Pardoning Billy the Kid...Why People Thought He Should Be---Do You?

This is a complement to Larry's post about the current Governor of New Mexico thinking about pardoning Billy the Kid.

It is here: http://unsolvedmysteries.com/usm534152.html?t=News

A great post on the current news pertaining to BTK.

What I think most people don't know, though, is why this issue is up. Something happened in the Kid's life to make people think he should be pardoned. Here is what happened. Let me know what you think afterward.

Billy the Kid was a participant in the Lincoln County War, a conflict where many crimes were committed on both sides. The participants saw themselves as soldiers fighting for their side, but the law and the government saw them simply as outlaws, and more so on Billy’s side. The other side had more of a political backing.

After the war, Billy basically had two standing enemies. One was some of the participants of the other side that still hated him and still wanted him dead. The other was the law, which put out warrants for his arrest. There was a brief period in his life right after the war where he seriously tried to make up with both.

First, he put out the word that he wanted to meet with some select men from the other side, ones he was friends with before the war, became enemies with during the war, and now wanted to be friends with again. One was a man named Jesse Evans, a gang leader himself and cold-blooded killer. Jesse agreed to meet with Billy.

They met in a saloon in Lincoln to talk about events and reconcile their differences. Both brought along men with them. They did reconcile, and as the story goes, even went as far as to write up and sign a peace agreement between themselves.

To celebrate, Jesse and his men began drinking heavily. Actually, they probably already were during the negotiations. Billy, not being a big drinker, did not drink.

The celebration lasted quite some time, and finally took to the street. They went out shooting into the air, harassing people, and basically just being idiots. Billy followed more quietly behind them as they came upon a lawyer who was currently fighting for compensation for Susan McSween, the wife of another lawyer on Billy’s side of the war. The Jesse gang stopped Lawyer Chapman, who only had one arm, and asked him if he could dance. The man refused to answer and tried to keep walking. Jesse shot him in the chest, killing him. After that incident, Billy left and, as far as we know, didn’t come into contact with Jesse again.

During this time, he sent several letters to Governor Lew Wallace, asking to explain his side, and asking if there is any room for clemency. His basic wish at this time was to settle down with another Regulator, Charlie Bowdre, and have a small ranch and perhaps even a stage coach stop.

The Governor returned his request giving him a time and place to meet. It would be at the back room of Squire Green Wilson’s house, which faced the mountain, so the Kid could come in from the mountain and not be seen by anyone in the streets. The Kid agreed.

Billy did not do much talking during that time. He was not able to talk much about his own side. The Governor did most of the talking, because after Billy sent him the letters, he found a certain use for the young outlaw. Wallace knew of the Chapman murder, and wanted justice done for it. He also knew Billy was there. He simply gave Billy a deal. Testify against Jesse Evans, “…and go scot free with a pardon in your pocket for all of your misdeeds.” The Kid agreed.

In the meantime between that meeting and when the trial was to take place, Billy wrote again to the Governor. He was paranoid of his enemies from the war and from Jesse’s many friends. He even stated he was afraid of being poisoned. He asked the Governor to send deputies to a hide out he would disclose to him and to put him under arrest in a mock arrest, so that the rest of the world thought he was caught and was being forced to testify or get the extreme penalty. That way, he wouldn’t look like a turncoat with a special deal with the government. Which he was.

So the Kid was arrested and he testified against Jesse. What happened, though, was that the defense for Jesse pretty much tore up and threw out Billy’s testimony. He simply asked the jury if they are about to believe a former enemy in the war and an outlaw with “enough warrants to plaster him from head to toe.”

Before the jury could convene on the decision though, Jesse was broke out of prison by his friends and escaped. The trial, then, was moot.

For some time after that, Billy still sat in the jail. He contemplated what just happened. His mission for the Governor went wrong and failed. Now he sat where a lot of people wanted him. COULD the Governor still give him a pardon? Would it be politically feasible for him to do that? All answers pointed to no. When the Governor didn’t make any move, and the Kid heard he would possibly be transferred soon for his own trial, he panicked and fled. It was easy to do since his incarceration was not a real one, and the guards were not really watching him too much.

One of the mysteries to this whole episode is whether Governor Wallace would have given Billy a pardon since he did promise one, even though the testimony became moot. No one knows.

All we know is Wallace’s feelings toward the Kid a few years later. After leaving that jail, Billy went back to a life of crime. When Pat Garrett finally caught him, Billy wrote many letters to the Governor, pleading him to keep his previous promise. Wallace was heard to say that he would never pardon “a fellow like that.”

This is the crux of whether Billy deserves a pardon now or not.

I believe he would have deserved one if he had stayed out of trouble after he left the jail. But he didn’t. He was a criminal. He fell back on the old promise years later after he was caught again. That was not right. So no, I don’t think he deserves one now, even if Wallace was snookering him.

Like Larry’s post said, it would also be a slap in the face to the Garrett family. Pat risked his life bringing in the Kid. He did a service to his community. He deserves to keep that status, and the Kid deserves to keep his status.

What do you think?

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