A Sheriff in Distress
by J. Young

Other than his escapades with Billy the Kid, George Kimbrell lived a dull and average life, of a western settler.
He was born on March 31st 1842 at Huntsville, Arkansas to parents William Riley Kimbrell and Mariah Farris.
George came West for the Pikes Peak gold rush in 1859. He traveled with several different freight wagons to Colorado with two of his friends; they paid their way by doing chores for other travelers and homesteads along the way. After reaching the Rocky Mountains and working the mines at Pikes Peak for a year or two, Kimbrell became ill. He decided to go south with an oxen train to Las Vegas, NM. George did small odd jobs here and there to make a living and took it slow. It wasn’t long before Kimbrell was feeling better and moved on to Lincoln County in 1863. He arrived at Fort Stanton and took a surveying scout job for the government and a Pony Express job. Kimbrell had the route from Stanton to Roswell and back. After finding a location to settle at Chaves Flats, he began ranching and farming. While raising cattle, Kimbrell also grew corn and freighted it into Fort Stanton. He earned $10 per fendega, which was about 150 lbs.
While he was absent one day, Kimbrell’s ranch was raided by The Apache, who stole all of his cattle and horses. Luckily the thieves left the oxen and George was still able to plow his fields to fulfill his contract and get over the loss.
During all his hard work, Kimbrell married his girl, Pablita (Paulita) Romero at The Nuestra Señora de la Concepción at Tomé, NM on June 29, 1866. The newlyweds moved to Picacho where they would live on a 160 acre ranch for the rest of their lives and would soon be graced with kids.They were John E.(1867-1951) Marcela(died at birth) Beatrice(1872-1925) Bonifacio(1874-1954) William(1876-1960) and Guiermo(died after birth).
George Kimbrell seemed well liked in the community and never took sides or bribes from either faction of the LCW. Kimbrell was likely asked to run for Sheriff of Lincoln, around the time Wallace took Peppins resignation, or did so on his own after seeing the community torn apart by the war.
In the November 1878 elections, Sheriff Kimbrell was elected Sheriff of Lincoln County and took office on January 1st 1879.
That March Kimbrell participated in the simulated arrest of Billy the Kid and Tom O’Folliard. The arrest was the result of a staged arrest set up by Governor Lew Wallace on March 23rd 1879 the Kid and Tom were brought back to Lincoln and held in an outpost building of the Patron house where they were promptly visited by Wallace.
During their stay the boys were supposed to be on “staged” house arrest, but began roaming Lincoln while armed. Sheriff Kimbrell became embarrassed. So for their safety as well as his, he ordered them locked into the pit jail. Deputy Tom Longwell had the displeasure of moving Billy into the pit. Billy said to Tom, “Tom I’ve sworn I would never go inside that hole alive again”.

Tom replied “I don’t want to put you or anyone else there Billy, but these are my orders”.

Billy began to climb down and told Tom “I’m going on in here because I don’t want to have any trouble with you, but I’d give all I’ve got if the bastard that gave you the order was in your shoes.”

After Billy and Tom gave testimony in Mesilla, they were taken back to house arrest at Lincoln. They were likely transported by Kimbrell and a squad of soldiers from Stanton. Billy’s court testimony was turned upside down by the judge and district attorney who were minions of The Santa Fe Ring. Billy probably sensed that Wallace’s promise was just an empty promise, and with no documentation to prove it, Billy saddled his mare and with Tom following, simply rode out of house arrest.
During June of 1880 Kimbrell also took on the duty of the U.S. census of Lincoln County.


Captain Joseph C. Lea of Roswell and John Chisum met up with Garrett and persuaded him to run for Sheriff against re-electing Lincoln County Sheriff George Kimbrell.

On November 2nd 1880 Garrett was elected sheriff of Lincoln county. Sheriff Kimbrell was defeated 320 to 179 votes. Garrett however could not take over as sheriff until January. Kimbrell deputized Pat so he could get to work. Garrett was also appointed US deputy Marshal in order to travel across country and state lines through the efforts of Secret service agent Frank Angel, and U.S. Marshall John Sherman, who declined to help due to the dangers of apprehending Billy the Kid. Garrett was tasked with bringing in Billy the kid, and the counterfeiters Billy Wilson and others.
George Kimbrell was probably relieved and at ease now that he wasn’t responsible for bringing in The Kid. Kimbrell went back to Picacho to help develop the town. He became known as Judge Kimbrell when he filled the probate Judge role for many years. Kimbrell was also the Director of the school board and owner of Pichacho’s dancehall titled Kimbrell’s Hall. He became the district’s election judge as well as a political party leader.

Kimbrell’s wife died in 1916 leaving George a widower. Judge George Kimbrell died on March 25th 1924 at his home in Picacho. He was almost 82 years young. George Kimbrell was survived by his four children.