Billy The Kid, Desperado (Part Two)

He never robbed a bank or a train and never fought a traditional duel but Billy the Kid remains one of America's most notorious outlaws. Sheriff Pat Garrett Garrett was an acquaintance of Billy the Kid, he had even tended bar in Fort Sumner’s most popular saloon.  6’ 6”, and powerfully built, Garrett ran as an alternative to the current lawlessness in Northern New Mexico.  Federal authorities were also intent on cracking down on rampant counterfeiting through the efforts of Treasury Agent Azariah Wild, transferred to New Mexico from New Orleans.  Wild eventually deputized Garrett, as well as other locals, including Bob Olinger, to aid him in the pursuit of individuals believed involved in this scam, including Billy the Kid.  In late 1880, robbery of the US Mail wagon in the Fort Sumner area was tied to the Kid as well.  This behavior shredded the tolerance of many Fort Sumner area residents, who increasingly viewed Billy the Kid as a lawless menace, necessitating apprehension.  His notoriety was discussed in the region’s newspapers, infamy that was eventually written up in the New York Sun, the first publication to designate him with the nickname, “Billy the Kid.” General Lew Wallace, during the Civil War President Rutherford B Hayes replaced Governor Axtell with Civil War General Lew Wallace, a bureaucratic and military jack of all trades who immediately issued a general pardon to those not indicted as well as a proclamation to allow the military to vanquish “insurrection.”  This allowed soldiers greater leeway to intercede in the civil disputes that gripped Lincoln County.  Deputy Bob Ollinger As Bob Olinger opened the gate at the side of the structure, he heard a voice coming from the nearest window on the second floor.  Looking up, the last thing he ever saw was Billy the Kid holding Olinger’s own gun, the shotgun that the deputy repeatedly taunted Billy with.  Billy the Kid poked the weapon out of the window and after greeting his jailer by simply stating “Hello, Bob,” he pulled the triggers on both barrels.  Olinger was killed instantly by the massive blast. Lincoln County Courthouse Arriving in Lincoln on April 21, Billy the Kid was lodged not in the notoriously insecure town jail but in the newly designated county courthouse, the building formerly housing the Dolan-Murphy store run by The House.  Shackled and handcuffed, Billy was to be under constant guard in a room next to Pat Garrett’s office.  The second of two grave markers for Billy the Kid in Fort Sumner, New Mexico