PHOTOGRAPHY
BY JOHNNY D. BOGGS |
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Travel
New Mexico
“I wouldn’t
want a friend like Billy.”
By
Johnny D. Boggs
B.
Rex Buchman, De Baca County extension agent,
is telling me this not far from where Henry McCarty
Antrim, better known as William H. Bonney and/or
Billy the Kid, is buried, which happens to
be (unless
you’re a conspiracy theorist) in Fort
Sumner, N.M.
Local
girls loved his dancing, and most folks agree that
the Kid was certainly affable most of the time,
but he sure could be hard on his male “pals,” as
evidenced by the graves of Tom O’Folliard
and Charlie Bowdre lying alongside Billy in the
old post cemetery—not to mention John Tunstall
and Alexander McSween down in Lincoln.
Yet
124 years after Sheriff Pat Garrett killed Billy
in Pete Maxwell’s bedroom on the night of
July 14, 1881, the Kid has sure been a friend to
many businesses. Outlaws and Old West lawmen remain
popular with tourists, and that’s especially
true in Southern Arizona and Southern New Mexico.
From Fort Sumner to Yuma many towns pay tribute
to the owlhoot trail, as well as to the lawmen
who brought order (and sometimes chaos) to wild
and woolly towns. The northern parts of these two
states—think Santa Fe and Taos, Grand Canyon
and Sedona—often overshadow their neighbors,
but the south seems a lot more cowboy. And if you’re
interested in the outlaws, there’s no better
place to be.
That’s
why I’m starting
my outlaw trail in Fort Sumner. How big is Billy?
Well, in 1953 Ed and Jewel Sweet opened the Fort
Sumner Museum on U.S. 60/84, and not many tourists
stopped. Since the Sweets changed the name to the
Billy the Kid Museum, they have attracted plenty
of Billy buffs. Fact is, Fort Sumner supports two
Billy museums. More historical and offbeat Kid paraphernalia
can be found at the Old Fort Sumner Museum. Behind
that museum are
the graves of Billy & Pals and other Westerners, including Lucien
B. Maxwell of the Maxwell Land Grant fame.
This
is also the end of the line for “The Trail
of Billy’s Last Ride,” an annual 100-plus-mile trail (endurance)
ride created by Buchman and Tim T.
Hagaman in 2002 as a little vacation—but now open to tough-hided tourists.
Commemorating the
Kid’s 1881 escape from the Lincoln County Courthouse, the ride begins in
Lincoln, crossing several working ranches in the Capitan Mountains, desert plains,
and Pecos River country “to preserve the
history of the Western lifestyle.”
The
house where Billy the Kid’s
trail ended is long gone, as is most of the old fort, but Fort Sumner State
Monument and the Bosque Redondo Memorial are important
stops on the outlaw trail. While
Billy gets the bulk of attention in Fort Sumner, the
new Bosque Redondo Memorial should never be
overlooked. Between 1864 and 1868, an estimated
8,000-9,000 Navajos, as well as 500 Mescalero
Apaches, were held prisoners on this reservation.
Many more had died on the brutal 300-plus-mile
Long Walk from Fort Defiance, Ariz. The Mescaleros
had escaped by 1865, but hundreds of Navajos died
during their incarceration until the treaty of 1868
sent them back to their homeland.
Full
of history (and an old-fashioned strawberry milkshake
at Addison Drug), I follow the outlaw trail
south. Roswell might be better known for space aliens
and the fabled UFO crash of 1947, but it’s not without a Wild West influence.
John Simpson Chisum headquartered his Jingle Bob Ranch from 1874 to 1884 at
the South Spring, south of town on the Old Dexter Highway.
The Roswell Museum and Art Center showcases Southwestern
art, including pieces by natives Peter Hurd and
Henriette Wyeth, and you can get up close and personal
with livestock at the Burnt Well Guest Ranch.
But,
naturally, any outlaw trail has to run through
Lincoln, west of Roswell on U.S. 380.
The
lone street—once dubbed the most violent
street in America—has been paved, but the village on
the Rio Bonito hasn’t changed much since the Lincoln County War propelled
William H. Bonney to fame. Much of the town is a state monument, including the
Old Lincoln County Courthouse Museum, which had been the Murphy-Dolan Store,
and Tunstall’s store, with fully stocked shelves right out of the 1870s.
The Anderson-Freeman Museum at the visitor’s center is a good place to
start for a Lincoln County War history lesson.
Billy’s escape from the courthouse, which left two deputies dead, is reenacted
each August during Old Lincoln Days. For a real treat, hang your hat at the Ellis
Store Country Inn (Billy the Kid slept there, too) and take a ride through the
past on The Lincoln County Overland Stage Company, leaving the driving to Ed
Heimann, a stagecoach enthusiast and history buff.
From
Lincoln, my outlaw trail leads to Ruidoso Downs.
The Hubbard Museum of the American West houses
one of
the most extensive collections relating
to the horse and the Old West. The museum’s also home to the annual Lincoln
County Cowboy Symposium, which features Western music, storytelling, and crafts
and has become one of nation’s top events celebrating the cowboy heritage.
Next,
it’s on to Alamogordo and Las Cruces, covering the stark but beautiful
White Sands
National Monument and one of the outlaw trail’s biggest mysteries.
In
1896, lawyer Albert Jennings Fountain and young
son Henry disappeared on their way
from Lincoln to Mesilla and were presumed murdered by the very rustlers
Fountain had vowed to bring to justice. One of
the leading suspects was colorful Oliver
Milton Lee, who had built a ranch in Dog Canyon in the Sacramento
Mountains. South of Alamogordo, visitors can
experience 19th Century life with guided tours of Lee’s old ranch at Oliver
Lee Memorial State Park.
In
1899, Lee and associate James Gililland were tried
for murder (the bodies have never been found) in Hillsboro, now a ghost town
in the Black Range foothills south of Truth or Consequences better known for
artists and its annual apple festival in
September. After New Mexico’s “trial of the century,” a jury
brought in a not-guilty verdict and Lee went on to serve two terms in the state
senate.
Fountain’s tombstone is found in the Masonic Cemetery in Las Cruces. Not
far away is the grave of Pat Garrett, who came out of retirement to investigate
the Fountain case, then wound up getting shot dead in 1908 in nearby Alameda
Arroyo (admitted slayer Wayne Brazel was likewise acquitted).
Plan
on spending some time in the Las Cruces area
for a Wild West fix—not to mention authentic Mexican grub at La Posta de
Mesilla. General Douglas MacArthur spent part of his childhood in the 1880s at
Fort Selden, now a state monument north of town in Radium Springs with a great
museum honoring the 9th Cavalry African-American buffalo soldiers. The 47-acre
interactive New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum
examines the state’s agricultural history over the past 3,000 years and
plays host to Cowboy Days in October.
And let’s not forget charming, picturesque Old Mesilla, once the gateway
to Southern New Mexico. In 1881, Billy the Kid was tried for the 1878 murder
of Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady (the old courthouse is now a gift shop),
and he wasn’t acquitted.
From
Las Cruces, it’s time to head over to Arizona on Interstate 10, but
there are three worthwhile stops on the outlaw trail if you have time.
Pancho
Villa State Park, 35 miles south of Deming in Columbus, chronicles
Francisco Villa’s attack on the settlement and military camp on March 9, 1916, as
well as General “Black Jack” Pershing’s futile 11-month pursuit
into Mexico after the revolutionary/outlaw.
Closer
to the Arizona border are two ghost towns and outlaw
haunts. South of Lordsburg is Shakespeare, where
Curly
Bill Brocius hung out before drifting down to Tombstone. Two-hour
tours are offered (check dates and times first
at www.shakespeareghosttown.com), allowing visitors
access to several 1870s buildings. Seventeen miles west of Lordsburg
lies Steins,
an old railroad
town now being restored into a museum.
Santa Fe, N.M.-based Johnny D. Boggs has
won the Western Heritage Wrangler and Spur awards
for his Western fiction. His latest novels include
Camp Ford and East of the Border.
California | Arizona |
New Mexico |
