Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Chronology of the Life of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War, Page 11

Mar. 1902---Godfrey Gauss allegedly dies, somewhere in Kansas.
1903 (exact dates unknown)---Pres. Roosevelt decides against renewing Pat Garrett's appointment as collector of customs for the next term. Disappointed, Garrett soon after returns to Dona Ana County, New Mexico and starts ranching again. By this time though, Garrett is quickly deteriorating, being deep in financial debt, suffering from alcoholism, and a growing sense of paranoia.
1904--Johnny Riley leaves New Mexico and returns to Colorado. At Colorado Springs, he builds a home and a large hog ranch.
June 3, 1904---At Roswell, Billy Mathews dies of pneumonia.
Sept. 18, 1904---George Peppin dies of bowel trouble.
1905 (exact dates unknown)---Billy Wilson/David Anderson is elected Sheriff of Terrell County, Texas.
Aug. 31, 1906---Buck Powell dies at his Rio Penasco ranch.
Feb. 29, 1908---Pat Garrett and friend Carl Adamson leave Garrett's ranch in a buggy bound for Las Cruces. Along the way, Garrett is shot twice and killed under mysterious circumstances. Jesse Wayne Brazel, a young rancher that Garrett had leased some land to and had since had trouble with, confesses to the murder, but claims it was self-defense and he is quickly acquitted. Other theories are that Adamson himself shot Garrett, that a hitman named Jim Miller did the deed after he was hired to do so by the same men that killed Col. Fountain, or that Billy the Kid's former friend, Yginio Salazar, killed Garrett to avenge Billy. Either way, no theory is ever proven and Garrett is buried in Las Cruces.
Mid. 1908---Barney Mason and his family move to Bakersfield, California, where Barney gets a job as a teamster and builds a hog, chicken, and cattle ranch.
1909 (exact dates unknown)---Tom Pickett quits driving the Fort Apache-Holbrook stage and moves to Texas to visit his dying mother. After he arrives, he is surprised to find that he still faces charges of cattle rustling stemming from indictments from 1879. Pickett pleads guilty to the charges and pays the required $137 fine. The same year, Sam Dedrick is shot and killed by an unknown Mexican on the Verde River at Deming, New Mexico. Sam's younger brother, Mose, is also mysteriously shot and killed from ambush near Phoenix, Arizona, the same year.
Feb. 1, 1909---After aiding prison guards in a prison riot, Jose Chavez y Chavez is paroled by Gov. Miguel Otero.
Apr. 29, 1910---Nathan Dudley dies of natural causes and is thereafter buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.
1912 (exact dates unknown)---Tom Pickett returns to Holbrook, Arizona and resumes his job as a bartender, while also being appointed a deputy.
1914 (exact dates unknown)---Tom Pickett loses his jobs as a bartender and deputy and thereafter begins working as a ranchhand on various ranches.
Sept. 25, 1915---Thomas McKinney dies of lung cancer.
Feb. 10, 1916---Johnny Riley dies of natural causes at Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Apr. 11, 1916---Barney Mason dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at his ranch in Bakersfield, California.
Mid. 1916---Frank Stewart reappears in Raton, New Mexico, where he settles.
June 14, 1918---Sheriff Billy Wilson/David Anderson is shot and killed by a drunken cowboy named Ed Valentine while trying to disarm him. Valentine himself is lynched by the angry townsfolk shortly thereafter.
1919---John Poe writes a manuscript entitled ''The Death of Billy the Kid,'' which is published in the Wide World Magazine.
Doc Scurlock's wife, Antonia, dies at Acton, Texas. Thereafter, Doc and his remaining children move to the town of Eastland.
Aug. 25, 1919---John Kinney dies of natural causes at Prescott, Arizona.
Dec. 10, 1922---William Antrim, Billy's step-father, dies at Adelaida, California.
Summer 1923---Tom Pickett moves to Winslow, Arizona and is appointed a deputy. Around the same time, Sam Corbet, former clerk for the Tunstall store, dies at Miller Grove, Texas.

July 17, 1923---Jose Chavez y Chavez dies at Milagro, New Mexico. On the very same day, John Poe dies, allegedly a suicide, in his home in Michigan.
1924 (exact dates unknown)---According to Frank Coe, Jim French is shot and killed, but the place and circumstances of his death are unknown.
July 25, 1929---Doc Scurlock dies of natural causes at his home in Eastland, Texas.
1930 (approx.)---Tom Pickett has to have a leg amputated, due to the bullet wound he received in it in 1886 or 1887.
Dec. 25, 1930---Joe McCarty Antrim dies at Denver, Colorado. With no one to claim it, his body is given to the Colorado Medical School for dissection.
Jan. 3, 1931---Susan McSween Barber dies at her White Oaks home of natural causes.
Sept. 16, 1931---Frank Coe dies of pneumonia at his Ruidoso ranch.
1933---John Poe's manuscript of his account of Billy the Kid's death is republished, this time in book form.
1934---George Coe's autobiography, ''Frontier Fighter,'' is published.
May 14, 1934---Tom Pickett dies at his home in Winslow, Arizona.
May 11, 1935---Frank Stewart dies at his home in Raton, New Mexico.
Sept. 30, 1935---A Billy Wilson, who may have been the one who rode with Billy the Kid, dies of natural causes in Missouri.
Jan. 7, 1936---Yginio Salazar dies of natural causes at his ranch in Lincoln County.
Mar. 12, 1937---John Miller, who claims to really be Billy the Kid, dies at the Pioneer's Home in Prescott, Arizona.
1938 (exact dates unknown)---Dan Dedrick dies of natural causes at his home in Big Bear, California.
Nov. 14, 1941---George Coe dies of natural causes in Roswell.
Early 1948---Probate investigator Willam Morrison of St. Louis, Missouri, begins working on the case of Joe Hines, who is really Jessie Evans, living in Florida. Hines claims that his brother recently died in Montana, leaving him the only heir to his land. During their discussions, they get talking about Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War. When Morrison tells Hines how he is part of the Maxwell family who owned the house where the Kid was killed, the old man replies that the Kid is still alive and living in Hamilton, Texas. Morrison is intrigued and asks for the Kid's address and current name, which Hines gives him.
Mid./Late 1948---Having completed his work on the Hines case, Morrison begins a written correspondence with the man Hines claims to be the Kid. After a few months of this, Morrison writes that he would like to meet him. A month or so later, Morrison travels to Hamilton, Texas and arrives at the house of Bill Roberts. Although Roberts at first denies he is the Kid, while in the presence of his wife, he tells Morrison to come back the following day, when they can be alone. This Morrison does, and Roberts confesses to him that he is the real Billy the Kid. Roberts goes on to show Morrison several scars on his body that correspond with the Kid's known scars. Roberts then tells Morrison that he would like to finally obtain the pardon he was promised by Gov. Lew Wallace back in 1879, to which Morrison agrees to help him. Over the next several months, the two meet frequently, with Brushy telling Morrison his life story.
Fall 1949---Morrison takes Roberts on a trip through New Mexico, in order to have Roberts meet with some surviving friends of Billy the Kid's who may be able to confirm or refute his claim. On their trip, they visit such sites as Fort Sumner and Lincoln, while Roberts tells stories of the events that he witnessed there. Eventually, they meet with Martile Able, Jose Montoya, and Severo Gallegos, who sign affidavits that Roberts is the genuine Kid. They also meet with Bill and Sam Jones, who do not sign affidavits in support of Roberts's claim.
Summer 1950---Morrison moves to El Paso to be closer to Roberts, who himself has moved from Hamilton to Hico. Meanwhile, Morrison, with the help of local lawyer Ted Andress, begins going through the necessary steps in order to procure Roberts his pardon. Morrison prepares a report entitled ''A Statement of Facts,'' which details the evidence in Roberts's favor, as well as the evidence that Billy the Kid was promised a pardon by Gov. Lew Wallace. A private meeting is set with New Mexico Gov. Thomas Mabry for Nov. 29, 1950. Mabry and Morrison agree that one or two historians may be present in the meeting, but no one else, especially no press.
Nov. 29, 1950---Morrison and Roberts travel to Santa Fe to meet with Gov. Mabry. When they arrive at his mansion, they are shocked to see it is filled with reporters, policeman, photographers, etc. Several historians, such as William Keleher, Will Robinson, and E. B. Mann, are also present. The shock of his apparently gives Roberts a mild stroke and he forgets everything. Due to this, Mabry refuses to pardon him. Defeated, Morrison takes Roberts to a local doctor's office to be examined then later takes him home to Hico. Morrison promises Roberts that he will continue in his attempts to procure a pardon for him.
Dec. 27, 1950---Bill Roberts, feeling better after his stroke, offers to carry a package for his wife to the post-office. As he walks down the street, he has a sudden heart-attack and falls to the ground, dead.