Billy the Kid (Part Three)

But the future was dim; Tunstall was murdered by the Boys and a sheriff on Dolan's side of the dispute, Sheriff Brady, along with his posse. Thrust back into "thug life," the Kid and his fellow ranch hands formed a gang called "the Regulators." The Regulators had to take the law into their own hands, like all vigilantes, since the law was not on their side. In a vendetta for Tunstall's death, the Regulators killed five men on the Dolan side: Bill Morton, Frank Baker, William McCloskey, Sheriff Brady and Sheriff's deputy George Hindman. This, of course, did not resolve the problem. It just made Dolan's people angrier.

Dolan and his men surrounded Alex McSween's home, trapping McSween and many Regulators inside. It became an all out siege, Dolan even called military troops to his assistance! After four days of this siege, the Regulators still did not surrender. In an act of impatience, Dolan's men set McSween's house on fire. Acting as a hero while the rest of the Regulators panicked, the calm Kid assumed leadership. He split the Regulators into two and sent one group out the front of the house and in one direction so as to distract the gunfire from the second party as the rest of the Regulators ran in the opposite direction. Only three men were killed, McSween and two Regulators, but the Kid and the rest of them survived.

That was the War. The Regulators were finished; each went his own way - so much for teamwork.

The Kid was not only an outlaw, but a now a fugitive as well.

The Kid began the cycle of wandering, working, gambling and wandering some more once again. After a while, he found out that there was a new governor in Lincoln County, Lew Wallace, and wrote him a letter in which he basically asked for forgiveness. In it, the Kid said that, in order for all charges of murder placed on him during the Lincoln County War to be forgiven, he would testify against Dolan's side. The governor told the Kid he would be completely pardoned if he did so.

Though the Kid did testify against Dolan's side, it all went wrong. All of Dolan's men were acquitted since they had such heavy influence on the law and court systems of Lincoln County. The Kid wasn't to be pardoned; Governor Lew Wallace did not have the power to do so. Convinced that he had no possibility of being pardoned, and that he would most likely be killed or jailed, he cleverly escaped, as usual.

Could another new beginning be in store for the Kid?