This story first appeared July 23, 2010.
In the autumn of 1878, former Union Army general Lew Wallace became Governor of New Mexico in the volatile Indian Territory. In an attempt to restore peace to Lincoln County, Wallace offered amnesty to any man involved in the Lincoln County War. That is to say, any man who was not already under indictment. Billy the Kid, who had fled to Texas after his escape from McSween’s house, was under indictment, but sent the Governor a letter requesting immunity in return for testifying in front of the Grand Jury.
In March 1879, Wallace and outlaw Billy the Kid met in Lincoln County to discuss the possibility of a deal. The Kid greeted the governor with a revolver in one hand and a Winchester rifle in the other. After taking several days to consider Wallace’s offer, Billy agreed to testify in return for amnesty.
The arrangement called for Billy the Kid to submit to a token arrest and a short stay in jail until the conclusion of his courtroom testimony. Although the Kid’s testimony helped to indict John Dolan, the district attorney, one of the powerful “Murphy-Dolan” faction leaders, disregarded Wallace’s order to set him free after testifying. After the trial, Billy and fellow regulator O’Folliard quietly escaped on horses supplied by friends.
For the next eighteen months, Billy survived by rustling cattle, gambling, and laying low. In January 1880, he killed a man named Joe Grant in a Fort Sumner saloon. Grant, who did not realize he was playing poker with the Kid himself, boasted that he would kill Billy the Kid if he ever encountered him. In those days of rough travel on horseback, cowboys loaded their revolvers with only five rounds, with the hammer down on an empty chamber to prevent an accidental discharge.
The Kid asked the unsuspecting, and most likely drunk, Grant if he could see his ivory-handled revolver and, while examining the weapon, rotated the cylinder so the hammer would fall on the empty chamber when the trigger was pulled. He then informed Grant of his identity with a wry smirk on his face. When Grant fired, nothing happened, and Billy the kid shot him dead. When asked by a reporter about the incident later, the Kid remarked, “It was a game for two, and I got there first.” Surprisingly, not many noted, much less cared, that the blowhard Grant had been dispatched.
Less than a year after the Grant episode, in November 1880, a posse pursued and trapped Billy the Kid’s gang inside a ranch house owned by one of Billy’s friends, James Greathouse, at Anton Chico in the White Oaks area. Under the assumed protection of a white flag, posse member James Carlyle ventured into the house attempting to negotiate the group’s surrender while Greathouse was sent out as a hostage for the posse.
As the night progressed, the nervous Carlyle decided the outlaws were stalling. Carlyle heard an errant accidental shot fired outside and fearing that the posse members had shot down Greathouse, he panicked and crashed through a window and was shot and killed by the posse outside. Realizing their mistake, the posse members scattered, enabling Billy and his gang to slip away. In an attempt to hide their complicity in the murder, the posse quickly fingered Billy the Kid for the killing. For the rest of his short life, Billy the Kid vehemently denied shooting Carlyle.
Between March 13, 1879 and April 15, 1881, Billy the Kid wrote seven letters to Governor Lew Wallace, claiming to be innocent of the many crimes attributed to him. The letters offer a fascinating window into the relationship of two native born Hoosiers thrust into the brightest glare of the Wild, Wild West. Here are some excerpts exactly as Billy the Kid wrote them:
“I have heard that You will give one thousand $ dollars for my body which as I can understand it means alive as a witness. I have no wish to fight any more indeed I have not raised an arm since your proclamation. As to my character I refer to any of the citizens, for the majority of them are my friends and have been helping me all they could. I am called Kid Antrim but Antrim is my stepfathers name.”
“I will keep the appointment I made but be sure and have men come that you can depend on I am not afraid to die like a man fighting but I would not like to be killed like a dog unarmed.”
“I noticed in the Las Vegas Gazette a piece which stated that Billy ‘the’ Kid, the name by which I am known in the County was the Captain of a Band of Outlaws who hold Forth at the Portales. There is no such Organization in existence.”
“I have been at Sumner Since I left Lincoln making my living Gambling…There is no Doubt but what there is a great deal of Stealing going on in the Territory and a great deal of the Property is taken across the Plains as it is a good outlet. but as far as my being at the head of a Band there is nothing of it. Several Instances I have recovered Stolen Property when there was no chance to get an Officer to do it.”
“I wish you would come down to the jail and see me. it will be to your interest to come and see me. I have some letters which date back two years, and there are Parties who are very anxious to get them but I shall not dispose of them until I see you.”
“I wrote You a little note the day before yesterday but have received no answer. I Expect you have forgotten what you promised me, this Month two years ago, but I have not and I think You had ought to have come and seen me as I requested you to. I have done everything that I promised you I would and You have done nothing that You promised me.”
“It looks to me like I am getting left in the Cold. I am not treated right by (Sheriff) Sherman, he lets Every Stranger that comes to see me through Curiosity in to see me, but will not let a Single one of my friends in, Not even an Attorney.”
“I guess they mean to Send me up without giving me any Show but they will have a nice time doing it. I am not intirely without friends.”
“For the last time I ask, Will you keep your promise. I start below tomorrow send awnser by bearer.”
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
