Billy the Kid and the Pardon Governor Wallace Promised him.

[bkohatl]

Billy the Kid, from a photo owned by Sheriff Pat Garrett and handed down through his family.

I am curious how people feel about the pardon which New Mexico Territory Governor Lew Wallace(author of Ben Hur) offered Billy the Kid, but didn't deliver. I don't understand how someone can look someone else in the face and lie to them that way. Believing that the Governor was going to keep his word, Billy turned himself in, went to jail willingly, testified before the grand jury, leading to the arrest of 50 men involved in the Lincoln County War and waited.
After testifying, Billy found out that he was going to be tried for the murder of corrupt Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady and face execution by hanging anyway. Billy was convicted and sentenced by the same judge who issued the fraudulent writ to seize store owner John Tunstall's property, which led to his premeditated MURDER of Tunstall by Sheriff Brady's Posse, which is what started the Lincoln County War.
People forget that Billy actually tried to end the Lincoln County War. As defacto leader of the "Regulators"(who wanted a return to law and order), he offered to negotiate a truce with James Dolan the leader of the "House". They made an agreement, which was abruptly scuttled when sociopath and "House" supporter Billy Campbell murdered lawyer Huston Chapman who was trying to get pardons for the "Regulators" and get property illegally seized returned to the families of John Tunstall and Alex McSween.
Billy escaped a couple of weeks short of the day of his scheduled hanging, by killing two guards. If the Governor had kept his word, this would have never happened.
I have put forth Billy's best case on my blog: http://briankeithohara.blogspot.com/...-kill-off.html

I am still working on retrieving information and adding footnotes, but you get a better sense of who Billy was than the press of the time or Sheriff Pat Garrett's portrayal in his book the "Authentic Life of Billy the Kid", the title of which reminds me of Voltaire's famous quote about the Holy Roman Empire(neither Holy, Roman or an Empire).

[Ginger]

[IMG]I am curious how people feel about the pardon which New Mexico Territory Governor Lew Wallace(author of Ben Hur) offered Billy the Kid, but didn't deliver.

Was it ever definitely established that Wallace had offered a full pardon? I'd understood that to be an area of contention. Of the two men, I know that I'd be much more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to Wallace than to the Kid.

[GUT]

Was it ever definitely established that Wallace had offered a full pardon? I'd understood that to be an area of contention. Of the two men, I know that I'd be much more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to Wallace than to the Kid.

That to me is the BIG question was the pardon actually offered. If it was Wallace was in mu opinion in the wrong, but does that excuse Billy's murders anyway.

[bkohatl]

''In return for your doing this(testifying), I will let you go scot free with a pardon in your pocket for all your misdeeds.''---Gov. Lew Wallace to Billy the Kid, March 17, 1879.

Billy actually did testify before the grand jury for over two months leading to the indictment of 50 men for their part in the Lincoln County War. After the murder of John Tunstall(Billy's friend and employer) in 1878,
Billy was actually deputized by the local justice of the peace to arrest the Sheriff's Posse which murdered him. The local Hispanic and Indian Community still revere Billy as a hero. Many people believe that Billy and the Regulators were on the side of law and order, the sheriff and judiciary in Lincoln were corrupt in the Lincoln County War.

[bkohatl]

A Myth about Billy the Kid
Folklore "credits" Billy with murdering a man because he snored and kept Billy awake. That is a lie.

This story is actually about vicious outlaw John Wesley Hardin.

Billy was genuinely well liked. While Billy was in jail at one point, a troop of locals came to sing for and entertain Billy in his cell. Governor Wallace heard the serenade and was quite perplexed by it.


“A bullet to the front of the head demonstrates good marksmanship. A bullet to the back of the head demonstrates good judgment.” John Wesley Hardin


An unreconstructed Confederate, John Wesley Hardin(1853-1895), hated Hispanics, Blacks, Indians, Catholics and Yankees. And he had a hair trigger, ferocious temper. He murdered a former slave at 15 simply out of vindictiveness, his first killing. You were only safe around him if you were a white Protestant Southerner and hated all the people that he hated. He really did murder someone for snoring. He committed 27-42 murders, either because of his racism, his greed or his temper. Many were out of pure meanness, everyone agreed, John Wesley Hardin was a cold-blooded vicious killer.

On March 16th, 1894 John Wesley Hardin was given a full pardon by the state of Texas. No man deserved it less, mercy should be reserved for the merciful.

[Mayerling]

A Myth about Billy the Kid
Folklore "credits" Billy with murdering a man because he snored and kept Billy awake. That is a lie.

This story is actually about vicious outlaw John Wesley Hardin.

Billy was genuinely well liked. While Billy was in jail at one point, a troop of locals came to sing for and entertain Billy in his cell. Governor Wallace heard the serenade and was quite perplexed by it.


“A bullet to the front of the head demonstrates good marksmanship. A bullet to the back of the head demonstrates good judgment.” John Wesley Hardin


An unreconstructed Confederate, John Wesley Hardin(1853-1895), hated Hispanics, Blacks, Indians, Catholics and Yankees. And he had a hair trigger, ferocious temper. He murdered a former slave at 15 simply out of vindictiveness, his first killing. You were only safe around him if you were a white Protestant Southerner and hated all the people that he hated. He really did murder someone for snoring. He committed 27-42 murders, either because of his racism, his greed or his temper. Many were out of pure meanness, everyone agreed, John Wesley Hardin was a cold-blooded vicious killer.

On March 16th, 1894 John Wesley Hardin was given a full pardon by the state of Texas. No man deserved it less, mercy should be reserved for the merciful.

John Wesley Hardin did not enjoy his pardon long. The relative of one of his victims shot him in the back some time after his pardon. As his viewpoint about Blacks, Indians, Latinos, and Catholics (and Yankees) were shared by many in Texas in 1894, there is little reason to wonder why he got a pardon.

[Mayerling]

That is the first time I ever saw the photo of the Kid that is on this column. I hate to say it, but he looks a little bit like Chester Gould's old murderer and foe of Dick Tracy, "Flattop".

I have heard that in the Lincoln County War Billy's friends were the ones who were in the right and the police/judiciary were in the hands of some land grabbers. As for General Wallace, I could believe anything about him.

Today the General is recalled for two things - his literary career and his military action at Monocacy (I think that's it's name), in June 1864 that delayed Jubal Early's troops (though Wallace finally retreated) when they launched their surprise attack on Washington, D.C. Earlier Wallace had fought at Shiloh, so he was close to Grant and Sherman. Subsequently, in May-July 1865 he was one of the nine officers on the military tribunal into the Lincoln Conspirators (which, had Dr. Tumblety been part of that group,
would have brought Wallace up to our attention earlier). Wallace also was in charge of the trial (and execution) of Captain Henry Wirtz, the commander of the Andersonville Prison in the war.

Most people don't realize Wallace wrote three novels. He is (of course) recalled for his best one, the 1888 classic "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ", which has been made into at least two successful block-buster films. Note also, Wallace's novel is the best recalled piece of fiction from 1888.

The other two novels were "The Fair God" and "The Prince of India". "The Fair God" is about the conquest of the Aztecs by Cortez. "The Prince of India" is about Vasco Da Gama and the opening of India and the East to Portugal. They never quite shared the popularity of "Ben-Hur".

As Wallace was willing to be a tool of the military leadership (i.e. Stanton and Holt) in the Lincoln Conspiracy trial, and again against Wirtz, I can imagine he would have been willing to lie to catch poor Billy if he could. But you need more proof.

Jeff

[bkohatl]

A new theory about Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War

After the cold-blooded murder of Store Owner John Tunstall(1877), who had retained his British Citizenship, the British Government demanded an investigation. President Benjamin Harrison bowed to the pressure and fired corrupt Governor Axtel and appointed General Lew Wallace.
The Territory of New Mexico was controlled by a group of very rich Anglo-Saxon Protestant businessmen called "The Ring", who engaged in every form of chicanery and crookedness imaginable. Mainly aimed at stealing land and livestock "legally" from Hispanic settlers and Native Americans.
In Lincoln County, two Irishmen tied to the ring, Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan ran the county, through their local store and corrupt local officials called "The House". John Tunstall opened a store in Lincoln and did a booming business. Nearly driving the Dolan-Murphy Store into bankruptcy. Immediately, Santa Fe took notice.
A fraudulent writ seizing all of John Tunstall assets was issued by the local judge(the same judge who would sentence Billy McCarty to death). When a posse of deputized gunslingers and outlaws were sent to serve the writ; they came upon John Tunstall and his ranch hands on the road to his ranch, John went forward to talk to the men not thinking anything was wrong.
Billy and the others were smart enough to run for their lives. The "deputies" murdered John Tunstall in cold blood. Then murdered his horse as a joke afterward. Billy and the others remember hearing them laughing afterwards.
That one murder started the Lincoln County War. Billy and Tunstall's other ranch hands were furious at the murder of their good friend and boss.
Governor Lew Wallace impaneled a grand jury to placate the British. No one would testify, except Billy the Kid. He would testify for a grant of immunity. He gave his testimony, after which the Grand Jury indicted 50 men on both sides of the war.
The local DA and the Territory Attorney General immediately dropped charges against everyone except James Dolan the leader of "The House" and the man who started the war by ordering the murder of Tunstall. In what has been described as a fixed trial, with a very friendly DA and Judge appointed by "The Ring", Dolan was found not guilty.
Lew Wallace reneged on his deal and Billy fled captivity.
One source said that Dolan was terrified of Billy as some sort avenging angel, seeking justice John Tunstall.
Billy was as relentless as the Banshees and would see justice done, even at the cost of his own life, regardless.
"The Ring" in Santa Fe was afraid of Billy too. Though he really was still a kid, he had become a hero to many of the victims of corruption in the territory, especially the Hispanic and Native American communities.
I wish the British Government would have pushed for Billy McCarty's pardon. It wouldn't have brought John Tunstall back to life, but would have been a step in giving Justice to one of the few men who had the guts to stand up for John Tunstall and attempt to bring his murderers to court.