"BILLY THE KID" IS SENTENCED TO HANG. HE KILLS HIS TWO GUARDS AND MAKES
GOOD HIS ESCAPE.
In the latter part of February, 1881, "Billy the Kid" was taken to Mesilla
to be tried for the murder of Roberts at Blazer's saw mill. Judge Bristol
presided over the District Court, and assigned Ira E. Leonard to defend
the "Kid." He was acquitted for the murder of Roberts.
In the same term of court, the "Kid" was put on trial for the murder of
Sheriff Wm. Brady, in April, 1878. This time he was convicted, and
sentenced to hang on the 13th day of May, 1881, in the Court House yard in
Lincoln.
Deputy United States Marshall, Robert Ollinger, and Deputy Sheriff David
Wood, drove the "Kid" in a covered back to Fort Stanton, and turned him
over to Sheriff Pat Garrett.
As Lincoln had no suitable jail, an upstairs room in the large adobe Court
House was selected as the "Kid's" last home on earth--as the officers
supposed, but fate decided otherwise.
Bob Ollinger and J. W. Bell were selected to guard "Billy the Kid" until
the time came for shutting off his wind with a rope.
The room selected for the "Kid's" home was large, and in the northeast
corner of the building, upstairs. There were two windows in it, one on the
east side and the other on the north, fronting the main street.
In order to get out of this room one had to pass through a hall into
another room, where a back stairs led down to the rear yard.
In a room in the southwest corner of the building, the surplus firearms
were kept, in a closet, or armory. One room was assigned as the Sheriff's
private office.
The "Kid's" furniture consisted of a pair of steel hand-cuffs, steel
shackles for his legs, a stool, and a cot.
Bob Ollinger, the chief guard, was a large, powerful middle-aged man,
with a mean disposition. He and the "Kid" were bitter enemies on account
of having killed warm friends of each other during the bloody Lincoln
County war. It is said that Ollinger shot one of the "Kid's" friends to
death while holding his right hand with his, Ollinger's, left hand. After
this local war had ended, the fellow stepped up to Ollinger to shake hands
and to bury the hatchet of former hatred. Ollinger extended his left hand,
and grabbed the man's right, holding it fast until he had shot him to
death. Of course this cowardly act left a scar on "Billy the Kid's" heart,
which only death could heal.
J. W. Bell was a tall, slender man of middle age, with a large knife scar
across one cheek. He had come from San Antonio, Texas. He held a grudge
against the "Kid" for the killing of his friend, Jimmie Carlyle,
otherwise there was no enmity between them.
In the latter part of April, Cowboy Charlie Wall had four Mexicans helping
him irrigate an alfalfa field, above the Mexican village of Tularosa, on
Tularosa river.
A large band of Tularosa Mexicans appeared on the scene one morning, to
prevent young Wall from using water for his thirsty alfalfa.
When the smoke of battle cleared away, four Tularosa Mexicans lay dead on
the ground and Charlie Wall had two bullet wounds in his body, though they
were not dangerous wounds.
Now, to prevent being mobbed by the angry citizens of Tularosa, which was
just over the line in Dona Ana County, Wall and his helpers made a run, on
horseback, for Lincoln, to surrender to Sheriff Pat Garrett.
The Sheriff allowed them to wear their pistols and to sleep in the old
jail. At meal times they accompanied either Bob Ollinger or J. W. Bell, to
the Ellis Hotel across the main street, which ran east and west through
town.
Charlie Wall did his loafing while recovering from his bullet wounds, in
the room where the "Kid" was kept.
On the morning of April 28th, 1881, Sheriff Garrett prepared to leave for
White Oaks, thirty-five miles north, to have a scaffold made to hang the
"Kid" on. Before starting, he went into the room where the "Kid" sat on
his stool, guarded by Ollinger, who was having a friendly chat with
Charlie Wall--the man who gave the writer the full details of the affair.
J. W. Bell was also present in the room.
Garrett remarked to the two guards: "Say, boys, you must keep a close
watch on the 'Kid,' as he has only a few more days to live, and might
make a break for liberty."
Bob Ollinger answered: "Don't worry, Pat, we will watch him like a goat."
Now Ollinger stepped into the other room and got his double-barrel shot
gun. With the gun in his hand, and looking towards the "Kid," he said:
"There are eighteen buckshot in each barrel, and I reckon the man who gets
them will feel it."
With a smile, "Billy the Kid" remarked: "You may be the one to get them
yourself."
Now Ollinger put the gun back in the armory, locking the door, putting the
key in his pocket. Then Garrett left for White Oaks.
About five o'clock in the evening, Bob Ollinger took Charlie Wall and the
other four armed prisoners to the Ellis Hotel, across the street, for
supper. Bell was left to guard the "Kid."
According to the story "Billy the Kid" told Mrs. Charlie Bowdre, and other
friends, after his escape, he had been starving himself so that he could
slip his left hand out of the steel cuff. The guards thought he had lost
his appetite from worry over his approaching death.
J. W. Bell sat on a chair, facing the "Kid," several paces away. He was
reading a newspaper. The "Kid" slipped his left hand out of the cuff and
made a spring for the guard, striking him over the head with the steel
cuff. Bell threw up both hands to shield his head from another blow. Then
the "Kid" jerked Bell's pistol out of its scabbard. Now Bell ran out of
the door and received a bullet from his own pistol. The body of Bell
tumbled down the back stairs, falling on the jailer, a German by the name
of Geiss, who was sitting at the foot of the stairs.
Of course Geiss stampeded. He flew out of the gate towards the Ellis
Hotel.
On hearing the shot, Bob Ollinger and the five armed prisoners, got up
from the supper table and ran to the street. Charlie Wall and the four
Mexicans stopped on the sidewalk, while Ollinger continued to run towards
the court house.
After killing Bell, the "Kid" broke in the door to the armory and secured
Ollinger's shot-gun. Then he hobbled to the open window facing the hotel.
When in the middle of the street, Ollinger met the stampeded jailer, and
as he passed, he said: "Bell has killed the "Kid." This caused Ollinger to
quit running. He walked the balance of the way.
When directly under the window, the "Kid" stuck his head out, saying:
"Hello, Bob!"
Ollinger looked up and saw his own shotgun pointed at him. He said, in a
voice loud enough to be heard by Wall and the other prisoners across the
street: "Yes, he has killed me, too!"
These words were hardly out of the guard's mouth when the "Kid" fired a
charge of buckshot into his heart.
Now "Billy the Kid" hobbled back to the armory and buckled around his
waist two belts of cartridges and two Colt's pistols. Then taking a
Winchester rifle in his hand, he hobbled back to the shot gun, which he
picked up. He then went out on the small porch in front of the building.
Reaching over the ballisters with the shotgun, he fired the other charge
into Ollinger's body. Then breaking the shotgun in two, across the
ballisters, he threw the pieces at the corpse, saying: "Take that, you s--
of a b--, you will never follow me with that gun again."
Now the "Kid" hailed the jailer, old man Geiss, and told him to throw up a
file, which he did. Then the chain holding his feet close together was
filed in two.
When his legs were free, the "Kid" danced a jig on the little front porch,
where many people, who had run out to the sidewalk across the street, on
hearing the shots, were witnesses to this free show, which couldn't be
beat for money.
Geiss was hailed again and told to saddle up Billy Burt's, the Deputy
County Clerk's, black pony and bring him out on the street. This black
pony had formerly belonged to the "Kid."
When the pony stood on the street, ready for the last act, the "Kid" went
down the back stairs, stepping over the dead body of Bell, and started to
mount. Being encumbered with the weight of two pistols, two belts full of
ammunition, and the rifle, the "Kid" was thrown to the ground, when the
pony began bucking, before he had got into the saddle.
Now the "Kid" faced the crowd across the street, holding the rifle ready
for action.
Charlie Wall told the writer that he could have killed him with his
pistol, but that he wanted to see him escape. Many other men in the crowd
felt the same way, no doubt.
When the pony was brought back the "Kid" gave Geiss his rifle to hold,
while he mounted. The rifle being handed back to him when he was securely
seated in the saddle, then he dug the pony in the sides with his heels,
and galloped west. At the edge of town he waved his hat over his head,
yelling: "Three cheers for Billy the Kid!" Now the curtain went down, for
the time being.