The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1909-02-06
A NOTORIOUS OUTLAW
Fearless "Biny the KID" Who
Reveled In Carnage.
ONLY A BOY, YET A TERROR.


This Youthful Desperate sf the South.
western Territories Was but Twsa.
ty-ene When He Met ossth At the
Hands Of Sheriff Pct Garrett.
When General Lew Wallace was
governor of New Mexico and the war
that ragged for several years between
the rival cattle companies was at Its
height BILLY the KID" had reached
the flood Of his murderous career. He
arrived in Lincoln county to take sides
in the cattle warfare. known and
feared In every range town and min
ing camp in the southwestern terri
tories.
Pure wanton love Of carnage was all
TINT attracted him to Lincoln county.
With the band Of desperadoes he led
he raided ranches. shot up" towns,
killed, burned houses and committed
outrage after outrage with the blind
recklessness Of maniac. Fear was
extinct within him. He cared no more
for detachments Of cavalry than he
did for covering sheriffs.
Affairs In New Mexico finally came
to such pass that half the cattlemen
paid the youthful desperate tribute.
1t was only after Pat r. Garre'. was
made sheriff Of Lincoln county and the
author of "Ben-Hur" General Wal
lace, urged that fearless gun fighter
and gambler to capture Billy the Kid
that determined effort was made to
end his reign of terror.
The obstacles that Garrett had to en-
counter called for all his headlong en-
ergy and nerve. Billy had the entire
countryside In state Of abject terror;
friends were ready to give him timely
warning of pursuit; ranchmen dared
not deny him Judgment or conceal
ment.
Pat Garrett undertook the capture In
October. 1880. and on Dec. 20 he sur
rounded the Kid and his band In q
deserted house near Sinking Springs.
After a siege lasting most Of the day
the outlaws ammunition was exhaust
ed. Billy the kid surrendered. He
and his four followers. surrounded by
a great force Of armed men, wee taken
to Las Vegas and thence to Santa Fe
for safe keeping.
An array Of indictments charging
murder confronted him. He was tried
on one indictment and acquitted. then
tried on another and convicted. He
carried himself throughout with sneer-
ing defiance. After be had been SEN
fenced to hang Garrett took him to
Fort Stanton, nsar Lincoln. Two depu.
ties armed with winchesters were AZ
signed To- guard him In the temporary
jail IN thsldurphy 4 Dolan store build
Ing.
In some mysterious fashion the
Kid possessed himself Of . revolver,
shot down his guards. seized their
weapons and appeared at the window.
When another guard appeared the
prisoner riddled his body with buck
shot. Then he called to an old man on
the plaza to bring him file. Filling
on one Of his shackles. he called for
horse. One was brought. and he e.
capped.
For nearly three months after that
Billy the Kid led fugitive life.
Garrett logged him patiently and Hnal-
ly got wind Of his hiding place-the
ranch Of Peter Maxwell. near Fort
Sumner. It was nearly midnight when
Garrett and two deputies quietly ap-
preached the Maxwell hacienda. Gar.
rett crept into the room where Max
well was sleeping. Softly awakening
the sleeper. he questioned him concern
ing the whereabouts Of the Kid.
At that moment the hunted youth
sprang into the room. calling out In
Spanish. "Quien var" c'Who comes
therein 1t was Billy. He was un-
armed, and as he reached for his ride
Garrett shot him. The body Of vii.
liam Bonney Chilly the KIDD was bur-
led in the military cemetery at Fort
Stanton July 10. 1881. His age at the
time of his death was twenty -one years
seven months. There his body ID to-
day. though in later years corpse was
exhibited throughout the west AZ that
Of the famous young outlaw.-Harpers
Weekly.