley and the Rio Grande.
1--WE arrived at the springs about
noon, having covered about 80 miles
since daybreak. Capt. Jack advised taxi
ing a siesta of two hours. Our course
from Fort Craig had been in a south
easterly direction 10 the Tucson ranch,
where we intercepted the old trail run
ming from Fort Stanton to Silver City, |
our course TO the springs having been
about due east. After loosening our
cinches and watering and feeding our
horses, we partook of our scanty din
ner of hardtack and canned horse and
lay down TO rest. We had finished our
siesta, and had started to get ready to
renew our journey when cast my eyes
to the southeast and beheld what we
supposed to be band of Indians about |
mile away coming toward us. los
Indos,' was my only remark, as by a
wave of the hand called the attention |
of Capt Jack to them. There was
mighty quick work, tightening our
cinches and hurried departure from
the spot. The Indians, apparently, did
not see us until we were in the saddle,
they then being about half mile away
and coming along on our trail. We put
spurs to our horses and started for the
pass, touching the ground only in high
places as Capt. Jack afterwards ex-
pressed it. A series of loud and de-
moniacal yells told US that we were
discovered, and few stray shots were
heard as we rode rapidly away. The
trail we were on was well worn and
fairly good, so that we soon proved
that distance lends enchantment TO
the view.' After two hours of hard rid
ing we passed the crest of the range
ana beheld the valley Of the Pecos in
the distance. We saw nothing more of
our pursuers.