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Dtlaney, Ethel C.,YWichita, Falls, Texas
REMINISCENSES OF LOUIS(BOUSMAN
The following was taken from :a copy of an itber-
View given by Mr. Bousman, while he was a guest of
of the State Theatre in Wichita Falls, SepteMber
7,1934, during the showing of the film, Billy, the'
Kid. According to kr.Bousman, he was with Pat
Garrett when Billy the Kid was captured Alfa few
weeks before he was killed by Pat Garrett. During
the showing of the film in Wichita F,11s, there
was on display in the lobby of the theatre a
Winchester bAlonging to B.P.Schwend of Hentietta,
Texas. Mr.,Bousman says he remembers the gun
very well, and is -"quite sure that it belonged
to Bir.y the Kid at the tille of his capture".
Mr. Schwend has a well known collection of old
-guns. (The original manuscript is on file with
the HISTORICAL SURVEY files in the Kemp Pulbic
Library, Wichita Falls, Texas.)
"1 wts born in the state of Virginia, weventy-six years
ago. I lived there until I was a good-sized boy and then moved
to Grayson county, Texas when I was about fourteen years old.
Later ',went to Cherokee "ation, close to Ft. Gibson, and stayed
a nUbbet.of years. When I Was about twenty years old I moved to
a place called Tascosa, in the Ppnhandae of Texas.
"At Tascosa I worked for. a cattleman named Lit Littlefield:
The town was a wild and wooly plate and every body carried guns.
cgibuilt a packet corral out of cedar morth of c1re the town of
Amarillo,now,stands. Tascosa was forty-five miles northwest of
limarillo. The old cour ouse belongs to kr. Bivins, a cowman
who now lives in Amarillo. It is used as a ranch house.
He owns
the Lit Ranch, which is about ten miles square.
"The cattlemen arOund Tasoosa complained that the cowboys
were stealing their cattle, and Also the boys w re striking for
higher wage,s. The cowmen got Pat Garrett to go down to Austin
and get authority to 7*t in a bunch of rangers, and they.put in
four under Pat Garrett. But Pat didn't stay with them; he was
Dulaney, Ethel C., Wichita Falls, Texas
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REMINISCEIISES OF LOUIS BOUSMAN
the sheriff in Linclon county, New kexico. .Me and another de-
puty sheriff told the cowmen that if they would go and swear out
a warrant for these boyw we would go out and arrest them. They
did not do this. They were afraid of them. They thought if they
could get rid of them they would be all right. They wanted to
make an agreemsent wit Y) us to stay in bed on a certain night while
they hung the strikers. We told them that if they came in to kill'
the boys the fight would be open, for we would protect the boys.
"The 'Home Rangers -__-never arrested a man. They wanted to
run over everybody around town, so one night we got in a flight--
and killed three of them ---Ed King --Fred Sheltoh, and I forgot
the name of the othel-, and I got away ---one of our men got wounded
--Len Woodruff, me and a fellow they called 'Cat Fish' never got
a scratch. They buried the dead man out in what is called 'Boot
Hill Cemetery'. They said I killed some of them. They shot
Jessie Sheets and they thought that they were getting me. I
heard a man say 1.9 got Bousmanl. They first started the raw;
they commenced the shooting and we shot back and.blew some Of
their heads off. Pat Garrett was not there when the shqoting
took place. But they never put any more Rangers there after that.
'BILLY THE KID'
"Billy was fourteen years old when he killed his first
man in Silver ,City, l'ew Mexico. He was a porlOpr and general.
boot black around the hotel. Hes came from New York, or somewhere
in the East.
There was a fellow there in the hotel who kept
'deviling Billy, and Billy,told him that -if he did not -let him
DUlaney, Ethel C. idchita galls, exas Page 3
REMINISCENSES OF LOUIB BOUSMAN
alone he would kill him. The next morning the fellow commenced
deviling him again, and grabbed a hold of him, so Billy killed
him. Then he went out and stole hi*la horse and left,• and went
down on the Pecos river where Chisholm's' outfit was, and joined
them. He hired to Chisholm as a cowboy.
"The Lincoln ubunty War was going on. It was a cowman's war.
They were fighting over the grazing land for the cattle. Chisholm
wanted it all. The war lasted about a year. After'the war Billy
the Kid did ntt surrender. The government of'Aiew exfco pardon-
ed all these men, but Billy did not shrrender to the.
"Billy came to Tascosa---stayed at my camp a month. He.
stayed all around there among the cowmen until spring and then
went back to Ilew exico.---stealing cattIe;would come over south
of Tascosa and get them and drive them away —Cowmen —got Pat
Garrett to come over there and t to him ---H. told them if they
would send him a bunch of men over there that he would capture
Billy. I was one ff themen sent over theta and the othere were
Jim East, Tom Emory. Lon Chambers, and Charles Siringo.L.--So we
met up with Pat Garrett at Anton Chico, in New Mexico. Then he
picked out ---me and Jim East,Lon Chambers, and Tom Emory.
rode all night --When we got to Fort Sumner --we sent a spy to see
if Billy and his bunch were there.bazkhaztoxn He said, &When I
left there BIlj and his men were there in the town.' So we
rode into Fort Si -,r before day, and went to Pete Maxwell?;
barn, and thought we would find Billy's horses ---but they were
not there, --so ---we went over town and saw that he was gone.
Then Billy found out that we were there ---Billy said, "I will
Dulaney, Ethel C., Wiohita Texas Page 4
REMINISCENSES OF LOUIS BOUSMAN
just go down and run them out of town and dismount them So he
sent two men and Tom OlPhalliard. He rode up th the hospital and
Pat was standing there in the shade of the, porch, and Pat shot
him. His horse went off with him and then he came back and we
went out and got him and carried him inside. Billy the Kid and
three other men were watching from a distance and we opened fire
on them, so they left.. ---We buried Tom 01Phalliard the next day.
Billy sent a spy tithemto see who all were ---The spy told us
that if we would start out they would meet us half way. --We start-
ed out there that night, and the spy net us and said they were
cone --We took the trail of the horses and trailed them to the
rock house and saw the horses tied oil the outside. So me and
,at Garrett and Loll Chamber and a kexican went over them and lay
down down in a hollow by the door,sowed could look in --We lay
there all night in the snow on our blankets. ---Pat told us, 'If
Billy goes out to deed the horses he will have a Mexican hat.
You boys cut down and killi him.' Then Bowdre same out to feed
the horses, so we dll took a shot at him. He fell with his head
back -in the house. We thought it was Billy the Kid. Afterwards
Billy hollered and Said Bowdre wanted tO come out there to us.
Pat told him to come ahead and leave his guns in the house. But
he cmae out with his gun right in front of him with his hands up.
And when he got out there I raised up and got him and laid him
down on my blanket. He was shbt in three places and waS bleed-
ing. He did not live -but atew minutes.
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REMINISCENSES OF LOUIS BOUSMAN
"Billy and his outfit began trypg to dig port holes in
that rock house. There was only one north window ant one west
door. Pat says, 'There is no -use for us to lay here all day.
-Ye better get away from here before they do get port holes.'
Then we want down in th hollow a little wars and singled across
to where our horses were and the rest of the men..
Then we went
back to the ranch house and got us some breakfast. Billy and his
bunch tried to lead their horses into the house. They were tied
to a post and they could roach out and get them. I shot the first
one right in the neckpaand he fell with his shoulders right in
the -door. *The nest one Pat shot the rope in two and he ran off
and some, of dur bunch caught him. We got the ranehman to bring us
down some food and some horse feed, and we stayed all day and fins
ally Billy timed his herses out of the house in the middle of
the eventlig and we got them. Between sundown and dusk Billy sur-
rendered. He said he smelt that bacon frying and he was right
hungry. We took them back to the ranch house and guarded them
all night, and the dead man, too. Thep we pulled out to Fort
Sftner with them the' next morning. When we were getting right
at Fort Sumner Bowder's wife came out to meet us in the snow.
We whipped up the horseis when we passed her and ran right up to
the door, and I and Sim East,grabbed the body and took it in
and put it on the table. We didn't stop when we met her because
we aiknet want to hear her abuse, She cussed Pat Garrett out.
He told her to go over and pick out a suit of clothev to bury
her husband in and he would pay for it. He also had the grave dug'
Dulaney, Ethel Cps Wichita Falls,' Texas
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REMINISCENSES OF LOUIS BOUSMAN
"We kept Billy the Kid and the three others in his bunch,
put them in a house --under guard until next morning and Pat pull-
ed out with them to Las Vegas, New Mexico. We got in there at
night and .n_e people found out that he had Billy th.tri Kid in jail
and a mob tried to take him away from Pat, and he'told.them if
they did not stand back he would arm Bill and his bunch and they
would fight it out. Pat and four other men took the prisoners
to Silver City, New Mexico, and put them in jail there. They
took him back to Lincoln afterwards where he was trieeand got
death sentence. After he got his sentence they placed two guards
over him. One morning one guard had gone to breakfast, the other
was readinithe newspaper, and Billy was standing behind him, and
he hit him over the head with his handcuffs. The guard started
to run down the stairs add Billy grabbed his gun from his scabbard
and killed him. He then went back ill the room and got a shot
gun loaded with twenty-two buck shot and went down stairs and
raised the window and saw the other guard coming, and when he
go I right up. close to him Billy hollered, 'Look out, I am going
to put some buck ,shot into you.' Ane he killed him dead. Then
Billy, went back upstairs and armed himself with a Winchester and
six-shooters, ordered. a Mexican to steal a horse for him that was
right in behind the house where he was being guarded. He told
him. to bring the horse to the blacksmith shop. He had the black-
smith to cut his shackles in two When Billy mounted the horse the
horse threw him. He ordered the Mexican to catch him, which he
did, and Billy rode off. ne wnit back to Fort Sumner and a
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REMINISCENSES.OF LOUIS BOUSMAN
month_ortwo after that Pat Garretticilleehim there, at Pete
Maxwell's house. Pat slipped into Maxwell's room and foung out
Billy was there i Billy overheard somebody talking and he went
to Maxwett's romp and he says, 'Maxwell, what is that lying out
there under those bushes?" Maxwell didn't answer, and then Pat
shot him. That was John Poe, the deputy, lying out under the
bushes. Billy was stuck on Maxwell's sister, the reason he
went to their house, but Maxwell wanted to get rid of hlm.3