Jane Greathouse

Whiskey Jane Greathouse is an old friend of both Billy Bonney and Pat Garrett. Her startling red hair and green eyes could knock any man clean off his horse. Jane is proud of her 'boys' outlaw status and even has their wanted posters upon the wall of her 'gentleman's establishment'.

Billy is always welcome into her home at White Oaks where she will provide him with shelter and a little fun. Although things do not always run smoothly, the town of White Oaks wanted to clean up its act and become respectable, outlaws and soiled doves are no longer welcome and upon seeing Billy's gang enter, a posse is soon formed and Jane held hostage until the crowd get what they want, a hanging.

Billy does not comply and instead creates a situation where the townsfolk end up killing their own deputy. Billy's gang leaves White Oaks giving Jane enough money to take care of herself and her girls. When Pat Garrett strolls into town as the new Sheriff of Lincoln County Jane is disgusted by him and in a fit of jealously that she now likes Billy better than himself, Pat burns down her house. Jane loses her temper and sheds her clothes before a large crowd, telling them they can "Kiss my ass!"

She again appears in Lincoln, to say a fond farewell to Billy who has been captured. Unbeknownst to the guard she has hidden a gun in the outhouse and has slipped Billy a note in a pouch of tobacco. She watches the outlaw ride away a free man.

## The Truth

Jim Greathouse was born and raised in Texas and moved to Fort Griffin when he was around 20 years old. He soon became a notorious peddler of contraband alcohol to Indians, working out of the Fort. This soon gave him the nickname 'Whiskey Jim'. When things became too hot in this business he turned to stealing livestock with a band of men. He encountered many gunfights with Indians and stole many a man's horse leaving them to the mercy of the unrelenting dangers of the plains.

When Jim had enough of this life he moved west to New Mexico where he lived in Las Vegas for a while gambling, making easy money and leaving three men dead by his gun. When he killed his fourth man in the town, the residents and law were displeased to say the least. Jim left in a hurry and established a ranch on the Pecos River at Oche de Mil Egre in 1879. Greathouse began cattle rustling and he was soon wealthy enough to buy a bigger ranch (which he also used as a store and roadhouse) a few miles north of the town of White Oaks.

Jim often bought stolen horses and mules from Billy the Kid and he gladly offered up his home as a safe house for the Kid's gang.

On November 27th 1880 Billy and his gang turned up on his doorstep pursued by a posse. The Kid's gang had caused some trouble in White Oaks, shooting up the town and generally causing disturbance, as well as stealing a lot of horses from the surrounding area over the course of a few months.

When the posse arrived hot on the gangs heels Jim went out to meet them and was sent back into the house with a note demanding the gang's immediate surrender, he then came back out to the posse with a reply.

Billy refused to surrender and according to myth he told the posse they could 'go enjoy themselves in Hades.' Although the posse promised no harm would come to them Billy and his gang feared lynch mob justice.

Billy invited one man to come in and talk and the posse chose Deputy James Carlyle, one of their men who was well known to the Kid and had a better chance of getting Billy to surrender.

Carlyle walked up to the house and was allowed inside by the outlaws. He told the Kid that his friend Jim Greathouse was being held as a hostage on behalf of his own safety, he then tried to get Billy to surrender.

The gang by this point had apparently partaken in a good amount of whiskey and were friendly and joking with the deputy but it soon became clear they would not be persuaded into anything after Carlyle admitted that the posse carried no warrant for any of the outlaws, the Kid began to playfully joke that he may have to kill Carlyle. The deputy sent word out to the posse that they would have to go and get the warrant, one of the posse left to do this task.

As the hours passed, Carlyle became more aware that he was not in a good position, his man hadn't returned and Billy and his gang were becoming impatient. After a shot was accidentally fired from outside, Carlyle panicked. Thinking that Greathouse had been shot and all his protection against the outlaws was lost, he ran for his life, breaking through a window, but the posse waiting outside mistook Carlyle for one of the outlaws trying to make a break, they opened fire and killed their own man. Demoralized and scared the posse scattered, allowing Billy and his gang to get away.

Jim Greathouse had managed to slip away during the shooting and spent the night at a nearby ranch. He returned the next morning along with his cook, Steck, to find Carlyle frozen stiff. The deputy's was covered with a blanket and returned to White Oaks, after which the posse returned to the house and promptly burned it down.

Jim moved back to his smaller ranch on the Pecos River and was often seen gambling in Las Vegas NM.

Folklore says that Jim wrote to Fort Sumner and warned Billy to leave the country after he escaped Lincoln jail, but the letter fell into Garrett's hands which led to the final showdown in Fort Sumner.

At a later date Jim was arrested by Garrett's brother-in-law, on charges of being an accessory to the murder of Carlyle. He was taken to White Oaks were he was released on bond.

After this incident he began a freighting business and became an honest man but it didn't last and he was soon consorting with outlaws once again, although this time he was careful to keep his public profile clean.

Whiskey Jim Greathouse was murdered by Joe Faller in 1881 in San Mateo mountain range, near Socorro. Whiskey Jim and two friends were all buried in one unmarked grave.