Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War: A Deputy Turned Outlaw

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Billy the Kid's famous run of violence began with a badge, not a crime. In New Mexico Territory he was a young ranch hand working for John Tunstall, an English newcomer who opened a store and bank in Lincoln to compete with James Dolan and Lawrence Murphy. Their firm, known as the House, held the government beef contracts, kept local ranchers in debt, and had Sheriff William J. Brady in its pocket. A dispute over a dead partner's life insurance policy gave the House a court order to seize property, and on February 18, 1878, a posse sent by Brady shot Tunstall dead while Billy watched from a distance.

This episode follows what came next. Tunstall's men formed the Regulators, were legally deputized by a justice of the peace, and set out with warrants for the killers. Within weeks they had executed two prisoners at Blackwater Creek, lost their legal standing by decree of Governor Samuel B. Axtell, and ambushed Brady on Lincoln's main street. The fighting ended in July of 1878 with a five-day siege, Army cannon pointed at the Regulators, and a burning house. It left Billy a penniless fugitive who turned to rustling until Pat Garrett shot him in July of 1881.

• The body of William Morton, killed at Blackwater Creek on March 9, 1878, had 11 bullet holes, one for each Regulator present.
• During the ambush of Sheriff Brady on April 1, 1878, Billy and Jim French ran into the open street, and a single bullet from a deputy wounded them both.
• At Blazer's Mill, Buckshot Roberts, already shot in the stomach, held off the whole group, knocked Billy unconscious, and killed Regulator captain Dick Brewer.
• On July 19 the McSween house was set ablaze. The men inside fought the flames until 9 p.m., then ran through gunfire, and lawyer Alexander McSween was killed in the yard.
• Murphy died of cancer months later, Dolan was acquitted and bought Tunstall's property, and Susan McSween became a wealthy cattle rancher.