Escape from Death Row

by J. Young

artwork by Gregg Burch & Angie Hinojosa

Escape!
Billy the Kid once used the epigram,
“There’s many a slip, ‘twixt the cup and the lip”
It’s an old saying, meaning don’t count your chickens before they hatch. It’s that even when a good outcome or conclusion seems certain, things can still go wrong.

The Kid had been sentenced to death on April 13 and was given 30 days to repent, as he was due under the noose on the 13th of May 1881. After Billy was transferred to Lincoln County jail from Mesilla, he found himself in the old Murphy Store chained and shackled in Murphy’s old bedroom on the second level.
On the floor, a line of chalk divided the room. If The Kid crossed the line at any time he was to be killed, keeping him up against the walls in the northeast upper corner of the building. Some reports suggest he was chained to the floor as well. In Murphy’s old living quarters on the 2nd level, was Garrett’s office. In the rear of Garrett’s office was Billy’s room, which had two windows.

The North window overlooked the front of the building and the East window had a view looking down the road. The Kid’s room was directly above the post office. Across the hall was Murphy’s old housekeeper’s room, where 5 prisoners from Tularosa were locked in.

Billy’s guards had been chosen by Sheriff Pat Garrett, and were not in any way pals of Billy. These 2 men were J.W. Bell and Bob Olinger. Bell was decent mannered to Billy, even though Bell’s friend James Carlyle was killed while serving as part of Sheriff Hudgen’s posse during a standoff against Billy’s crew at the Greathouse station.
Ollinger was a Dolan henchman who previously rode with the Seven Rivers Warriors gang. Bob Ollinger was convinced Billy had killed his friend Robert Beckwith during the 5 day battle in Lincoln and held a grudge since they were on opposite sides of the Lincoln County War.
But Ollinger had earlier killed John Jones, who was a close friend of Billys. Word has it that Billy promised John’s mother that he would avenge her son’s death.
At the big house in Lincoln, Sheriff Garrett warned his deputies about the dangers of Billy’s innocent demeanor:
“You think of yourself as an old hand at this business, you have guarded many prisoners and faced danger many a time apprehending them, and you think you are invincible and can get away with anything…
But I tell you as a good man you are, that if that man, is shown the slightest chance on earth, if he is allowed the use of one hand or is not watched at every moment from now until the moment he is executed, he will affect some plan by in which he will murder the whole of you before you even have time to suspect that he is any such intention.”
Billy had been mostly alone in the closed room. He sat in his window day and night, watching Lincoln’s days go by. Occasionally playing a little game of Monte with Bell, who seemed to take a liking to The Kid. As for Ollinger, he would taunt Billy with his shotgun whenever he could and often dared him to try and escape. He hated the Kid and the kid hated him.

Garrett reflects,
“There existed a reciprocal hatred between the two, and neither attempted to disguise or conceal his antipathy for the other.”
Billy quietly observed the deputies’ routines and at about 5 p.m. each day Sam Corbett, a former employee of John Tunstall‘s, would bring Billy a plate of food just as Ollinger would escort the Tularosa prisoners to Worley’s for dinner.
A friend of Billy, Mrs. Anne Lesnett reportedly visited Billy in jail and brought him something to eat. The guards allowed the visit. While she was there Bob Ollinger invited Mrs. Lesnett to watch the hanging.
The joke made her sick to her stomach.
Billy noticed how this made her feel and spoke up,
“Mrs. Lesnett, they cannot hang me if I am not there, can they…?”
Billy watched and waited… and about a week later on the 27th of April, conveniently Pat Garrett headed out of town to White Oaks to collect money for Taxes. This would take a few days.
The following afternoon of April 28th 1881, Bob Ollinger was loading his 10 Gauge Whitney Shotgun with 18 buckshot in each barrel, taunting Billy as he did…
“A man that gets one of these loads will feel it,”
Olinger barked at Billy, with a taunting smile…
Kid replied,
“I expect he will, but be careful Bob, or you might shoot yourself accidentally.”
As expected at 5pm Bob and the prisoners went to dinner at Wortley’s. Billy waited a few minutes then told Bell he needed to use the privy out back.
It is possible that the escape could have started immediately after being unlocked from the chain connected to the floor. If so, then a struggle would have started inside Billy’s room leading through the hall and down the stairs. However, Bell’s corpse was found with his gun holstered. Did he have another one in his hand? Likely not if he was unlocking Billy from the floor… Let’s try again!
On the way back up the stairs from the privy, Billy’s heartbeat began to pick up pace as he trotted up ahead of his captor. Bell was trailing with a holstered pistol and likely one in hand in case Billy made a run for it. As Billy reached the top he slid the iron shackle down his large wrist and over his small hand and jumped around the corner at the top.
When Bell reached the top step Billy slapped him across the side of his head with the heavy iron shackle, fracturing his skull. Probably bleeding profusely from his head, Bell staggered around stunned. Billy tried to hold Bell, but he could not and he got loose but not before the Kid snatched the gun from his hand. Once he had it, he commanded Bell to surrender. His plan was likely to tie Bell up and slip out of town quietly.

Before we proceed, it is possible and very likely that ex-Tunstall employees, Godfrey (Gottfried) Gauss or Sam Corbett could have planted a gun for Billy in the privy, which he would have retrieved and hid in his pants and under his shirt until back inside the building where he could get it out without anyone seeing the business. Also depending on how long the chains on Billy’s wrists were he may have been unshackled temporarily by Bell to use the privy.
Either way, at the top of the steps, Billy had a gun in Bell’s face. Whether it was Bells or a planted gun we may never know. Because Billy later told a couple pals different accounts of how it went down, it would seem he was covering for someone.
On the way down Bell turned to the left to get back down the stairs putting his right hand up in hopes that Billy would not shoot. Billy shot and the ball tore through the right side of Bell’s under armpit and out his left side. He staggered down the stairs and exited the building.
Godfrey Gauss lived with Sam Wortley in an old warehouse behind the Lincoln Courthouse and had been doing yard work that day. Gauss said he was in the rear yard of the courthouse when he heard a scuffle inside followed by a shot fired and someone running down the stairs.
Gauss:
“Deputy Bell comes out of the door toward me. He fell right into my arms and expired the same moment I laid him down dead.”
Gauss said he then ran around to the east side of the building.
“When I arrived at the garden gate leading to the street, in front of the courthouse, I saw the other deputy sheriff, Ollinger, coming out of the hotel with the other county prisoners where they had taken their dinner. I called him to come quickly. He did so, leaving his prisoners in front of the hotel.”
After Bell fell, The Kid smashed through the weak door to the armory and snatched Ollinger’s shotgun and hobbled back into his prison room where he could see the hotel where Ollinger was and waited.
Gauss:
“When Ollinger had come close up to me, and while standing not more than a couple yards apart, I told him that I was just laying Bell dead on the ground in the yard behind, and before he could reply, he was struck by a well directed shot fired from a window above us, and fell dead at my feet. I started to run for my life to reach my room and safety, when Billy the Kid called out to me”… “Don’t run, I won’t hurt you! I am alone, and master not only of the courthouse, but also of the town, for I will allow nobody to come near us. You go and saddle one of Judge Leonard’s horses and I will clear out as soon as I can have the shackles loosened from my legs.”

Gauss:
“With a little prospecting pick I had thrown him through the window, he was working for at least an hour, and could not accomplish more than to free one leg. He came to the conclusion to wait for a better chance, tied one shackle to his waist belt, and started outside. Meanwhile I had saddled a small skittish pony belonging to Billy Burt as there was no other horse available, and had also at Billy’s request, tied a pair of bed blankets behind the saddle.”
While Billy was struggling with his leg irons, Sam Wortley entered and helped him get at least one leg free. Afterwards, Billy raided the armory for some firepower, loading up with guns and plenty of ammo. He was then all over the house, peeking out all the windows and doors before finally coming out to the upper porch where he sat on the banisters while cheerfully whistling a tune. Local stonemason Bob Brookshire started across the street, Billy yelled for him to go back or he would kill him. Nobody dared interfere. If anyone had, surely they would have taken their last breath that day.
Billy addressed the small crowd gathered below. He told them that he was fighting for his life and didn’t want to hurt anyone.

He explained to the crowd that as he grabbed Bell’s revolver and told him to hold his hands up to surrender, that Bell decided to run, and he had to kill him. He stated that he was standing pat against the world and did not wish to hurt anybody.
Gauss remembers Billy’s exit:
“When Billy came downstairs at last, on passing the body of Bell, he said, ‘I’m sorry I had to kill you, but I couldn’t help it.” and as he passed the body of Ollinger he gave him a nudge with his boot, saying, “you are not going to round me up again!”
Gauss and Billy went out back where Gauss had the pony tied up. When Billy climbed the horse, the loose chain dangling from his leg shackle startled the horse and bucked Billy off. Billy ordered one of the Tularosa prisoners to retrieve it. He was Alexander Nunnelly and he resisted thinking he’d be held accountable. Billy assured him saying, “You can tell them I made you do it.”
After tucking the chain into his trousers, Billy mounted the horse again and yelled out to Godfrey,
“Goodbye Gauss old boy, I may never see you again! Tell Billy Burt I’ll send his horse back!”
Turning his horse he called out to the rest of the spectators,
“Don’t bother to look for me on this side of Ireland! Adios Boys!”
Gauss waved his hat at Billy as he rode off out of town to the west, into the sunset. Reports say he was singing.
Billy went to the Agua Azul area and disappeared into the Capitan mountains. Billy Burt’s horse found its way back to Lincoln. Billy went to his Pal Yginio Salazar’s family home for help getting out of the chains. Salazar later confirmed:
“Billy laid out in the hills and came to my house to eat near Las Tablas. I told him to leave this place and go to Old Mexico.”

The rest is history…or mystery!

Full story from Gottfried Gauss as reported by The Lincoln Leader (click)

“Dear major you promised to the readers of your LEADER that I would tell all I know about the escape of Billy the Kid from the county jail at Lincoln after killing the two deputy sheriffs…It was if I mistake not, in the month of April 1881, whilst Mr Sam Wortley and myself, were raising a vegetable garden behind the courthouse at Lincoln, Billy the Kid was brought back from Dona Ana county, where he was found guilty for murder, and sentenced to be hanged in lincoln. About a week after the date I am writing about, he killed his two keepers and escaped. As the county had no jail then he was kept under guard in the upper story of the courthouse. Sam and myself lived in a house together, behind the courthouse. That memorable day I came out of my room, I had gone to light my pipe, and was crossing the yard behind the courthouse, when I heard a shot fired, a tussle upstairs in the courthouse, somebody hurrying down the stairs, and deputy sheriff Bell emerging from the door running towards me. He ran right into my arms, expired at the same moment, and I laid him down, dead. That I was in a hurry to secure assistance, or perhaps save myself, everybody will believe. When I arrived at the garden gate leading to the street, in front of the courthouse, I saw the other deputy sheriff, Ollinger, coming out of the hotel opposite, with the other four or five county prisoners where they had taken their dinner. I called him to come quickly. He did so, leaving his prisoners in front of the hotel. When he had come close to me and while standing not more than a yard apart, I told him that I was just laying Bell dead on the ground in the yard behind, and before he could reply he was struck by a well-directed shot fired from a window above us, and fell dead at my feet. I ran for my life to reach my room and safety, when Billy the Kid called out to me: "don't run, I won't hurt you. I am alone, and master not only of the courthouse, but also of the town, for I will allow nobody to come near us. You go, he said and saddle one of Judge Leonard's horses and I will clear out as soon as I have the shackles loosened from my legs." With a little prospecting tool I had thrown to him through the window he was working for at least an hour, and could not accomplish more than to free one leg, and he came to the conclusion to wait for a better chance, tied one shackle to his waist belt and started out. Meanwhile I had saddled the small skittish pony belonging to Billy Burt, as there was no other horse available, and had also by Billy's command tied a pair of red blankets behind the saddle. I came near forgetting to say, that whilst I was busy settling, and Mr Billy the Kid trying hard to get a shackle off, my partner Mr Sam Worley appeared in the door leading from the garden where he had been at work, and to the yard, and that when he saw the two sheriffs lying dead he did not know whether to go in or retreat, but on the assurance of Billy the Kid, he would not hurt him and he went in and made himself generally useful. When Billy went downstairs at last, I passed the body of Bell. He said, I am sorry I had to kill him but I couldn't help it. When passing the body of Ollinger he gave him a tip with his boot saying you're not going to round me up again. We went out together where I had tied up the pony and he told me to tell the owner, the same Billy Burt, that he would send it back the next day. I, for my part, didn't much believe in this promise, but, sure enough, the next morning, the pony arrived safe and sound trailing along lariat at the courthouse in Lincoln. And so Billy started out that evening, after he had shaken hands with everybody around and after having a little difficulty in mounting on the account of the shackle on his leg, he went on his way rejoicing. He was afterwards killed in Fort Sumner by Pat Garrett who is known to everybody. In conclusion I would like to say that I have lately seen an article in a newspaper in which Mr Pat Garrett said to have expressed himself that wherever a friend introduced him to a stranger the latter would generally reply, ah very glad to get acquainted to you Mr Garrett, you are the man who killed Billy the Kid and therefore he often wished that Billy had got the better of him. It is possible and does look very much like it that Mr Pat Garrett is sorry for having killed Billy the Kid perhaps his conscience troubles him. If this should be the case I would tell him one way which he may perhaps find a little consolation. Let him turn over to Sam Wortley and myself half of the money he made by killing Billy the Kid. Let him join a church no matter what denomination, and we will promise to take on our shoulders half of the sin, if there was any committed, and in the bargain we promise to intercede for him on the other side of Jordan and use our best endeavors to secure forgiveness for his other short and long comings on this sphere. This bargain Mr Garrett should be very willing to make with us, as had we done our duty, as some ignorant people say to this day, and have killed Billy the Kid instead of letting him get away, he would not have had the precious game, for killing of which he pocketed such a big pile of loot, and also, it might tranquilize his conscience to some degree. In regard to the guilt or innocence of Billy the Kid, I will here state, that Billy himself in many conversations I had with him during the two or three years I was acquainted with him prior to his death, never denied that he was in the habit of stealing cattle from John Chisum of Roswell, against whom he professed to have a claim for wages, I believe which Chisum refused to pay and hence he was determined to secure himself. He always said to me that he had never killed anybody, and would never do so except in self defense. A couple years before his tragic death he told me that during the time he was an outlaw in the Capitan mountains, that all of Pat Garrett's deputies who tried to round him up were once in partnership with him in stealing cattle from John Chisum. I do not now recollect for what murder Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to death, but let me tell your readers that the late judge Leonard who defended him at his trial in Dona Ana County often told me that he was condemned by a prejudice jury solely because his name was Billy the Kid, under which name many luminous crimes have been committed by Mexicans and outlaws from Texas and other states imported to this county, not by Billy the kid, but by the principles of the then fighting two parties in which contest was called the Lincoln County War and left innumerable graves all over the county. Who will blame Billy the Kid for killing his two guards at the time of his escape from Lincoln, whilst he himself was to be hanged the week following. This is the only murder I know of Billy ever committing. I did not blame him then and I don't blame him now. Life is sweet.”

Gottfried Gauss

Lincoln Leader 3/1/1890

An account given by Billy to Paco Anaya (click)

“While I was in jail the lady friend (likely Anne Lesnett) from Lincoln brought me good food. Among the food that she brought was a little tortilla of bread folded over, and when I was eating my food in my cell, I found a little knife with a white handle that I still have right here. With this little knife I worked it like a key and was able to open the left side of the handcuffs.” Billy stated that he kept this little knife hidden in the front closure of his pants. “When I was halfway up the stairs I got out the little key and opened the left handcuff, and held onto it until we entered the room where they had me. When I had gotten about 3 ft. in, I looked at Bell out of the corner of my eye, as he was coming in behind me. I threw the handcuff at him and hit him on the left temple. He fell on one side of the door then I took his gun and shot him.” “When I saw Bell was about to go down the stairs, I took the Winchester and ran, shackled as I was, and when I got to the stairs he was in a place that I had to curve when I shot him and there he fell dead. Then I ran to the corner and just to the right of the door I picked up a double barrel shotgun that belonged to Deputy Olinger and a Winchester. I took the shotgun and Hobbled to wait for Olinger. I went out of the room to the corridor and from there to the platform that was in front of the door, and I saw Olinger running and when he got near the stairs, I shouted at him. When he looked up, I shot both barrels from the gun, hitting him in the mouth which broke his cigar he had. He fell face up. Then i went into a room and got ammo, a caliber 44, and a Winchester and went downstairs.”

Paco Anaya

I Buried Billy

Conspiracies (click)

Pat Garrett purchased a “splendid” horse named Black Hat, from Martin Corn, who was John Chisum’s neighbor at South Spring. The transaction was just months before The Kid’s escape. According to Corn’s son Robert, this was the same horse that was used by Billy the Kid during his enigmatic escape from death row on April 28, 1881. Perhaps Pat planted Billy a gun and left town for the event so he wouldn’t be suspected, leaving the racing horse along The Kid’s escape route, where Billy would switch horses and let Billy Burt’s pony go free. Paulita Maxwell said they were like 2 peas in a pod and Pat Garrett was Billy’s best friend in Fort Sumner. But a best friend could turn out to be your worst enemy or …he helped him, its not so hard to imagine that at all. But then again…Pat just killed 2 of Billy’s best Pals

John Meadows — John P. Meadows recorded his account of Billy the Kid’s escape and claimed that it was relayed to him by Billy when he stopped at his place afterwards. In this version, Billy stated that he was able to climb to the top of the stairs very quickly while slipping his cuffs over his hands. When Bell got almost to the top of the stairs Billy turned and struck Bell on the head with the heavy manacle. With Bell stunned, Billy and Bell wrestled on the floor for Bell’s gun. Billy related to Meadows that his intention was to take both Bell and Olinger prisoner and cuff them together while he made his escape. Billy, now in possession of Bell’s gun, tried to hold Bell but he got loose and ran down the stairs. Billy then told Meadows that he was lying on his stomach and shot Bell as he was running down the stairs

William Antrim. Billy the Kids stepfather According to researcher Fred Nolan, William Antrim (stepfather) was on his way to see Billy at the Lincoln County Courthouse but his horse got sick and it took him an extra day to get there. When Antrim finally reached the courthouse, Billy had just made his escape. Did William Antrim help Billy escape in anyway? Was Joseph also present? Another Mystery!

Possible Joseph A. La Rue & his Wife.Joseph A. La Rue, a banker and merchant of dry goods in Lincoln, was prevented by his wife from attempting to “play hero” during Billy the Kid’s escape. As La Rue attempted to go get his gun his wife stepped in…Otherwise, La Rue may have suffered dire consequences.

The Cold West courthouse investigation (click)

“In Frederick Nolan’s The West of Billy the Kid, he writes about the escape of the Kid saying, “Endless theories have been advanced about what happened next; the fact of the matter is, nobody knows.” I was reading that line when Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan came into my office. I told him my private detective agency was going to open a case on the Kid. I wanted to look at the escape through a cop’s eyes and let the evidence lead us. Two cops were killed, we needed to know what happened in that courthouse. Tom wanted in.
On April 28, 2003, with the permission of the State of New Mexico, I stood beside the Sheriff when he fired a single action pistol, load with blanks, to replicate the sound of a real shot being fired in the stairwell of the courthouse. The test was to determine if that shot could be heard in the Wortley Hotel as history claimed. Not only was it heard clearly in the Wortley Hotel, but more importantly, it was heard around the world. The story caught fire and we became public enemy #1 in the world of history. Historians began to ridicule us in the press, something that I found rather amusing.
In August 2004, sheriff Tom Sullivan, opened Lincoln County Sheriff’s Case #2003-274, a homicide investigation. The affirmed goal was to launch an objective, impartial, modern cold case investigation, employing proven, court accepted scientific investigative methods, in the development of undiscovered evidence that would bring into focus the events contributing to the death of Deputies Bell and Olinger. This information would be compiled into a comprehensive, factual case report, and upon completion and approval, the file would be held by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, as would any homicide investigation within that jurisdiction. It was also established the investigation would be investigated and funded privately, with Detectives conducting the investigation on their own time, free of public funding.

Leaving no collected evidence, investigative report, or other documentation Pat Garrett, the Lincoln County Sheriff at the time of the escape and double homicide left historians no option but to depend on his 1882 published account, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid as the only writing denoting what he witnessed at the crime scene. Investigators began with Garrett’s account. However, immediately upon reading his narrative, a forensic problem was identified making Garrett’s explanation of the killing of Deputy Bell impossible.

Garrett’s account maintains the Kid busted into the second-floor armory, “seized a six-shooter, returned to the head of the stairs just as Bell faced him on the landing of the staircase, some twelve steps beneath, and fired.” Later in the narrative Garrett writes, “It is in order to again visit the scene of the tragedy. It was found that Bell was hit under the right arm, the ball passing through the body and coming out under the left arm.”

For this to have occurred Bell would’ve had his arms raised, facing the wall, with the only exit to his back. Had Bell been 12-steps down and shot running away, as Garrett sets out, the victim would’ve been facing the doorway, not with is back to it. With Bell facing the Kid at the top of the stairs, his escape route would’ve been to his right. Had he been shot as he turn to run, the bullet would have entered his left side and exited under his right arm, his wound would have been from left to right, not right to left.

This is what caused us, criminal investigators to look at the escape of the Kid. Bell’s blood was found as the top of the stairs, not “on the landing of the staircase, some twelve steps beneath” where Garrett claimed Bell was standing. If Sophie Poe can see the blood at the top of the stairs 2 years and 2 months later you would think Garrett would see it that same week. Leaving investigators to suspect Garrett lied about the killing of Bell.”
~Steve Sederwall