Chronology of the Life of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War, Part 2
Spring 1869---Catherine McCarty, her sons Joe and Henry, and William Henry Harrison Antrim leave Indiana to go west, specifically Wichita, Kansas. Catherine met Antrim in Indianapolis and the two had since become a couple.
Sept. 6, 1869---The first full election is held in Lincoln County. William Brady is elected sheriff.
Spring 1870---Dick Brewer first arrives in Lincoln County. He goes to work for L. G. Murphy & Co. at Fort Stanton.
Jun. 1870---Catherine McCarty, sons Joe and Henry rent a small house in Wichita. William Antrim rents a house nearby.
Jan. 10, 1871---Jose Chavez y Chavez marries one Maria Lenora Lucero at Lincoln.
Spring 1871---Frank Coe, along with some of his brothers and cousin Ab Saunders move out to Raton, New Mexico. In short time, Frank, his brothers, and Ab start a ranch at La Junta, on the Rio Hondo in Lincoln County. Around the same time, Josiah Scurlock, now going by the nickname of 'Doc,' arrives in New Mexico from Mexico and gets a job as a ranch-hand on the Chisum ranch.
Jun. 16, 1871---Jessie Evans, age eighteen, his parents, and friends are arrested in Topeka, Kansas for passing counterfeit money. Jessie ends up being fined $500. This is his first known criminal offense.
July 12, 1871---Emil Fritz has his life insured for $10,000 with the Merchants Life Insurance Company of New York. The money is kept at the Donnell, Lawson, & Co. bank. This insurance policy will cause much trouble in future years in Lincoln County.
August 1871---Catherine McCarty discovers she has the early stages of tuberculosis. Her doctor tells her to move to a drier climate, which may help relieve the disease. Catherine follows this advice and immediately sells her house. Bill Antrim sells his as well and the two of them, along with Joe and Henry, travel to Trinidad, Colorado, where they will remain for a short time.
Sept. 1871---Alex McSween is recorded to be attending the Washington University Law School at St. Louis, Missouri. At the same time in Lincoln, William Brady is elected to serve as in territorial house of representatives, Murphy is elected probate judge (making him both a local and district probate judge), and Jacob Glynn is elected sheriff.
1872---Jessie Evans arrives in New Mexico from Texas and begins working as a farmhand on the Chisum ranch. According to Evans himself, he is told by John Chisum to steal cattle from the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
Apr. 8, 1872---Saturnino Baca is elected probate judge of Lincoln County. William Brady had run against him and lost. A few days later, William Fritz and Emilie Fritz Scholand, siblings of Emil Fritz, arrive at Fort Stanton. They came to New Mexico due to their brother's recommendation. The two of them will have a major impact on future events.
Aug. 18, 1872---John Tunstall leaves his family home in England to travel to Canada. He hopes to strike it rich through farming/ranching.
Sept. 25, 1872---John Tunstall arrives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He stays with the Turner family while there.
Oct. 25, 1872---L. G. Murphy buys $8,647.50 worth of cattle from Johnny Riley in order to stock his new ranch at Carrizozo. The ranch is called 'Fairview Ranch.'
Fall 1872---Alex McSween is teaching school at Eureka, Kansas. Oddly enough, one of his students is Ida Rodenbaugh, the sister of David Rodenbaugh, later to be known as Dirty Dave Rudabaugh.
Spring 1873 (exact date unknown)---John Kinney, having recently been mustered out of the army in Nebraska, moves down to Dona Ana County, New Mexico. There, he puts together a rustling gang. Eventually, Kinney becomes known as the King of the Rustlers. At the same time, Tom O'Folliard's aunt, Margaret Cook, marries a Pat Dolan. Tom then goes to live with his uncle John Cook.
Mar. 1, 1873---Catherine McCarty and William Antrim are married at Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory. Both Henry and Joe witness the event. Shortly after the wedding, the family moves to Silver City, a recently sprung up boomtown. Antrim dreams of becoming a miner there and striking it rich.
Apr. 2, 1873---John Chisum has his cattle moved to a new ranch he and his brothers started, which is about eighteen miles south of Fort Sumner.
Apr. 3, 1873---Alex McSween opens his first law office in Eureka, Kansas.
May 18, 1873---Over a dispute, hot-headed Jimmy Dolan attempts to shoot and kill one Capt. James Randlett at Fort Stanton.
Jun. 10, 1873---Emil Fritz, who is suffering from kidney disease, travels to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he plans to depart for his old home in Stuttgart, Germany to die. L. G. Murphy accompanies him to Santa Fe.
Jun. 13, 1873---At Santa Fe, Murphy and Fritz sell their Fort Stanton store to L. Edwin Dudley for $8,000. That done, Fritz departs Santa Fe for Germany. Murphy returns south to Fort Stanton. Murphy now dreams of building a new, massive store in the town of Lincoln. Murphy believes that the small, Hispanic town will be the perfect new setting for his growing monopoly.
Aug. 23, 1873---Alex McSween and Susan Hummer are married at Atchison, Kansas, but will live in Eureka.
Sept. 30, 1873---L. G. Murphy & Co. are officially evicted from Fort Stanton. The company had been accused of selling merchandise at amazingly high prices and of scamming the local Mescalero-Apaches they were obligated by contract to supply with food and other supplies. The company does however, still hold the contracts that orders them to supply the Apaches and the local U. S. soldiers at Stanton.
Fall 1873---In Lincoln, construction begins on the massive, two-story building that will become the store of L. G. Murphy & Co. The building will become known as 'The House' and 'The Big Store' to Lincoln residents. It will be the only two-story building in Lincoln, aside from the torreon, a fortress built for defense against Apache raids. Throughout the course of construction, the company will borrow heavily from the First National Bank of Santa Fe, and from its president, Thomas B. Catron, head of the Santa Fe Ring. Eventually, the company will be up to its knees in debt to the bank and Catron. Around the same time in Lincoln, another full election of the county is held. Ham Mills is elected sheriff, Jacinto Sanchez is elected probate judge, Manuel Gutierrez is elected justice of the peace, Juan Patron is elected probate court clerk, and Juan Martin is elected constable. Previous sheriff William Brady had run against Sanchez for probate judge, but lost.
Jan. 5, 1874---Henry and Joe McCarty attend the first day of the first public school at Silver City.
Mar. 28, 1874---The first semester of school in Silver City comes to a close. With school closed, many of the students begin participating in plays and musicals. Henry McCarty is one of the main participants in the plays. Also around this time, Jessie Evans quits working for John Chisum and travels to Dona Ana County. There, he joins the John Kinney Gang of rustlers, which pretty much rules over Dona Ana County.
Apr. 1, 1874---James Dolan buys a partnership in L. G. Murphy & Co., taking Emil Fritz's place alongside Murphy. Dolan's friend, attorney William Rynerson, had loaned Dolan the money he needed to buy the partnership. Around the same time, George Coe, cousin of Frank Coe and Ab Saunders, moves with his family to Colfax County, New Mexico.
May 18, 1874---School opens again in Silver City. Both McCarty boys attend.
Spring 1874 (exact date unknown)---Fred Waite graduates from the Mound City Commercial College at St. Louis, Missouri. He then returns to his family home in Rush Creek, Indian Territory, where he works on his father's ranch.
June 3, 1874---L. G. Murphy & Co. announce that the House is open for business in Lincoln. In order to stock the store with supplies, the company has bought heavily from the firm of Spiegelberg Bros., a company that outfits traders and stores along the Santa Fe Trail. They soon will be deep in debt to them also. Around the same time, Dick Brewer quits working for Murphy and starts his own ranch on the Rio Ruidoso in Glencoe.
June 26, 1874---Emil Fritz dies in Stuttgart, Germany of his kidney disease.
Aug. 1874 (exact date unknown)---School in Silver City is closed after heavy rain greatly damages the dirt roof of the building.
Early Sept. 1874 (exact date unknown)---Jose Chavez y Chavez is elected constable of the small village of San Patricio in Lincoln County.
Sept. 14, 1874---School opens again in Silver City. The new teacher is one Mary Richards. Henry McCarty ends up becoming somewhat close to her, due primarily to the fact that both Ms. Richards and Henry are ambidextrous.
Sept. 16, 1874---Catherine McCarty Antrim succumbs to her tuberculosis and dies at her home. Henry and Joe are at her bedside as she dies. After her burial a few days later, William Antrim travels to Arizona Territory to mine. He leaves Henry and Joe in the care of the Knight family and later, the Truesdell family.
Late Sept. 1874---Alex and Susan McSween leave Eureka, Kansas to head west to Silver City, New Mexico. They leave without repaying several debts to citizens of Eureka.
Late Feb. 1875---Alex and Susan McSween are at Punta de Agua, New Mexico on their way to Silver City. There, they meet U. S. congressman Miguel Otero, who recommends they go to Lincoln over Silver City. Otero also tells them about L. G. Murphy & Co. The McSweens take this advice and continue on to Lincoln.
Mar. 3, 1875---The McSweens arrive in the town of Lincoln. Alex immediately announces his legal services are readily available and soon begins working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
Late Mar. 1875 (exact date unknown)---Sheriff Ham Mills shoots and kills a black man he was keeping as a prisoner in the Lincoln jail. Afterwards, Mills flees Lincoln County, leaving his farm in the possession of friend Andy Boyle.
Apr. 1875 (exact date unknown)---Alex McSween wins his first case in court in Lincoln defending a ranched named W. W. Paul on rustling charges.
Apr. 15, 1875---Marion F. Turner, a Seven Rivers rancher/badman, shoots and kills one Juan Montoya at Blazer's Mills. The killing occurs solely because Turner dislikes Hispanics.
Apr. 21, 1875---Alex McSween represents John Chisum in a tax case. On the same day, Murphy, who is a probate judge, appoints William Brady administrator of the Emil Fritz estate. Shortly thereafter, Murphy supplies McSween to Brady as counsel for the estate.
Late Apr. 1875---Henry McCarty becomes associated with George Schaefer, a local boy older than Henry, who goes by the nickname Sombrero Jack. The pair and fellow friends often throw rocks at the local Chinamen in town. Also, Henry, Jack, and possibly others, steal several pounds of butter from rancher Abel L. Webb. Henry is soon caught by Sheriff Harvey Whitehill and his guilt is easily established. However, Henry promises to be good and never do it again and is then released.
Spring 1875---The Chisum brothers start a new ranch at South Spring, four miles southeast of the small town of Roswell, in southeastern Lincoln County. Out of all the Chisum ranches, this one ends up becoming the main headquarters of the Chisum brothers. The Chisums' presence, specifically that of John Chisum, intimidates the smaller ranchers of the nearby Seven Rivers area. Soon, a massive gang known as the Seven Rivers Warriors is formed that rustles the Chisums' livestock. The gang includes the Beckwith brothers, the Jones brothers, the Olinger brothers, Marion Turner, Milo Pierce, Lewis Paxton, Andy Boyle, Buck Powell, and many, many more. L. G. Murphy & Co. frequently buys the stolen cattle from the Warriors in order to supply the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency and Fort Stanton with beef, as required by their government contracts. Around that same time, Tom O'Folliard's uncle, John Cook gets married. Tom then goes to live with his grandmother.
July 30, 1875---Samuel B. Axtell, a key member of the Santa Fe Ring, takes office as governor of New Mexico Territory. Around the same time, Henry and Joe McCarty move out of the Truesdell house. Joe goes to live with Joe Dyer, proprietor of a local hotel/saloon and begins doing odd-jobs for Dyer. Joe also begins becoming an opium user. Henry, meanwhile, goes to live with R. H. and Sarah Brown. Henry gets a job from the Truesdell family waiting tables and washing dishes at the Star Hotel.
Aug. 1, 1875---Robert Casey, a very successful rancher on the Hondo River, is shot and killed by one William Wilson. Wilson claims he killed Casey because he owed him wages.
Aug. 8, 1875---The John Kinney Gang, including Jessie Evans, ambush and kill four members of the Mes Gang, namely Jesus Mes, Pas Mes, Tomas Madril, and Jermin Aguirre. The Mes Gang was a competitor of the John Kinney Gang.
Sept. 1875 (exact date unknown)---Doc Scurlock and his Chisum riding partner Newt Higgins are attacked by Apaches. Higgins is killed but Doc escapes. He rides to the Chisum Ranch at South Spring and asks John Chisum to let him quit. When Chisum refuses, Doc steals three horses, two saddles, and one gun from Chisum and flees towards Arizona Territory. On the way, some Chisum men catch up with him. They had been sent by Old John himself to catch Doc. When Doc explains his side of the story to the men, they let him go. Shortly after arriving in Arizona, Doc meets one Charlie Bowdre. The two eventually open a cheese factory on the Gila River. Also around this time, Jose Chavez y Chavez is elected justice of the peace in San Patricio.
Sept. 4, 1875---In Silver City, Sombrero Jack Schaefer breaks into the laundry of Chinamen Charley Sun and Sam Chung and steals two guns and $200 worth of clothing and blankets. After fleeing the laundry, he meets up with Henry McCarty and asks him to hide the stolen merchandise. Henry agrees to do so and hides the valuables in his room at the Brown place.
Sept. 6, 1875---A special election is held in Lincoln and Saturnino Baca is elected Sheriff of Lincoln County in order to replace Sheriff Ham Mills. Florencio Gonzales is elected Lincoln's probate judge as well in order to replace Murphy. Murphy had recently been forced to resign his position as probate judge since it was discovered that $20,000 worth of tax collections had disappeared.
Sept. 15, 1875---Juan Patron is unexpectedly shot in the back by Johnny Riley, a House employee and racist towards Hispanics. Patron miraculously survives, but will walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
Sept. 23, 1875---Sarah Brown discovers the stolen valuables in Henry's room. She gives him up to Sheriff Whitehill, who puts him in the Silver City jail. Whitehill does this in order to scare Henry straight.
Sept. 24, 1875---Henry McCarty escapes from the Silver City jail by climbing up the chimney. Shortly afterwards, he turns up at the Truesdell home. The Truesdells give him some supplies and he flees to Arizona, where he hopes to locate his step-father. Soon, he arrives in Clifton and asks Antrim for help. Antrim, however, kicks him out of his house after Henry tells him why he fled New Mexico. Before Henry departs though, he steals a pistol and some supplies from Antrim. Afterwards, he flees deeper into Arizona.
Oct. 18, 1875---William Wilson, who killed Robert Casey, is sentenced to hang for the murder. That night, while attempting to escape from jail, a guard shoots him. The wound is very serious, but Wilson survives.
Nov. 1875 (exact date unknown)---John Chisum, deep in debt, sells his first ranch, the one at Bosque Grande, and his stock holdings to the firm of Hunter & Evans, a St. Louis based beef contracting company. Since Hunter & Evans don't know of anyone to hire to manage the Bosque Grande Ranch and the large herd there, they hire Old John to stay there as ranch manager. So, basically, John continues to live exactly the way he did before, only now he is getting paid to do it.
Dec. 10, 1875---William Wilson is hanged from the gallows in Lincoln. He dangles from the noose for around nine minutes, is taken down, and put in a coffin. When people hear noises coming from the coffin, it is opened and it's discovered that Wilson is still alive. He is taken out and hung again. This time he is dead.
Dec. 31, 1875---John Kinney and gang, including Jessie Evans, go to Las Cruces. At a saloon in town, Kinney gets into a fist fight with several U. S. soldiers. The soldiers beat up Kinney badly and he leaves the saloon. A short time later, Kinney, Evans, and a few other gang members fire shots into the saloon from the street. Two soldiers and one civilian are killed by the shots and two other soldiers are wounded. The outlaws flee and no charges are filed. Shortly thereafter, Evans departs from the John Kinney Gang and forms his own rustling gang, known as the Jessie Evans Gang Boys or simply, the Boys. The gang numbers about two-dozen at its prime, and the key members are: Evans, Jim McDaniels, Frank Baker, Tom Hill, Dolly Graham/George Davis, Nicholas Provencio, Bob Martin, Charles R. 'Pony' Diehl, Bill Allen, George 'Buffalo Bill' Spawn, Manuel 'Indian' Segovia, Billy Morton, Roscoe Burrell, Serafin Aragon, Ponciano Domingues, and Bob Nelson.
Jan. 12, 1876---John Chisum and his attorney, Thomas Conway, are on a stagecoach traveling between Silver City and La Mesilla. The stage ends up being robbed by Dutch Joe Hubert, who allegedly makes off with close to $30,000 in gold. Around the same time, Henry Brown arrives in Lincoln County, after recently killing a man in Texas. He gets a job working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
Jan. 19, 1876---Jessie Evans and two gang members shoot and kill Quirino Fletcher in the streets of Las Cruces. His body will lie in the street until the next morning. Jessie and his two accomplices are soon indicted by the grand jury for the murder, but it'll be a while before the case goes to trial.
Late Jan. 1876 (exact date unknown)---Gov. Samuel Axtell appoints William Rynerson district attorney of the Third Judicial District of New Mexico Territory, which encompasses all of Dona Ana, Grant, and Lincoln Counties. Rynerson makes his headquarters in La Mesilla, Dona Ana County.
Feb. 15, 1876---Alex McSween and William Brady leave Lincoln for Santa Fe to attend both federal and territorial court sessions. McSween later claims that at one point during this trip, in a moment of frustration, Brady exclaims that the House and the Santa Fe Ring literally control him.
Feb. 18, 1876---John Tunstall departs from British Columbia, Canada to head south to California, where he hopes to start a sheep ranch.
Feb. 21, 1876---Tunstall arrives in San Francisco, California.
Mar. 3, 1876---Tunstall travels to Santa Barbara, California.
Mar. 19, 1876---Henry 'Kid' Antrim (the name Henry McCarty is now going by) steals a horse from Pvt. Charles Smith at Camp Goodwin, Arizona. Also around this time, according to the Scurlock family, Henry begins working at the cheese factory on the Gila River owned by Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre.
Late Mar. 1876 (exact date unknown)---John Sherman is appointed New Mexico Territory's U. S. Marshal. Around the same time, Fred Waite quits working at his father's ranch in Indian Territory and moves to Colorado.
Spring 1876 (exact dates unknown)---Jessie Evans and some fellow gang members shoot and kill Pancho Cruz, Roman Mes, and Tomas Cuerele at Shedd's Ranch. Shedd's Ranch, located in San Augustin, Dona Ana County, is the main headquarters and meeting place for all the New Mexican rustling gangs, including the Jessie Evans Gang and the John Kinney Gang. Around the same time, Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock leave their cheese factory and Arizona behind and return to Lincoln County. Once there, L. G. Murphy & Co. decides to use its monopoly scheme on them by selling them land they don't own for a ranch on the Rio Ruidoso, near the town of Glencoe, on credit. Because of their ranch's location on the Ruidoso, Charlie and Doc end up becoming friends with their neighbor, Dick Brewer. They also soon become acquainted with fellow ranchers Frank Coe and Ab Saunders. Like the other small ranchers in the area, Doc and Charlie must repay their huge debt to L. G. Murphy & Co. through beef and crops. With his employers gone, young Henry Antrim gets a job working as a cowboy on the ranch of prominent rancher Henry Hooker. Shortly thereafter, ranch foreman William Whelan is forced to fire Henry because he can't handle the daily rigors of the job. Also around this time, George Coe leaves his family's home in Colfax County and travels south to Lincoln County. There, he gets a job working on the Hondo ranch of his cousins, Frank and Ab. Later in the Spring, George and a brother named Jap start their own ranch on the Rio Ruidoso, making them neighbors (and friends) with Doc, Charlie, and Dick as well.
Apr. 4, 1876---Frederick Godfroy, a Santa Fe Ring partisan, is appointed as the Mescalero-Apache Indian agent at Fort Stanton and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
Apr. 19, 1876---Henry Antrim is hired by Miles L. Wood to work as a cook and waiter at Wood's Hotel de Luna, located just outside of Fort (Camp) Grant, Arizona. Wood, besides owning the Hotel de Luna, is also the local justice of the peace. Henry also acquires the nicknames 'Kid' and 'Austin' around this time.
Apr. 21, 1876---Gov. Axtell visits Lincoln and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. During this trip, Axtell stays at the House in Lincoln.
July 1, 1876---Fred Godfroy and family move into a two-story building at Blazer's Mills. The nearby Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency is leasing the building from Dr. Joseph Blazer for $65 a month. Blazer keeps an office for himself in the building, but lives in one of the other one-story adobe houses in the scattered settlement.
July 2, 1876---William Brady resigns as administrator of the Emil Fritz estate.
July 18, 1876---A lynch mob made up of Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, George Coe, Frank Coe, and Ab Saunders storms the small Lincoln jail and remove horse thief Jesus Largo from Sheriff Saturnino Baca's custody. The five men then hang Largo.
Late July 1876 (exact date unknown)---Frank Coe and Ab Saunders shoot and kill one Nicas Meras, a local badman, in Baca Canyon.
Early Aug. 1876 (exact date unknown)---Alex McSween quits working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
Aug. 8, 1876---John Tunstall travels to San Francisco, where he leaves on a train headed for Santa Fe, New Mexico. On the same day, the Republican Convention is held in Lincoln. At the convention, Major Mickey Cronin is elected president of the territorial delegation, Jose Montano is elected vice president, and Alex McSween is elected secretary. Juan Patron is also nominated to represent Lincoln County at the territorial convention in Santa Fe.
