Today is the day that Henry McCarty was to have been hanged. Judge Warren Bristol had passed the death sentence sentence for the murder of the County Sheriff. This was the result of a long standing war between the powerful ring. led by Lawrence G. Murphy, that
controlled the local ranching empires, and the lone resistor, a transplant businessman from England, by the name of John Tunstall. As a
John Tunstall, rancher and businessman
result of his murder, Sheriff Brady was gunned down by Henry in the street a short time later. This led to killings on both sides of the battle, and eventually resulted in Tunstall’s attorney, Alexander McSween, also being killed while his home was being burned down around his head.
Alexander McSween (circa 1875) lawyer for John Tunstall, victim of Lincoln County War in 1881
McSween’s wife was allowed to leave, but McSween was gunned down while trying to surrender. He was unarmed. Henry and several of his friends (Henry Brown, Jim French, Josiah “Doc” Scurlock, Tom O’Folliard, Jose Chavez y Chavez, George Coe, and a dozen Mexican vaqueros) were in the house at the time, and one of them, Charlie Bowdrie, was killed as well in the fight. The fight was known as the Lincoln
Charlie Bowdrie, pal and friend to Billy the Kid, died while defending Alexander McSween
County war, the Sheriff was William Brady, and Henry McCarty was also known as William Bonney, or Billy the Kid.
Henry H. Antrim. also known as William H. Bonney, or even more well known as Billy the Kid
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This is a busy day in frontier history, as it is marked by eight different events of varied significance between the years 1869 and 1897.
Today in 1869, the beginning of the final track in the first great transcontinental railroad is laid in a most dramatic fashion by the Central Pacific Railroad. Beginning 14 miles outside of Promontory Point, Utah at 7:00am, a crew of Chinese workers backed by eight husky rail carriers attempts to lay ten miles of track in one day, an fantastic feat. Before the sun sets on this day, they have laid 10 miles and fifty-six feet of track, a total of 3,520 rails. Each rail handler has carried 25,800 ties, weighing a quarter of a million pounds.
Just nine years later, today in 1878 the Seven Rivers Warriors pulls together under Marion Turner and John Jones for the purpose of fighting legendary rancher, John Chisum.
John SImpson Chisum, legendary New Mexico rancher and lawman
On their ride to Lincoln, the gang kills Frank McNab and shoots Ab Sanders, while capturing Frank Coe. This is happening during what will become known as the Lincoln County War. One of the West’s most enduring legends will grow out of this war, on the shirttails of a 19 year old youngster named Henry Antrim.
Henry H. Antrim. also known as William H. Bonney, or even more well known as Billy the Kid
Three years later, on this very day in 1881, this same Henry Antrim is being held in jail for the murder of several men. The sheriff of the county is out of town. Shopping for wood for a gallows, when Henry, or Billy The Kid, as he is now known, breaks jail with the help of an unknown accomplice who has hidden a gun in the outhouse. Billy talked Deputy J. W. Bell into taking him to the privy so he could do his business, and when he came out, he had the gun. On the steps back upstairs to where he was being kept, Billy broke free and killed Deputy Bell with one shot.
Lincoln County Deputy, Robert Olinger
Running up the rest of the stairs, he picked up Deputy Bob Olinger’s shotgun, the very same shotgun loaded with the dimes Deputy Olinger had threatened to fill Billy with. He then opened up a window and after taunting Olinger with it, he shot Olinger with his own loads, killing him too. He then makes his getaway in a very leisurely fashion after stealing a horse, which he returns later. The sheriff is very determined to catch him and redeem his credibility after this.
Patrick Floyd Garrett – he shot Billy The Kid — or did he?
When Sheriff Patrick Floyd Garrett does catch up with his former friend, he inadvertently helps create the legend when he shoots him in the dark while Billy is unarmed.
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Today, February 18, 1878, long simmering tensions in Lincoln County, New Mexico, explode into a bloody shooting war when gunmen murder the English rancher John Tunstall.
John Tunstall, rancher and businessman
Tunstall had established a large ranching operation in Lincoln County two years earlier in 1876, stepping into the middle of a dangerous political and economic rivalry for control of the region. Two Irish-Americans, J.J. Dolan and L.G. Murphy,
Lawrence_Murphy Lincoln County War (circa 1870’s)
operated a general store called The House, which controlled access to lucrative beef contracts with the government.
James J. (J J) Dolan circa 1870’s
The big ranchers, led by John Chisum and Alexander McSween, didn’t believe merchants should dominate the beef markets and began to challenge The House. Tunstall, a wealthy young English emigrant, soon realized that his interests were with Chisum and McSween in this conflict, and he became a leader of the anti-House forces. He won Dolan’s and Murphy’s lasting enmity by establishing a competing general merchandise store in Lincoln. By 1877, the power struggle was threat-ening to become overtly violent, and Tunstall began to hire young gunmen for his protection, including the soon-to-be-infamous William Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid.
William H. Bonney, Billy the Kid
Early the next year, The House used its considerable political resources to strike back at Tunstall, winning a court order demanding that Tunstall turn over some of his horses to pay an outstanding debt. When Tunstall refused to turn over the horses, the House-controlled Lincoln County sheriff dispatched a posse-with William Morton, another House supporter, at the head-to take them. Billy the Kid and several other Tunstall hands were working on the ranch when they spotted the approaching posse. Outnumbered, the men fled, but they had not gone far before they saw Tunstall gallop straight up to the posse to protest its presence on his property. As Billy and the others watched, Morton pulled his gun and shot Tunstall dead with a bullet to the head.
Although he had not worked for Tunstall long, Billy the Kid deeply resented this cold-blooded murder, and he immediately began a vendetta of violence against The House and its allies. Lincoln County became a war zone, and both sides began a spree of vicious killings. By July, The House was prevailing, having added McSween to its lists of victims. However, fighting would continue to erupt sporadically until 1884, when Chisum died of natural causes, and The House finally regained full control of Lincoln County. By that time, Billy the Kid had already been dead for three years, gunned down by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett.
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Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com
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