Rio Ruidoso

GHOST: I’ve never believed in ghosts, but during a visit last year to the visitors center in Lincoln I snapped this photo of one of the panels describing the five-day battle that culminated the Lincoln County War. If you look closely, you see a shadowing figure behind the panel. My grandson told me it was just a shadow of me, but I like to believe it’s the spirit of Billy the Kid still walking the streets of Lincoln.

HIDING SPACE: Down the street from the Lincoln County Courthouse is the Tunstall store, originally built by Billy the Kid’s employer whose murder started the Lincoln County War. In a back bedroom of the store is a hiding space beneath the floor. Billy the Kid or some of the Regulators who rode with him may well have hidden here during some of the violence that engulfed the town during the Lincoln County War.

COURTHOUSE: What is today known as the Lincoln County Courthouse was originally the store of Lawrence G. Murphy, a principal figure in the corruption that resulted in the Lincoln County War. After the store was purchased by the county, it served as the courthouse where Billy the Kid made his famous escape, killing two deputies in the process.

BILLY: The life-size image of Billy the Kid today greets visitors to the famous historic site in Lincoln, New Mexico. A visit to Lincoln and the courthouse when I was not yet 10 created in me an everlasting fascination with the Old West and its rich heritage. Billy the Kid remains my favorite character from the frontier.

BULLET HOLE: In the wall at the foot of the Lincoln County Courthouse is a hole that was said to have been made by a gunshot Billy the Kid fired at Deputy Bell. The hole was enlarged over the years by souvenir hunters, until an acrylic cover was installed to protect it. Though much smaller when I first saw it, the cavity made a lasting impression on me as a young boy the first time I saw it.

STAIRS: As a boy and many times since, I walked up this staircase where Billy the Kid once trod. While climbing these stairs, William H. Bonney got the jump on Deputy James W. Bell and shot him. While Bell staggered outside and died, Billy raced upstairs and shot a Bob Olinger with his own shotgun when the deputy came to investigate from the Wortley Hotel where he had gone to lunch.