{"id":1593,"date":"2020-11-05T12:46:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T12:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?p=1593"},"modified":"2021-03-18T11:00:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T11:00:36","slug":"in-search-of-billy-the-kid-in-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/in-search-of-billy-the-kid-in-new-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"In search of Billy the Kid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the vast plains of New Mexico, with their huge skies, and more cattle than people, it is not difficult to imagine a cowboy galloping over the nearest ridge. And<\/span><\/strong> wherever you go in this state, the ghosts of outlaws past will follow you, most notably Billy the Kid.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver City<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In his teenage years Billy lived in Silver City, in the south of the state. Some accounts say he was born here, but most that he came with his family from New York, aged 13. He had his first job here, committed his first crime here, and reportedly killed his first man here. He was arrested and briefly imprisoned, before moving on to wreak his havoc elsewhere, most notoriously in Lincoln County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • \"Blue,<\/figure><\/li>
  • \"Decorative<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>
    Silver City today<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Lincoln<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Lincoln is a very small place to have started a war, but that is just what it did. In the late 19th<\/sup> century the Lincoln County War led to the deaths of at least 19 people and terrorised settlers throughout the county, which at that time included all of south-eastern New Mexico. Not for nothing did President Rutherford B. Hayes once call Lincoln\u2019s main street \u2018the most dangerous street in America.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The war started in November 1876, when Henry Tunstall and Alexander McSween opened a store in Lincoln, setting themselves up in competition with existing store owners Lawrence Murphy and J. J. Dolan. The latter had had a monopoly on selling goods not just in the town but also supplying beef to nearby Ft. Stanton and the Mescalero Indian Reservation. When Murphy and Dolan challenged the newcomers Tunstall was killed, creating the catalyst for all-out battle between the two sides. Tunstall\u2019s cowhands (who included Billy the Kid) and some other local citizens formed a group known as the Regulators. Their aim was to avenge his murder, knowing that they could not rely on the official criminal justice system which was controlled by allies of Murphy and Dolan.<\/p>\n\n\n