Lincoln and Billy the Kid

After Capitan, we drove the Billy the Kid Scenic Byway, in what is a triangle connecting Capitan, Lincoln, and Ruidoso, encompassing the Lincoln National Forest and some lovely scenery, and very interesting sights. This is Billy the Kid territory, and the entire town of Lincoln is a museum, and appears mostly as it did in those days, as evidenced from the actual buildings, and  photos in the museum.

The story, in a nutshell, is that Billy, aka William Bonney, worked for a merchant in town, who foolishly tried to compete with  what was a monopoly of corrupt businessmen, who incidentally had the law in their corner.  The merchant, Turnstall, was shot, and Billy and friends formed a group called the Regulators and fought the other merchants in retaliation for his boss's murder.  He was captured, escaped and shot the then Sherriff Brady. Wanted for that killing, he roamed far and wide stealing horses and cattle, hiding in these canyons, and thumbing his nose at the law.  Roswell's Pat Garrett was elected Sheriff, and went after him and shot him, ending his year or so of lawlessness, and turning him into a national icon and enduring folk figure.  He was said to be well liked in spite of his actions, and folks hid and fed him with regularity.  And Lincoln preserves and celebrates his story.

 Turnstall store, now and then, where Billy worked.

An alley from the store leads to the grave of Turnstall and another, as well as other unmarked graves of those who died in the violent  Lincoln War, which amazingly lasted only 5 days.

Dolan store now and then, that later became the courthouse, and is where Billy was held, shackled, on the upper floors.

The shackles that held him.....

 and the room where he was held, as there was no jail at the time.

  The deputy sheriff who while  taking Billy to the outhouse, had his gun taken and was shot during the escape....marker is seen outside the window from the courthouse

                                   The shot that was fired in the hallway killing the sherrif, was said to have created this hole in the wall in the stairway leading up to the courtroom.  

Sherrif Pat Garrett, who hunted down and shot Billy

                            Interestingly, he wrote a book about the Kid! 

Lincoln has a varied history of Spanish settlers and trouble with the Mescalera Apache Indians,
and Fort Stanton is also on the Byway, where names like Kit Carson and a young Pershing were stationed.  Remains of this torreon still stands.

The sturdy buildings of the fort still stand, though other buildings were added in the following years, when it became a hospital to treat Merchant Marines and eventually others with tuberculosis. The fort has a rich and varied history.  http://fortstanton.org/history/

Nearby is a cemetery for those who perished at the hospital.

One of the lovely views from town of Lincoln

And along the Byway

Plaque points out the gap, seen above, where Smokey was found burned, and clinging to a tree, after a forest fire. 

We also stopped along the way to see the interesting Spencer Theatre that houses their performing arts in a beautiful setting, and boasts four Dale Chihuly glass installations.  Unfortunately, of all the places we have been where there is a performing arts venue, we have been between shows! 

Lovely drive, interesting sights, and a long day!  We returned tired, and joined our friends for cocktails and tales of their days! 

Phew.....I'm tired just thinking about their day!