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Chronology of the Life of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War
This is a chronology on Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War. Since I believe that Brushy Bill Roberts and Billy the Kid were one and the same person, I have used Brushy Bill's account as a source. - 1821---Green (John Bautista) Wilson, the future Justice of the Peace in Lincoln, is born in Tennessee.
- Mar. 19, 1823---Warren Henry Bristol, the future judge and strong Murphy-Dolan-Riley supporter, is born in Genessee County, New York.
- Aug. 15, 1824---John Simpson Chisum is born in Madison County, Tennessee.
- Aug. 20, 1825---Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley is born in Lexington, Massachusetts.
- 1825---Gottfried G. 'Godfrey' Gauss is born in Wurttemberg, Germany.
- Apr. 10, 1827---Lewis Wallace, future governor of New Mexico Territory, is born in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
- Feb. 22, 1828---William Logan Rynerson is born in Mercer County, Kentucky.
- Aug. 16, 1829---William Brady is born in County Cavan, Ireland.
- 1831 or 1834---Lawrence Gustave Murphy is born in County Wexford, Ireland.
- 1833---Andrew L. Roberts, in the future to be known as Buckshot Roberts, is born, possibly in Texas.
- Aug. 13, 1838---Milo Lucius Pierce, future member of the Seven Rivers Warriors, is born in Lincoln, Illinois.
- Oct. 23, 1838---Albert Jennings Fountain is born in Staten Island, New York.
- Nov. 22, 1838---Andrew Boyle is born in Dalry, County Ayr, Scotland.
- Oct. 6, 1840---Thomas Benton Catron, future head of the Santa Fe Ring, is born in Lexington, Missouri.
- Oct. 1841---George Warden Peppin is born in Montvale, Vermont or Ohio.
- Jul. 24, 1845---Thomas Benton Powell, later to be known as Buck Powell, is born in Mississippi.
- Dec. 30, 1845---Susanna Ellen Hummer, the future Mrs. Susan McSween, is born in Adams County, Pennsylvania.
- Apr. 28, 1847---Huston Ingraham Chapman is born in Burlington, Michigan.
- May 5, 1847---Jacob Basil 'Billy' Mathews is born in Cannon County, Tennessee.
- 1847 or 1848---John Kinney is born at Hampshire, Massachusetts.
- Apr. 22, 1848---James Joseph Dolan is born at County Galway, Ireland.
- 1848---Charlie Bowdre is born in either Mississippi or Tennessee.
- 1848---Daniel Dedrick is born in Indiana.
- Jan. 11, 1849---Josiah Gordon Scurlock, later to be known as Doc Scurlock, is born at Tallapoosa, Alabama.
- Feb. 1850---Juan Batista Patron is born in Santa Fe County, New Mexico Territory.
- Feb. 19, 1850---Richard M. Brewer is born in St. Albans, Vermont.
- Mar. 12, 1850---John Henry Riley is born at Valentia Island, Ireland.
- June 5, 1850---Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett is born in Chambers County, Alabama.
- Oct. 16, 1850---Robert W. Beckwith is born.
- Apr. 1850 (exact date unknown)---Ameredith Robert B. Olinger, later to be known as Pecos Bob, is born in Delphi, Indiana.
- July 26, 1851---L. G. Murphy enlists in the United States Army at Buffalo, New York.
- Oct. 1, 1851---Benjamin Franklin 'Frank' Coe is born in Moundsville, West Virginia.
- Oct. 14, 1851---James Albert 'Ab' Saunders, a cousin of the Coes, is born at Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
- Aug. 5, 1851---Samuel Robert Corbet is born at Rutherford County, North Carolina.
- 1851---Jose Chavez y Chavez is born at Valencia County, New Mexico Territory.
- Jan. 16, 1852---Robert Adolph Widenmann is born at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- 1852---Samuel Dedrick is born in Indiana.
- Jan. 14, 1853---John Marmaduke Beckwith is born.
- Mar. 16, 1853---John Henry Tunstall is born in London, England.
- Sept. 23, 1853---Frederick Tecumseh Waite is born at Fort Arbuckle, Indian Territory.
- 1853---Jessie J. Evans is born either in Texas or Missouri.
- 1853---John A. Jones is born in Pennsylvania.
- July 14, 1854---David Rodenbaugh, later to be known as Dirty Dave Rudabaugh, is born at Fulton County, Illinois.
- 1854---John Middleton is born in Tennessee.
- 1855---Martin Chaves is born at Manzano, New Mexico Territory.
- Feb. 11, 1856---Morris J. Bernstein is born in London, England.
- Mar. 19, 1856---Thomas C. McKinney is born in Birdville, Texas.
- May 21, 1856---L. G. Murphy is discharged from the U. S. Army at Fort McIntosh.
- May 26, 1856---L. G. Murphy re-enlists in the U. S. Army at Fort McIntosh.
- May 27, 1856---Tom Pickett is born in Wise County, Texas.
- Jul. 13, 1856---George Washington Coe, cousin to Frank Coe and Ab Saunders, is born at Brighton, Iowa.
- Sept. 1856---William Scott Morton is born in Richmond, Virginia.
- Fall 1857---Henry Newton Brown is born near Rolla, Missouri.
- 1858---Thomas O'Folliard Jr., later to be the best friend of Billy the Kid is born to Thomas O'Folliard Senior and Sarah Cook at Uvalde, Texas. Shortly after his birth, he and his parents move to Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico.
- Oct. 30, 1859---William Harrison Wilson (possibly the same Billy Wilson that would later ride with Billy the Kid) is born in Marshall, Searcy County, Arkansas.
- Dec. 31, 1859---William Henry Roberts, later to be known as Henry McCarty, William Bonney, and Billy the Kid, among other names, is born at Buffalo Gap, Taylor County, Texas to James Henry and Mary Adeline Dunn Roberts.
- 1860---Moses Dedrick is born in Kansas.
- Apr. 26, 1861---L. G. Murphy is discharged from the U. S. Army at Fort Fauntleroy.
- Jul. 27, 1861---L. G. Murphy enlists in the First New Mexico Volunteers at Santa Fe.
- Nov. 23, 1861---David L. Anderson (who may have been the Billy Wilson that would later ride with Billy the Kid) is born in Trumbull County, Ohio.
- 1862---Mary Adeline Dunn Roberts, the mother of William Henry Roberts, dies at Buffalo Gap, Texas. Young William's father, J. H. Roberts, is fighting for the South in the Civil War at this time. Catherine Bonney McCarty, the half-sister of the late Mary Roberts, and her son Joseph McCarty come down to Texas and adopt two year old William. Catherine renames him Henry McCarty so he passes as her son. J. H. Roberts has no idea this is happening. Catherine, Joe, and Henry (William) go briefly to Indian Territory, and then to Indiana.
- Oct. 31, 1862---Fort Sumner is established in San Miguel County, New Mexico Territory.
- Feb. 14, 1863---Yginio Salazar is born at Valencia, New Mexico Territory.
- 1864---J. H. Roberts, the father of William Roberts, returns to his home in Buffalo Gap, Texas. He finds out his wife is dead and he can't find his son. He remarries, this time to Elizabeth Ferguson.
- 1865---James Roberts is born to J. H. and Elizabeth Roberts. James is the half-brother of William. Around the same time, Tom O'Folliard's parents die of smallpox in Mexico. His maternal uncle, John Cook, having left the Civil War, goes to Mexico and takes young Tom back to Uvalde, Texas, where Tom goes to live with his aunt, Margaret Jane Cook.
- Fall 1866---L. G. Murphy and Emil Fritz, who Murphy met in the service, muster out of the army at Fort Stanton, New Mexico Territory. They become partners and form L. G. Murphy & Co. A store and brewery are established at Stanton that they own. Soon, the company is awarded government contracts that order them to supply beef, vegetables, and other supplies to Fort Stanton and the local Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. To provide for these contracts, the company puts together quite a monopoly. The monopoly works like this: the company sells land they do not own to aspiring ranchers. The land is sold on credit, however. The rancher then attempts to pay off the debt with the cattle and crops he grows. Those crops and cattle are then used to fulfill the company's government contracts. If the farmer can't pay off the entire debt, the company forecloses on his land, then sells it to another rancher, and the process starts all over again. Due to Murphy and Fritz's close association with the Santa Fe Ring (a clique of crooked politicians, business men, lawyers, and high-ranking military officials), their monopoly schemes goes on without a hitch. Around the same time, Dr. Joseph Hoy Blazer arrives in the Tularosa area of New Mexico. There, he ends up buying a small settlement composed of several small houses, a sawmill, and a gristmill called Big Fork. Blazer ends up changing the name of the settlement to Blazer's Mills.
- Oct. 8, 1866---William Brady musters out of the U. S. Army at Fort Sumner.
- 1867---John and Pitzer Chisum, brothers, arrive in New Mexico Territory. They start a ranch at Bosque Grande, a few miles south of Fort Sumner. John and Pitzer's other brothers, James and Jeff, join them at the ranch a while later with their families, including James's daughter, Sallie.
- Dec. 15, 1867---William L. Rynerson shoots and kills the chief justice of New Mexico, John Slough, at the Exchange Hotel in Santa Fe.
- Early 1868 (exact date unknown)---Josiah Gordon Scurlock studies some medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shortly thereafter, he begins to fear he has contracted tuberculosis and flees to Mexico, hoping it'll cure there. Also while in Mexico, Scurlock acquires a reputation as a gunfighter. While in a cantina one day playing cards, Scurlock and another man get into a shootout. The man shoots Scurlock in the mouth, the bullet knocking out his two front teeth and exiting through the back of his neck. Scurlock in turn fires once and kills the man. Thankfully, the wound Scurlock has suffered is not serious and he quickly recovers.
- Mar. 1868---William Rynerson is acquitted of killing John Slough.
- Jan. 16, 1869---Lincoln County is established. The small town of Placitas is the county seat. Eventually, Placitas's name is changed to Lincoln as well. According to tradition, the county and town were named by resident Saturnino Baca in respect for the recently assassinated president.
- Jan. 25, 1869---Pat Garrett, who had been living in Louisiana with his family, leaves Louisiana to go to Texas, where he works as a cowboy at Lancaster, Texas.
- Mar. 1, 1869---In the first special election in Lincoln County, Richard Ewan is elected probate judge and Jesus Sandoval y Serna is elected sheriff. George W. Peppin ran against Serna, and lost.
- Apr. 3, 1869---James J. Dolan is mustered out of the U. S. Army at Fort Stanton. Shortly thereafter, he gets a job as a clerk working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
- May 12, 1869---Richard Ewan and Jesus Sandoval y Serna resign as probate judge and sheriff. L. G. Murphy is commissioned a district probate judge and Mauricio Sanchez is made sheriff in order to replace Ewan and Serna.
- Spring 1869---Catherine McCarty, her son Joe, her adopted son Henry, and William Henry Harrison Antrim leave Indiana to go west, specifically Wichita, Kansas. Catherine met Antrim in Indianapolis and the two had since become a couple.
- Sept. 6, 1869---The first full election is held in Lincoln County. William Brady is elected sheriff.
- Spring 1870---Dick Brewer first arrives in Lincoln County. He goes to work for L. G. Murphy & Co. at Fort Stanton.
- Jun. 1870---Catherine McCarty, son Joe, and nephew/adopted son Henry rent a small house in Wichita. William Antrim rents a house nearby.
- Summer 1870---Henry McCarty temporarily leaves his Aunt Catherine and cousin Joe to travel to Texas, to meet his father. He ends up meeting his father and his new family in Hamilton County, Texas. He ends up staying there for the next few months and while there, becomes adept at handling horses.
- Jan. 10, 1871---Jose Chavez y Chavez marries one Maria Lenora Lucero at Lincoln.
- Spring 1871---Frank Coe, along with some of his brothers and cousin Ab Saunders move out to Raton, New Mexico. In short time, Frank, his brothers, and Ab start a ranch at La Junta, on the Rio Hondo in Lincoln County. Around the same time, Josiah Scurlock, now going by the nickname of 'Doc,' arrives in New Mexico from Mexico and gets a job as a ranch-hand on the Chisum ranch.
- Jun. 16, 1871---Jessie Evans, age eighteen, his parents, and friends are arrested in Topeka, Kansas for passing counterfeit money. Jessie ends up being fined $500. This is his first known criminal offense.
- July 12, 1871---Emil Fritz has his life insured for $10,000 with the Merchants Life Insurance Company of New York. The money is kept at the Donnell, Lawson, & Co. bank. This insurance policy will cause much trouble in future years in Lincoln County.
- Spring/Summer 1871---Henry McCarty runs away from his father's home in Texas after he is badly beaten by his father. He ends up joining a cattle drive headed west. On the way, he ends up staying for a period of about two weeks at the home of Belle Reed, later to be known as Belle Starr. He then continues on his way to Kansas, where he is reunited with his Aunt Catherine and cousin Joe.
- August 1871---Catherine McCarty discovers she has the early stages of tuberculosis. Her doctor tells her to move to a drier climate, which may help relieve the disease. Catherine follows this advice and immediately sells her house. Bill Antrim sells his as well and the two of them, along with Joe and Henry, travel to Trinidad, Colorado, where they will remain for a short time.
- Sept. 1871---Alex McSween is recorded to be attending the Washington University Law School at St. Louis, Missouri. At the same time in Lincoln, William Brady is elected to serve as in territorial house of representatives, Murphy is elected probate judge (making him both a local and district probate judge), and Jacob Glynn is elected sheriff.
- 1872---Jessie Evans arrives in New Mexico from Texas and begins working as a farmhand on the Chisum ranch. According to Evans himself, he is told by John Chisum to steal cattle from the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
- Apr. 8, 1872---Saturnino Baca is elected probate judge of Lincoln County. William Brady had run against him and lost. A few days later, William Fritz and Emilie Fritz Scholand, siblings of Emil Fritz, arrive at Fort Stanton. They came to New Mexico due to their brother's recommendation. The two of them will have a major impact on future events.
- Aug. 18, 1872---John Tunstall leaves his family home in England to travel to Canada. He hopes to strike it rich through farming/ranching.
- Sept. 25, 1872---John Tunstall arrives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He stays with the Turner family while there.
- Oct. 25, 1872---L. G. Murphy buys $8,647.50 worth of cattle from Johnny Riley in order to stock his new ranch at Carrizozo. The ranch is called 'Fairview Ranch.'
- Fall 1872---Alex McSween is teaching school at Eureka, Kansas. Oddly enough, one of his students is Ida Rodenbaugh, the sister of David Rodenbaugh, later to be known as Dirty Dave Rudabaugh.
- Spring 1873 (exact date unknown)---John Kinney, having recently been mustered out of the army in Nebraska, moves down to Dona Ana County, New Mexico. There, he puts together a rustling gang. Eventually, Kinney becomes known as the King of the Rustlers. At the same time, Tom O'Folliard's aunt, Margaret Cook, marries a Pat Dolan. Tom then goes to live with his uncle John Cook.
- Mar. 1, 1873---Catherine McCarty and William Antrim are married at Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory. Both Henry and Joe witness the event. Shortly after the wedding, the family moves to Silver City, a recently sprung up boomtown. Antrim dreams of becoming a miner there and striking it rich.
- Apr. 2, 1873---John Chisum has his cattle moved to a new ranch he and his brothers started, which is about eighteen miles south of Fort Sumner.
- Apr. 3, 1873---Alex McSween opens his first law office in Eureka, Kansas.
- May 18, 1873---Over a dispute, hot-headed Jimmy Dolan attempts to shoot and kill one Capt. James Randlett at Fort Stanton.
- Jun. 10, 1873---Emil Fritz, who is suffering from kidney disease, travels to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he plans to depart for his old home in Stuttgart, Germany to die. L. G. Murphy accompanies him to Santa Fe.
- Jun. 13, 1873---At Santa Fe, Murphy and Fritz sell their Fort Stanton store to L. Edwin Dudley for $8,000. That done, Fritz departs Santa Fe for Germany. Murphy returns south to Fort Stanton. Murphy now dreams of building a new, massive store in the town of Lincoln. Murphy believes that the small, Hispanic town will be the perfect new setting for his growing monopoly.
- Aug. 23, 1873---Alex McSween and Susan Hummer are married at Atchison, Kansas, but will live in Eureka.
- Sept. 30, 1873---L. G. Murphy & Co. are officially evicted from Fort Stanton. The company had been accused of selling merchandise at amazingly high prices and of scamming the local Mescalero-Apaches they were forced by contract to supply with food and other supplies. The company does however, still hold the contracts that orders them to supply the Apaches and the local U. S. soldiers at Stanton.
- Fall 1873---In Lincoln, construction begins on the massive, two-story building that will become the store of L. G. Murphy & Co. The building will become known as 'The House' and 'The Big Store' to Lincoln residents. It will be the only two-story building in Lincoln, aside from the torreon, a fortress built for defense against Apache raids. Throughout the course of construction, the company will borrow heavily from the First National Bank of Santa Fe, and from its president, Thomas B. Catron, head of the Santa Fe Ring. Eventually, the company will be up to its knees in debt to the bank and Catron. Around the same time in Lincoln, another full election of the county is held. Ham Mills is elected sheriff, Jacinto Sanchez is elected probate judge, Manuel Gutierrez is elected justice of the peace, Juan Patron is elected probate court clerk, and Juan Martin is elected constable. Previous sheriff William Brady had run against Sanchez for probate judge, but lost.
- Jan. 5, 1874---Henry and Joe McCarty attend the first day of the first public school at Silver City.
- Mar. 28, 1874---The first semester of school in Silver City comes to a close. With school closed, many of the students begin participating in plays and musicals. Henry McCarty is one of the main participants in the plays. Also around this time, Jessie Evans quits working for John Chisum and travels to Dona Ana County. There, he joins the John Kinney Gang of rustlers, which pretty much rules over Dona Ana County.
- Apr. 1, 1874---James Dolan buys a partnership in L. G. Murphy & Co., taking Emil Fritz's place alongside Murphy. Dolan's friend, attorney William Rynerson, had loaned Dolan the money he needed to buy the partnership. Around the same time, George Coe, cousin of Frank Coe and Ab Saunders, moves with his family to Colfax County, New Mexico.
- May 18, 1874---School opens again in Silver City. Both McCarty boys attend.
- Spring 1874 (exact date unknown)---Fred Waite graduates from the Mound City Commercial College at St. Louis, Missouri. He then returns to his family home in Rush Creek, Indian Territory, where he works on his father's ranch.
- June 3, 1874---L. G. Murphy & Co. announce that the House is open for business in Lincoln. In order to stock the store with supplies, the company has bought heavily from the firm of Spiegelberg Bros., a company that outfits traders and stores along the Santa Fe Trail. They soon will be deep in debt to them also. Around the same time, Dick Brewer quits working for Murphy and starts his own ranch on the Rio Ruidoso in Glencoe.
- June 26, 1874---Emil Fritz dies in Stuttgart, Germany of his kidney disease.
- Aug. 1874 (exact date unknown)---School in Silver City is closed after heavy rain greatly damages the dirt roof of the building.
- Early Sept. 1874 (exact date unknown)---Jose Chavez y Chavez is elected constable of the small village of San Patricio in Lincoln County.
- Sept. 14, 1874---School opens again in Silver City. The new teacher is one Mary Richards. Henry McCarty ends up becoming somewhat close to her, due primarily to the fact that both Ms. Richards and Henry are ambidextrous.
- Sept. 16, 1874---Catherine McCarty Antrim succumbs to her tuberculosis and dies at her home. Henry and Joe are at her bedside as she dies. After her burial a few days later, William Antrim travels to Arizona Territory to mine. He leaves Henry and Joe in the care of the Knight family and later, the Truesdell family
- Late Sept. 1874---Alex and Susan McSween leave Eureka, Kansas to head west to Silver City, New Mexico. They leave without repaying several debts to citizens of Eureka.
- Late Feb. 1875---Alex and Susan McSween are at Punta de Agua, New Mexico on their way to Silver City. There, they meet U. S. congressman Miguel Otero, who recommends they go to Lincoln over Silver City. Otero also tells them about L. G. Murphy & Co. The McSweens take this advice and continue on to Lincoln.
- Mar. 3, 1875---The McSweens arrive in the town of Lincoln. Alex immediately announces his legal services are readily available and soon begins working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
- Late Mar. 1875 (exact date unknown)---Sheriff Ham Mills shoots and kills a black man he was keeping as a prisoner in the Lincoln jail. Afterwards, Mills flees Lincoln County, leaving his farm in the possession of friend Andy Boyle.
- Apr. 1875 (exact date unknown)---Alex McSween wins his first case in court in Lincoln defending a ranched named W. W. Paul on rustling charges.
- Apr. 15, 1875---Marion F. Turner, a Seven Rivers rancher/badman, shoots and kills one Juan Montoya at Blazer's Mills. The killing occurs solely because Turner dislikes Hispanics.
- Apr. 21, 1875---Alex McSween represents John Chisum in a tax case. On the same day, Murphy, who is a probate judge, appoints William Brady administrator of the Emil Fritz estate. Shortly thereafter, Murphy supplies McSween to Brady as counsel for the estate.
- Late Apr. 1875---Henry McCarty becomes associated with George Schaefer, a local boy older than Henry, who goes by the nickname Sombrero Jack. The pair and fellow friends often throw rocks at the local Chinamen in town. Also, Henry, Jack, and possibly others, steal several pounds of butter from rancher Abel L. Webb. Henry is soon caught by Sheriff Harvey Whitehill and his guilt is easily established. However, Henry promises to be good and never do it again and is then released.
- Spring 1875---The Chisum brothers start a new ranch at South Spring, four miles southeast of the small town of Roswell, in southeastern Lincoln County. Out of all the Chisum ranches, this one ends up becoming the main headquarters of the Chisum brothers. The Chisums' presence, specifically that of John Chisum, intimidates the smaller ranchers of the nearby Seven Rivers area. Soon, a massive gang known as the Seven Rivers Warriors is formed that rustles the Chisums' livestock. The gang includes the Beckwith brothers, the Jones brothers, the Olinger brothers, Marion Turner, Milo Pierce, Lewis Paxton, Andy Boyle, Buck Powell, and many, many more. L. G. Murphy & Co. frequently buys the stolen cattle from the Warriors in order to supply the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency and Fort Stanton with beef, as required by their government contracts. Around that same time, Tom O'Folliard's uncle, John Cook gets married. Tom then goes to live with his grandmother.
- July 30, 1875---Samuel B. Axtell, a key member of the Santa Fe Ring, takes office as governor of New Mexico Territory. Around the same time, Henry and Joe McCarty move out of the Truesdell house. Joe goes to live with Joe Dyer, proprietor of a local hotel/saloon and begins doing odd-jobs for Dyer. Joe also begins becoming an opium user. Henry, meanwhile, goes to live with R. H. and Sarah Brown. Henry gets a job from the Truesdell family waiting tables and washing dishes at the Star Hotel.
- Aug. 1, 1875---Robert Casey, a very successful rancher on the Hondo River, is shot and killed by one William Wilson. Wilson claims he killed Casey because he owed him wages.
- Aug. 8, 1875---The John Kinney Gang, including Jessie Evans, ambush and kill four members of the Mes Gang, namely Jesus Mes, Pas Mes, Tomas Madril, and Jermin Aguirre. The Mes Gang was a competitor of the John Kinney Gang.
- Sept. 1875 (exact date unknown)---Doc Scurlock and his Chisum riding partner Newt Higgins are attacked by Apaches. Higgins is killed but Doc escapes. He rides to the Chisum Ranch at South Spring and asks John Chisum to let him quit. When Chisum refuses, Doc steals three horses, two saddles, and one gun from Chisum and flees towards Arizona Territory. On the way, some Chisum men catch up with him. They had been sent by Old John himself to catch Doc. When Doc explains his side of the story to the men, they let him go. Shortly after arriving in Arizona, Doc meets one Charlie Bowdre. The two eventually open a cheese factory on the Gila River. Also around this time, Jose Chavez y Chavez is elected justice of the peace in San Patricio.
- Sept. 4, 1875---In Silver City, Sombrero Jack Schaefer breaks into the laundry of Chinamen Charley Sun and Sam Chung and steals two guns and $200 worth of clothing and blankets. After fleeing the laundry, he meets up with Henry McCarty and asks him to hide the stolen merchandise. Henry agrees to do so and hides the valuables in his room at the Brown place.
- Sept. 6, 1875---A special election is held in Lincoln and Saturnino Baca is elected Sheriff of Lincoln County in order to replace Sheriff Ham Mills. Florencio Gonzales is elected Lincoln's probate judge as well in order to replace Murphy. Murphy had recently been forced to resign his position as probate judge since it was discovered that $20,000 worth of tax collections had disappeared.
- Sept. 15, 1875---Juan Patron is unexpectedly shot in the back by Johnny Riley, a House employee and racist towards Hispanics. Patron miraculously survives, but will walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
- Sept. 23, 1875---Sarah Brown discovers the stolen valuables in Henry's room. She gives him up to Sheriff Whitehill, who puts him in the Silver City jail. Whitehill does this in order to scare Henry straight.
- Sept. 24, 1875---Henry McCarty escapes from the Silver City jail by climbing up the chimney. Shortly afterwards, he turns up at the Truesdell home. The Truesdells give him some supplies and he flees to Arizona, where he hopes to locate his step-father. Soon, he arrives in Clifton and asks Antrim for help. Antrim, however, kicks him out of his house after Henry tells him why he fled New Mexico. Before Henry departs though, he steals a pistol and some supplies from Antrim. Afterwards, he flees deeper into Arizona.
- Oct. 18, 1875---William Wilson, who killed Robert Casey, is sentenced to hang for the murder. That night, while attempting to escape from jail, a guard shoots him. The wound is very serious, but Wilson survives.
- Nov. 1875 (exact date unknown)---John Chisum, deep in debt, sells his first ranch, the one at Bosque Grande, and his stock holdings to the firm of Hunter & Evans, a St. Louis based beef contracting company. Since Hunter & Evans don't know of anyone to hire to manage the Bosque Grande ranch and the large herd there, they hire Old John to stay there as ranch manager. So, basically, John continues to live exactly the way he did before, only now he has gotten a ton of money to do it.
- Dec. 10, 1875---William Wilson is hanged from the gallows in Lincoln. He dangles from the noose for around nine minutes, is taken down, and put in a coffin. When people hear noises coming from the coffin, it is opened and it's discovered that Wilson is still alive. He is taken out and hung again. This time he is dead.
- Dec. 31, 1875---John Kinney and gang, including Jessie Evans, go to Las Cruces. At a saloon in town, Kinney gets into a fist fight with several U. S. soldiers. The soldiers beat up Kinney badly and he leaves the saloon. A short time later, Kinney, Evans, and a few other gang members fire shots into the saloon from the street. Two soldiers and one civilian are killed by the shots and two other soldiers are wounded. The outlaws flee and no charges are filed. Shortly thereafter, Evans departs from the John Kinney Gang and forms his own rustling gang, known as the Boys or simply as the Jessie Evans Gang. The gang numbers about two-dozen at its prime, and the key members are: Evans, Jim McDaniels, Frank Baker, Tom Hill, Dolly Graham/George Davis, Nicholas Provencio, Bob Martin, Charles R. 'Pony' Diehl, Bill Allen, George 'Buffalo Bill' Spawn, Manuel 'Indian' Segovia, Billy Morton, Roscoe Burrell, Serafin Aragon, Ponciano Domingues, and Bob Nelson.
- Jan. 12, 1876---John Chisum and his attorney, Thomas Conway, are on a stagecoach traveling between Silver City and La Mesilla. The stage ends up being robbed by Dutch Joe Hubert, who allegedly makes off with close to $30,000 in gold. Around the same time, Henry Brown arrives in Lincoln County, after recently killing a man in Texas. He gets a job working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
- Jan. 19, 1876---Jessie Evans and two gang members shoot and kill Quirino Fletcher in the streets of Las Cruces. His body will lie in the street until the next morning. Jessie and his two accomplices are soon indicted by the grand jury for the murder, but it'll be a while before the case goes to trial.
- Late Jan. 1876 (exact date unknown)---Gov. Samuel Axtell appoints William Rynerson district attorney of the Third Judicial District of New Mexico Territory, which encompasses all of Dona Ana, Grant, and Lincoln Counties. Rynerson makes his headquarters in La Mesilla, Dona Ana County.
- Feb. 15, 1876---Alex McSween and William Brady leave Lincoln for Santa Fe to attend both federal and territorial court sessions. McSween later claims that at one point during this trip, in a moment of frustration, Brady exclaims that the House and the Santa Fe Ring literally control him.
- Feb. 18, 1876---John Tunstall departs from British Columbia, Canada to head south to California, where he hopes to start a sheep ranch.
- Feb. 21, 1876---Tunstall arrives in San Francisco, California.
- Mar. 3, 1876---Tunstall travels to Santa Barbara, California.
- Mar. 19, 1876---Henry 'Kid' Antrim (the name Henry McCarty is now going by) steals a horse from Pvt. Charles Smith at Camp Goodwin, Arizona. Also around this time, according to the Scurlock family, Henry begins working at the cheese factory on the Gila River owned by Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre.
- Late Mar. 1876 (exact date unknown)---John Sherman is appointed New Mexico Territory's U. S. Marshal. Around the same time, Fred Waite quits working at his father's ranch in Indian Territory and moves to Colorado.
- Spring 1876 (exact dates unknown)---Jessie Evans and some fellow gang members shoot and kill Pancho Cruz, Roman Mes, and Tomas Cuerele at Shedd's Ranch. Shedd's Ranch, located in San Augustin, Dona Ana County, is the main headquarters and meeting place for all the New Mexican rustling gangs, including the Jessie Evans Gang and the John Kinney Gang. Around the same time, Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock leave their cheese factory and Arizona behind and return to Lincoln County. Once there, L. G. Murphy & Co. decides to use its monopoly scheme on them by selling them land they don't own for a ranch on the Rio Ruidoso, near the town of Glencoe, on credit. Because of their ranch's location on the Ruidoso, Charlie and Doc end up becoming friends with their neighbor, Dick Brewer. They also soon become acquainted with fellow ranchers Frank Coe and Ab Saunders. Like the other small ranchers in the area, Doc and Charlie must repay their huge debt to L. G. Murphy & Co. through beef and crops. With his employers gone, young Henry Antrim gets a job working as a cowboy on the ranch of prominent rancher Henry Hooker. Shortly thereafter, ranch foreman William Whelan is forced to fire Henry because he can't handle the daily rigors of the job. Also around this time, George Coe leaves his family's home in Colfax County and travels south to Lincoln County. There, he gets a job working on the Hondo ranch of his cousins, Frank and Ab. Later in the Spring, George and a brother named Jap start their own ranch on the Rio Ruidoso, making them neighbors (and friends) with Doc, Charlie, and Dick as well.
- Apr. 4, 1876---Frederick Godfroy, a Santa Fe Ring partisan, is appointed as the Mescalero-Apache Indian agent at Fort Stanton and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
- Apr. 19, 1876---Henry Antrim is hired by Miles L. Wood to work as a cook and waiter at Wood's Hotel de Luna, located just outside of Fort (Camp) Grant, Arizona. Wood, besides owning the Hotel de Luna, is also the local justice of the peace. Henry also acquires the nicknames 'Kid' and 'Austin' around this time.
- Apr. 21, 1876---Gov. Axtell visits Lincoln and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. During this trip, Axtell stays at the House in Lincoln.
- July 1, 1876---Fred Godfroy and family move into a two-story building at Blazer's Mills. The nearby Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency is leasing the building from Dr. Joseph Blazer for $65 a month. Blazer keeps an office for himself in the building, but lives in one of the other one-story adobe houses in the scattered settlement.
- July 2, 1876---William Brady resigns as administrator of the Emil Fritz estate.
- July 18, 1876---A lynch mob made up of Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, George Coe, Frank Coe, and Ab Saunders storms the small Lincoln jail and remove horse thief Jesus Largo from Sheriff Saturnino Baca's custody. The five men then hang Largo.
- Late July 1876 (exact date unknown)---Frank Coe and Ab Saunders shoot and kill one Nicas Meras, a local badman, in Baca Canyon.
- Early Aug. 1876 (exact date unknown)---Alex McSween quits working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
- Aug. 8, 1876---John Tunstall travels to San Francisco, where he leaves on a train headed for Santa Fe, New Mexico. On the same day, the Republican Convention is held in Lincoln. At the convention, Major Mickey Cronin is elected president of the territorial delegation, Jose Montano is elected vice president, and Alex McSween is elected secretary. Juan Patron is also nominated to represent Lincoln County at the territorial convention in Santa Fe.
- Aug. 9, 1876---The Democratic Convention is held in Lincoln. L. G. Murphy and William Brady are nominated to represent Lincoln County at the territorial convention in Santa Fe.
- Aug. 15, 1876---John Tunstall arrives at Santa Fe, New Mexico. During his stay there, he'll meet and befriend one Robert A. 'Rob' Widenmann, a young man seeking adventure out west. The two end up becoming best friends.
- Sept. 2, 1876---Doc Scurlock and friend Mike Harkins are at the carpenter shop of L. G. Murphy & Co. Doc examines a pistol that somehow goes off, killing Harkins. No charges are filed against Doc, since the killing was accidental.
- Sept. 9, 1876---Murphy and Juan Patron go to Santa Fe to attend the territorial conventions.
- Sept. 11, 1876---Murphy attends the Democratic Convention in Santa Fe.
- Sept. 14, 1876---Patron attends the Republican Convention in Santa Fe. Shortly thereafter, Patron and Murphy return to Lincoln.
- Sept. 19, 1876---Charles Fritz and Emilie Fritz Scholand, siblings of Emil Fritz, are named as administrators of Emil's estate. Alex McSween continues to serve as counsel for the estate.
- Oct. 1876---John Chisum travels to Arizona Territory in order to locate a large herd of cattle. It's possible that at this time, Chisum first meets Henry Antrim in Arizona.
- Oct. 19, 1876---Doc Scurlock marries Antonia Miguela Herrera at Lincoln. Around the same time, Charlie Bowdre marries Manuela Herrera, Antonia's half-sister. This makes Doc and Charlie brother-in-laws.
- Mid Oct. 1876 (exact date unknown)---Alex McSween prepares to leave for New York in order to solve a problem regarding the Emil Fritz life insurance policy and, if he's able to, to collect the money from the insurance policy. The problem is this: according to the firm of Spiegelberg Bros., L. G. Murphy told them they could have the money from the Fritz insurance policy, since the House is in great debt to them. However, Murphy, not being the administrator of the Fritz estate, has no authority to give the money from the insurance policy to anyone. Due to the fact that both Spiegelberg Bros. and Emil's siblings, Charles and Emilie, are claiming to be the rightful heirs of the insurance money, the life insurance agency refuses to act one way or another. So, this is why McSween is going to New York, to find some kind of solution to this problem. Juan Patron and Saturnino Baca plan to accompany McSween as far as Santa Fe. Around the same time, Frank Coe and Ab Saunders ambush a local badman named Juan Gonzales. Gonzales is shot by the cousins and badly wounded, but miraculously manages to survive.
- Late Oct. 1876---McSween, Patron, and Baca arrive in Santa Fe, having left Lincoln a few days prior. Also around this time, Henry 'Kid' Antrim quits working at the Hotel de Luna and hooks up with a rustling gang that steals cattle, mules, horses, and saddles owned by the U. S. Army in the local towns of Globe, Bonita, Clifton, Cedar Springs, and the army forts of Camp Thomas and Fort Grant. The gang is led by a former soldier named John R. Mackie.
- Oct. 29, 1876---In the dining room at the Exchange Hotel in Santa Fe, McSween meets John Tunstall. Tunstall tells McSween of his dreams of wanting to become a rancher, and McSween in turn tells him of Lincoln County. McSween recommends that Tunstall invest and start his ranch in Lincoln County. After the meeting, McSween proceeds on towards New York.
- Nov. 3, 1876---Tunstall decides to go to Lincoln County to see if he agrees with McSween's suggestion. Friend Widenmann plans to go to Lincoln also in the near future. Tunstall travels in a buggy driven by Juan Patron, whom he also met in Santa Fe. During the trip back to Lincoln, a snowstorm occurs, making travel slow down a bit.
- Nov. 6, 1876---Tunstall and Patron arrive in Lincoln. Tunstall stays at the Casa de Patron for the time being. He also meets Susan McSween at this time.
- Nov. 7, 1876---William Brady is elected sheriff of Lincoln County, for the second time in his life. He won't take office until the first of the year though. On the same day, Will Dowlin, Juan Patron, and Francisco Romero y Lueras are elected county commissioners and James H. Farmer is elected justice of the peace. Around the same time, Kid Antrim steals a horse from Sgt. Louis Hartman at Camp Thomas. Shortly afterwards, Hartman finds Antrim, but since he has no warrant for his arrest, the Kid is free to go.
- Mid Nov. 1876 (exact date unknown)---Near Fort Griffen, Texas, buffalo-hunter Pat Garrett gets into an altercation with a fellow hunter named Joe Briscoe. When Briscoe comes at Garrett with an ax, Garrett draws his pistol and kills Briscoe. The killing is ruled self-defense.
- Nov. 18, 1876---Buck Powell, Seven Rivers area rancher and member of the Seven Rivers Warriors, shoot and kills a man known only as Yopp at a cattle camp on the Pecos River.
- Nov. 21, 1876---Johnny Riley buys a junior partnership in L. G. Murphy & Co. All three heads of the House, Murphy, Dolan, and Riley, are heavy-drinking, hot-tempered Irishmen. Shortly after buying the partnership, Riley breaks into McSween's office and trashes it, then insults Susan. He goes on by vowing to drive McSween out of the country. Around the same time, the Jessie Evans Gang shifts its domain from Dona Ana County to Lincoln County. They plan to carry out most of their illegal activities in the much bigger Lincoln County now. Jessie and most of his gang members are former Chisum cowboys and know their way around the county and its backtrails. The gang's main targets in Lincoln County are the Chisum ranches and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. L. G. Murphy & Co. soon begin buying most of the stolen livestock from the gang, just as they do with the Seven Rivers Warriors. Charlie Bowdre becomes associated with the gang soon after their arrival in Lincoln County as well.
- Late Nov. 1876---McSween arrives in New York and goes straight to work. He meets with the Spiegelbergs and they end up reaching a deal: the Spiegelbergs will accept $700 cash from McSween and then withdraw their claim that Murphy promised them the money from the Fritz insurance policy. Only one problem: McSween doesn't have $700 in cash with him. He then makes a deal with the Donnell, Lawson, & Co. banking firm, which is holding the money from the insurance policy. The deal is that the bank will give the Spiegelbergs the $700, but at a later date, the bank will need to be repaid the $700, with interest. This money, which will likely be a couple thousand dollars, will have to come out of the Fritz insurance money. McSween then prepares to return to New Mexico, without a cent of the life insurance money with him.
- Dec. 12, 1876---McSween arrives back in Lincoln. He writes to Charles Fritz, telling him to trust in him and that he will get the Fritz insurance money soon. Also around this time, McSween and Tunstall begin talking about going into business together in direct competition with L. G. Murphy & Co. Tunstall's dream is to start a ranch and a store of his own in Lincoln. It's decided that McSween will serve as Tunstall's lawyer and give him advice regarding his ranch and/or store. Tunstall and McSween also decide that if they're going to have a store in competition with Murphy, they might as well compete for the government contracts that orders them to supply beef and supplies to Fort Stanton and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. They'll need a lot of beef though if they get the contracts. They soon meet with John Chisum, since everyone knows he's the 'Cattle King of New Mexico' and has no love for Murphy & Co., since he knows they're buying his stolen cattle from the Seven Rivers Warriors. It's eventually decided that Chisum will go into business with Tunstall and McSween as well as a 'silent partner.' If Tunstall does secure the government beef contracts, it will be Chisum's duty to provide for them. Chisum also agrees to lend his name to another project dreamed up by Tunstall and McSween, namely, a bank in Lincoln. Tunstall and McSween feel that a bank will go along with their store perfectly, since there is no bank in Lincoln as of yet.
- Dec. 14, 1876---The Lincoln County Farmers Club is formed. Murphy is the president, Brady and Joe Storms are the vice presidents, Morris J. Bernstein is the secretary, and Charles Fritz is the treasurer. The committee is made up of Saturnino Baca, S. W. Lloyd, and Francisco Romero y Luceras.
- Dec. 18, 1876---Frank Freeman, a member of the Jessie Evans Gang, gets into an argument with two black men at the Wortley Hotel in Lincoln. The argument ends with Freeman drawing his pistol and killing one of the men. He then flees town, although he is hotly pursued by Sheriff Saturnino Baca.
- Jan. 1, 1877---William Brady takes office as Sheriff of Lincoln County. Shortly after taking office, Brady goes off on the trail of fugitive Frank Freeman. He soon arrests Doc Scurlock and George Coe under suspicion of harboring Freeman, as both Doc and George are known to be good friends of his. Doc and George are kept in Lincoln's jail/pit for a few days and are treated very harshly by Brady (and, allegedly, are even physically tortured). They are both released a few days later, but they hold a hateful grudge against Brady because of their treatment at his hands.
- Early Jan. 1877---L. G. Murphy & Co. decide that they need money fast in order to pay off their debts to the Santa Fe bank and the Spiegelberg Bros. It's decided that they'll have to sell Murphy's Fairview ranch at Carrizozo. Dolan approaches McSween and offers him $5,000 if he'll get Tunstall to buy Murphy's ranch. McSween refuses however, and then goes on and tells Tunstall to stay away from the Murphy ranch. McSween instead advises Tunstall to try to get his hands on some of the land in the area of the Rio Feliz. He goes on to inform Tunstall that the majority of this land was once the thriving ranch of Robert Casey, but now, since he is dead, only his widow and children live there on their ranch site. He also points out that the Caseys never bought the land they consider theirs; they just put up stakes there when they arrived in the territory. McSween tells Tunstall that legally, he can file for this land on the Desert Land Act and basically take the land from the Caseys. (The Desert Land Act states that anyone can file on up to 640 acres of desert land for twenty-five cents an acre, and then have three years to improve on the land before a further payment of a dollar an acre would give he or she perpetual title to the land.) Tunstall likes this plan indeed. Needless to say, this doesn't please Dolan, or the Company.
- Jan. 7, 1877---John Chisum, along with several of his ranch-hands travel down to the El Paso, Texas area to look for rustlers. In the last several months, his ranch at South Spring has had an upsurge of rustling, first from the Seven Rivers Warriors, and now from the recently arrived Jessie Evans Gang as well.
- Jan. 10, 1877---Dick Brewer becomes sick with a mild case of smallpox.
- Mid Jan. 1877 (exact date unknown)---John Riley leaves Lincoln to tour Lincoln County's army forts in order to lobby for the government beef contracts.
- Jan. 20, 1877---At Palo Duro, Texas, Frank MacNab, George Black, and Frank Tipton, all three cattle detectives working for Hunter & Evans, allegedly rob two brothers named Casner of $5,500 then shoot and kill them both. A $300 reward is offered for the capture of the three men.
- Jan. 26, 1877---John Riley makes his first stop at Fort Bayard.
- Jan. 30, 1877---Tunstall and McSween leave Lincoln. McSween is leaving to go on his circuit tour for his clients and other legal businesses. Tunstall is accompanying McSween as far as Las Cruces, where he plans to make a provisional filing on the land on the Rio Feliz using the Desert Land Act.
- Feb. 4, 1877---Tunstall and McSween arrive in La Mesilla.
- Feb. 5, 1877---John Riley, still on his tour, arrives at Santa Fe.
- Feb. 8, 1877---Tunstall and McSween arrive in Las Cruces. There, Tunstall makes a provisional filing on approximately 2,400 acres of the Rio Feliz land.
- Feb. 9, 1877---McSween buys six acres of land in the town of Lincoln from L. G. Murphy & Co. He buys the land for '$1.00 and other good and sufficient considerations.'
- Feb. 12, 1877 (approx.)---Kid Antrim, John Mackie, and fellow gang members steal three army horses from Cottonwood Springs.
- Feb. 13, 1877---Riley, along with Capt. Chambers McKibbin and William Rosenthal leave Santa Fe for Fort Stanton.
- Feb. 14, 1877---Riley and his companions arrive at Fort Stanton. On the same day, Jose Chavez y Chavez is again elected as constable of San Patricio.
- Feb. 16, 1877---Sgt. Hartman and Maj. Compton, both soldiers from Camp Thomas, go before Justice of the Peace Miles Wood and ask him to swear out a warrant for the arrest of Kid Antrim. This Wood does, and, suspecting that the Kid would have headed for the town of Globe, sends the warrant there.
- Feb. 17, 1877---The constable at Globe arrests Kid Antrim and takes him to Cedar Springs. There, the Kid manages to escape somehow.
- Feb. 27, 1877---Tunstall and McSween arrive in Albuquerque.
- Early Mar. 1877 (exact date unknown)---Tunstall and McSween depart from Albuquerque and head for the town of Belen.
- Mar. 11, 1877---Tunstall and McSween leave Belen and head back towards Lincoln.
- Mar. 14, 1877---L. G. Murphy withdraws from his business in Lincoln, after discovering he has bowel cancer. He leaves the business (and the all the House's debts) to Dolan and Riley now. The business's name is formally changed to Jas. J. Dolan & Co.
- Mar. 21, 1877---Tunstall and McSween arrive back at Lincoln. On the same day, Tunstall's friend, Rob Widenmann, arrives in Lincoln from Santa Fe.
- Mar. 25, 1877---Kid Antrim and John Mackie arrive at the Hotel de Luna near Fort Grant for breakfast. Miles Wood sees them enter the hotel and decides to capture them. Wood takes a large serving tray to their table, but has a pistol hidden under it. He puts the tray on the table in front of them then raises his pistol, telling them to put their hands in the air. Both outlaws do just that. Wood then walks his two prisoners two-and-a-half miles to Fort Grant. There, both Mackie and the Kid are thrown in the guardhouse. One hour later or so, the Kid asks one of his guards to take him outside for some reason, possibly to use the privy. Once outside, Antrim turns around and throws a handful of salt into the guard's eyes. He then grabs the guard's pistol out of his holster. Before the Kid can flee, the temporarily blinded guard yells for help. Several other guards come running, disarm the Kid, and throw him back in the guardhouse. Back in the guardhouse, the soldiers have Frank P. 'Windy' Cahill, a local bully of a blacksmith, attach shackles to the Kid's wrists and ankles. That night, while a dance was being held at the fort, the Kid is left unguarded for a few moments. In those few moments, he somehow escapes, with his shackles on and all. The guards and soldiers are dumbfounded as to how he escaped.
- Early Apr. 1877---An epidemic of smallpox ravages the local Mescalero-Apache population, killing several chiefs.
- Apr. 10, 1877---According to James Dolan, he and a group of Lincoln citizens (probably members of the Jessie Evans Gang and/or the Seven Rivers Warriors) are ambushed by Chisum cowboys. However, no one in the ambush is killed, or even wounded. This is the beginning of what will become known as 'The War on the Pecos,' a conflict waged between John Chisum and the local rustlers at Seven Rivers.
- Apr. 19, 1877---Tunstall receives his first draft of money from his father, John Tunstall Senior, in London.
- Apr. 20, 1877---John Chisum and around thirty of his cowboys lay siege to the ranch of Hugh Beckwith at Seven Rivers. Beckwith, along with his two sons Bob and John, are prominent members of the Seven Rivers Warriors. Pitzer Chisum had discovered evidence of the Beckwiths' involvement in the rustling of Chisum cattle a short time earlier while at the Beckwith ranch.
- Apr. 23, 1877---Chisum and his men leave the Beckwith ranch after it's decided that the battle isn't really going anywhere.
- Apr. 24, 1877---Tunstall has a choza (a two-room dugout fort with thick adobe walls) built on his new land on the Rio Feliz. Manning what Tunstall will call his 'ranch' are his two new employees, namely Godfrey Gauss, an elderly man who is hired to serve as camp cook, and Fred Waite, recently arrived from Colorado. Waite had been hired for his skill with livestock, his fearlessness, and his prowess with a gun. On the same day, John Riley has the government beef contracts for Forts Stanton, Bayard, and Craig awarded to him (and, hence, the Company). Also on that day, a post office is established in the House, and Dolan himself is appointed Lincoln postmaster.
- Early May 1877 (exact date unknown)---Ellen Casey, widow of rancher Robert Casey, is deep in debt to the firm of the Spiegelberg Bros. Alex McSween, acting for the Spiegelbergs, serves a writ of attachment on her. Sheriff Brady is ordered by the courts to impound 400 head of the Caseys' cattle (worth the amount Ellen owes to the Spiegelberg Bros.), as a type of security. If Ellen Casey doesn't pay off the debt she owes, Brady must sell her cattle at a public auction.
- May 2, 1877---H. Harrison, a bounty hunter from Ft. Elliot, is hunting for Frank MacNab, Frank Tipton, and George Black at Dodge City, Kansas. Apparently, MacNab, Tipton, and Black had fled to Dodge City after killing(?) the Casner brothers in Texas.
- May 3, 1877---At Lincoln, Dolan gets into an altercation with a House employee named Hiraldo Jaramillo. The conflict ends with Dolan drawing a pistol and shooting Jaramillo dead. According to Dolan, Jaramillo suddenly and without reason attacked him with a knife, leaving him no choice but to gun him down. However, it was well-known that Dolan's good friend, George W. Peppin, was having an affair with Jaramillo's wife. What's more likely is that Jaramillo told Peppin to stay away from his wife, and then Peppin told Dolan. Dolan, then, loyal to his friends, killed Jaramillo in cold-blood. Other Lincoln citizens, however, gossiped that Dolan made 'unnatural advances' towards Jaramillo, and when Jaramillo fought him off, Dolan killed him.
- May 7, 1877---Tunstall and McSween make up a plan to get some cattle for Tunstall's new Rio Feliz ranch. The auction for the Casey cattle is scheduled for today and Tunstall has McSween make a deal with the widow Ellen Casey. The deal goes like this: McSween (acting for Tunstall) would buy about half of Casey's cattle, and give the money directly to her. If, later on, she could repay McSween the amount he bought the cattle for, plus interest, she would get her cattle back from him. Ellen Casey agrees to this deal and McSween buys 209 head of cattle at the auction. However, both Tunstall and McSween realize that Casey still must pay off her debt to the Spiegelburg Bros., and will likely never be able to raise enough money to buy back her cattle from them. After buying the cattle, McSween has his friend Dick Brewer drive them to Brewer's ranch in Glencoe, where they will be temporarily kept until they can be driven to Tunstall's Rio Feliz ranch. The same day, Andy Boyle (who is a deputy sheriff) and Buck Powell, both members of the Seven Rivers Warriors, acquire a warrant for the arrest of John Chisum for his attack at the Beckwith ranch on April 20 through the 23. The two men arrive at Chisum's South Spring ranch, but Chisum is laid up with a case of smallpox and cannot be moved. Boyle and Powell leave the ranch without Chisum, but plan to return to arrest him when he is in better health.
- May 8, 1877---Murphy petitions the probate court to ascertain indebtedness of the Fritz estate to himself and vice versa.
- May 10, 1877---Andy Boyle, Buck Powell, and thirteen others arrive at the South Spring ranch upon hearing that Old John has recuperated from his case of smallpox. Chisum and a few of his cowboys are arrested, but are released shortly thereafter.
- May 11, 1877---Murphy makes out a will, leaving everything in it to Dolan.
- May 28, 1877---Tunstall, Brewer, Fred Waite, and Rob Widenmann begin driving Tunstall's cattle from Brewer's ranch towards the Rio Feliz ranch.
- May 30, 1877---The 209 head of Tunstall cattle arrives at Tunstall's Rio Feliz ranch. They will be manned there by Widenmann, Waite, and Godfrey Gauss. Shortly after this, Tunstall hires Dick Brewer to work as foreman at the Rio Feliz ranch when Dick isn't working on his own ranch in Glencoe. Brewer and Tunstall end up becoming very good friends.
- Early June 1877 (exact date unknown)---Henry Brown has his wages short changed by his employers, Jas. J. Dolan & Co. Angry over this, Henry quits working for the company. Brown then goes to work for Dolan's competition, John Chisum, as a cowboy at his South Spring ranch.
- June 2, 1877---George Peppin begins building the Tunstall store in Lincoln. Tunstall pays around $100 a day for labor. The store is built with three-feet thick adobe walls and extra thick windows. When the store is complete, it will also house law offices for McSween and the Lincoln County Bank. Believed to be around the same time, Alex and Susan McSween's house begins to be built. When finished, the McSween house will be located about thirty-five yards to the west of the Tunstall store. Both buildings are being built on McSween's property, the land he recently purchased from then-L. G. Murphy & Co.
- June 5, 1877---Murphy and Dolan travel to Santa Fe.
- Mid June 1877 (exact date unknown)---Tunstall leaves Lincoln to travel to La Mesilla and Las Cruces.
- June 16, 1877---Frank MacNab is at Syracuse, Kansas, and denies any involvement in the killings of the Casner brothers in Texas. Apparently, he is believed and all charges against him are dropped. Thereafter, he and Frank Tipton return to Texas, where they are sent by Hunter & Evans to track some cattle that were lost on a recent drive.
- June 23, 1877--Tunstall arrives back in Lincoln after his trip to La Mesilla and Las Cruces. On the same day, Jessie Evans is acquitted of the murder of Quirino Fletcher at a La Mesilla trial. The presiding judge was Warren Bristol and the prosecuting attorney was William Rynerson, both key figures in the Santa Fe Ring and good friends of Dolan and Riley. It is highly unlikely that Rynerson ever even tried to get Jessie convicted.
- Late June 1877 (exact date unknown)---David Pugh Shield (a lawyer), his wife Elizabeth Hummer Shield (Susan McSween's older sister), and their five children arrive in Lincoln. Around the same time in Texas, Frank MacNab and Frank Tipton find the cattle they were sent to find in the possession of several Mexicans. MacNab and Tipton kill all the Mexicans, then drive the cattle to Colorado, where they are sold. MacNab and Tipton tell their employers at Hunter & Evans that they were unable to locate the cattle.
- July 1, 1877---Rob Widenmann becomes sick with smallpox. He is laid up at Tunstall's Rio Feliz ranch and Tunstall takes care of him.
- July 7, 1877---Tunstall leaves Lincoln to go to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri on a buying trip for his store, which is still being built.
- Mid July 1877 (exact dates unknown)---David Shield and Alex McSween decide to become law partners, as they both are lawyers. Their law firm will be known as McSween & Shield. They will keep their offices in the Tunstall store when it's completed and Shield and his family will live in the massive McSween house when it is finished as well. Around the same time, John Chisum has 2,500 head of his cattle driven to Arizona, where he plans to start yet another ranch. Believed to be around the same time, Frank MacNab is assigned by Hunter & Evans to go to New Mexico and work as a foreman on Chisum's South Spring ranch. MacNab is sent there to try to reduce some of the rustling activities of the Seven Rivers Warriors and the Jessie Evans Gang.
- July 8, 1877---Jessie Evans, Frank Baker, and Nicholas Provencio are arrested in Juarez, Mexico on charges of selling stolen cattle. All three are released that night.
- July 18, 1877---David Shield is appointed a notary public. On the same day, warrants are issued for the arrest of Jessie Evans, John Kinney, and Frank Baker based on complaints made by Albert J. Fountain. Fountain, a writer for the Mesilla Valley Independent , had recently written articles denouncing the local rustlers, and in turn, Fountain got word that the rustlers were going to kill him on site. After the warrants are issued, Dona Ana County Sheriff Mariano Barela makes no attempt whatsoever to arrest Kinney, Evans, or Baker, since he is also a member or (at the very least) an associate of the Jessie Evans Gang or the John Kinney Gang. Even though Gov. Samuel Axtell offers a $500 for the arrest of Evans, Kinney, and/or Baker, no one goes after them.
- July 19, 1877---The New York banking firm of Donnell, Lawson & Co. transfers all the money that remains from the Fritz insurance policy, $7,148.49 (the rest had been taken by the firm itself as payment for loaning $700 to the Speigelberg Bros. back in Nov. 1876), to McSween's St. Louis bank account. The firm writes a letter to McSween the same day advising him of this movement.
- July 20, 1877---The Jessie Evans Gang raids the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency and makes off with several horses.
- July 24, 1877---Tunstall is at Kansas City on his buying trip.
- July 30, 1877---Dolan is at Santa Fe to bid for the government forage contracts of Fort Stanton. Bidding against him are Pat Coghlan and Willi Spiegelberg.
- Late July (exact date unknown)---Charles Fritz and Emilie Fritz Scholand petition Probate Judge Florencio Gonzales for an order that the Fritz insurance money be paid to them immediately. McSween hears of this and advises Gonzales against it, saying that Charles Fritz will use it all to pay off his debts to Jas. J. Dolan & Co., and thereby not giving McSween his fee.
- Early Aug. 1877 (exact dates unknown)---The construction of both the McSween house and the Tunstall store is completed. The Lincoln County Bank is established in the store, as are offices for the firm of McSween & Shield. John Chisum is appointed bank president, McSween is appointed vice president, and Tunstall (still away in Missouri) is appointed treasurer. Around the same time, Wyatt Earp claims that Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, Pat Garrett, James Carlyle, and Billy Wilson are at Dodge City, Kansas. This is in all likely hood false, and, it should be noted, that Earp is far from a reliable source.
- Aug. 1, 1877---Florencio Gonzales writes a letter to Donnell, Lawson & Co. requesting that they transfer the money from the Fritz insurance policy to the First National Bank of Santa Fe to the order of Charles Fritz. However, on the same day McSween receives the letter from Donnell, Lawson & Co. informing him that the money from the Fritz insurance policy had been deposited in his St. Louis bank account. McSween petitions the court, asking for an audit of the books of Jas. J. Dolan & Co. in order to discover the value of the insurance money to the company. The court does this and appoints three examiners, namely, McSween, Morris Bernstein, and Juan Patron. McSween then petitions Gonzales, asking him to be released from his duties as a bondsman. McSween believes that if he hands over the money, it'll go directly to Dolan, since Charles Fritz is in debt to his company, and that Fritz and Scholand will never get their money. For this reason, McSween decides to wait until the next term of court, in January, to be given formal instructions on what to do with the money.
- Aug. 5, 1877---Charlie Bowdre and Frank Freeman, both Jessie Evans Gang members, get drunk and begin shooting up Lincoln. Freeman ends up shooting another black soldier in a saloon, but the soldier recovers. The two badmen go to the newly completed McSween house, where John Chisum is currently visiting the McSweens, and threatens to burn it down if Chisum doesn't come out, when Sheriff Brady arrests them both. That night, Freeman manages to escape from jail, while Charlie posts $500 bond and is released.
- Aug. 11, 1877---The Jessie Evans Gang again raids the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency, making off with even more horses this time.
- Aug. 14, 1877---The Grand Masonic Lodge is formed at Santa Fe. District Attorney William Rynerson is appointed deputy grand master, Thomas Catron is appointed grand lecturer, and S. B. Newcomb is appointed senior grand warden.
- Aug. 15, 1877---Frank Freeman is tracked by a posse to Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock's ranch. Freeman resists arrest and ends up being killed by the posse. Around this time, Charlie pretty much quits the Jessie Evans Gang. After being arrested and seeing his friend killed apparently convinces him to stop riding with Evans. Around the same time, John Tunstall departs Missouri on a return trip to Lincoln.
- Aug. 17, 1877---Kid Antrim shows up at George Atkins's cantina at Fort Grant. While there, the local blacksmith, Frank 'Windy' Cahill, who had previously attached shackles the Kid's wrists and ankles, begins bullying him, as he has done several times before. Cahill calls the Kid a pimp, to which the Kid responds by calling Cahill a son-of-a-bitch. Cahill then jumps the Kid, knocking him to the ground, pinning him there, and slapping him. Since Cahill weighs around 200 pounds and Antrim weighs about 130 or so, the Kid has no chance in a fair fight. He manages to grab his pistol with his right hand and stick the barrel in Cahill's gut. Cahill straightens up, but because he doesn't get off of the Kid, the Kid shoots him. Cahill topples over and the Kid runs out of the cantina, mounts a horse that's not his, and rides away. Later, the Kid ends up sending the horse back to its rightful owner.
- Aug. 18, 1877---Windy Cahill dies of his gut wound. A coroner jury doesn't rule the killing as self-defense, but as pure murder, and warrant is issued for the arrest of the Kid. However, by this time, Kid Antrim is heading back towards his old home of New Mexico.
- Aug. 20, 1877---McSween has Roswell postmaster Marshall Ashmun 'Ash' Upson hold his and Tunstall's mail at the post office in Roswell, since he believes that Dolan will read their mail if they continue to get it at the House's post office.
- Aug. 24, 1877---A rumor begins going around that the Jessie Evans Gang was ambushed by a posse, and Jessie, along with most of his gang, had been killed. The rumor is soon proven to be false.
- Aug. 29, 1877---Dolan, still deep in debt to Tom Catron and the Santa Fe bank, borrows $1,000 from McSween (acting for Tunstall) at the Lincoln County Bank. On the same day, the Jessie Evans Gang yet again raids the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency, making off with several government mules.
- Early Sept. 1877 (exact date unknown)---William H. 'Billy' Bonney (the name Henry 'Kid' Antrim is now going by) arrives at Shedd's Ranch in La Mesilla, Dona Ana County. There, he meets up with Jessie Evans and joins his gang. Billy and Jessie end up becoming good friends and Billy keeps his nickname of 'the Kid.'
- Sept. 3, 1877---Tunstall is at El Moro, New Mexico on his return trip to Lincoln.
- Sept. 9, 1877---Jessie Evans Gang members Frank Baker and Ponciano Domingues rob a store at Colorado, New Mexico, killing one Benito Cruz in the process. Eighty-three-year-old store owner Chaffre Martinetti is badly beaten by Baker and Domingues as well and dies a few months later from this attack.
- Sept. 15, 1877---Tunstall gets sick with a case of smallpox while at Las Vegas. He will be laid up there for a while before continuing on to Lincoln.
- Sept. 17, 1877---Ash Upson is appointed a notary public at Roswell.
- Sept. 18, 1877---The Jessie Evans Gang raids the Rio Ruidoso ranch of Dick Brewer, making off with several horses and mules belonging to Brewer, Tunstall and McSween. Since the gang targeted this particular ranch and stole only the horses belonging to these three, none of who were on good terms with Jas. J. Dolan & Co. (to say the least), it's almost certain that Dolan and Riley hired the gang to steal them. The gang apparently drives the horses to gang member Jim McDaniels's Dona Ana County ranch after the raid. Later that day, after discovering the horses have been stolen, Dick Brewer and friends/neighbors Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock saddle up and go off in pursuit of the thieves. A short time later, Dick separates from Doc and Charlie and rides as fast as he can towards Las Cruces, in Dona Ana County. Doc and Charlie meanwhile continue to follow the trail of the thieves.
- Sept. 19, 1877---Dick Brewer arrives at Las Cruces and meets with Sheriff Mariano Barela. Dick asks Barela to issue warrants for the arrest of the gang members and/or to help him go after the thieves, but Barela, being a member of the gang himself, refuses to go. Dick, angry over Barela's unwillingness to help, decides to stay in Las Cruces and wait for Doc and Charlie to meet him there.
- Sept. 21, 1877---Doc and Charlie arrive in Las Cruces and meet up with Dick. They tell him that they've discovered that the Jessie Evans Gang, and the stolen horses, are at Shedd's Ranch, not too far away. All three men then ride to Shedd's Ranch. At the ranch, Dick confronts Jessie by walking right up to him and demanding to have the horses back. Jessie laughs it off, but is amused by Dick's courage. He then offers to give Dick his own horses back, but won't surrender Tunstall's or McSween's. Dick then tells him that if he can't have them all, he (Jessie) can keep them and 'go to Hell.' Dick, Doc, and Charlie then ride off towards Lincoln, without reacquiring a single horse. On the way, the three encounter Rob Widenmann, who is himself on his way to Las Cruces to try to get the stolen horses back.
- Sept. 22, 1877---Rob Widenmann arrives in Las Cruces and meets with Jessie Evans. Jessie also refuses to give Widenmann the stolen horses. Angry, but severely outnumbered, Widenmann has no choice but to turn back. Later that day, the Jessie Evans Gang leaves Shedd's Ranch and heads west.
- Sept. 27, 1877---The Jessie Evans Gang steal some horses at Santa Barbara, then head for Mule Springs. They leave Santa Barbara with a six-man posse at their heals, which ends up catching up with them a short time later. However, the posse is greatly out numbered and out gunned and is forced to turn back. The gang continues on west, stealing another horse on the way. Billy Bonney is identified as riding with the gang.
- Late Sept. 1877 (exact date unknown)---Riding west, the Jessie Evans Gang disposes of the horses belonging to Tunstall, Brewer, and McSween, possibly by selling them to the Clanton Gang. The gang then steals some more horses and begins riding back east, towards the Seven Rivers area.
- Oct. 3, 1877---The Evans Gang exchange shots with rancher George Williams at his Warm Springs ranch. No one is hurt in the gunfight and the gang soon moves on. Later the same day, the gang steals some more horses and unsuccessfully attempts to rob a stagecoach. The gang then continues to head east.
- Oct. 8, 1877---The Evans Gang pass through La Mesilla and arrive at Shedd's Ranch on their way back to Seven Rivers. While passing through La Mesilla, Billy Bonney steals a race horse belonging to the daughter of Sheriff Mariano Barela. The rest of the gang doesn't immediately know who the horse belongs to, but they soon find out and Billy is believed to leave the gang at Mesilla after Jessie himself expresses his anger over Billy stealing Barela's horse. Only one other gang member sticks with Billy, namely Tom O'Keefe.
- Oct. 9, 1877---McSween files on 3,840 acres of land on the Rio Feliz on Tunstall's behalf. The same day, Jessie Evans and his gang arrive at Tularosa, get drunk, and begin shooting up the town. Later in the day, they move on and arrive at the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency late that afternoon. There, the gang steals supplies then moves on. Around dusk, the gang sets up camp near the summit of the Sacramento Mountains. In the early evening hours, Johnny Riley and Jim Longwell (a employee of the House) arrive at the camp site as well. Throughout the night, the gang, Riley, and Longwell 'compare notes' and discuss much of their 'upcoming plans.' At some point during the night, Jessie himself congratulates his men on a 'job well done.' This meeting between the Jessie Evans Gang and Riley and Longwell seems to prove beyond any doubt that Jas. J. Dolan & Co. most certainly hired the gang to steal the horses of Tunstall, McSween, and Brewer. At the very least, it proves that Dolan and Riley have a close association with the gang.
- Oct. 10, 1877---In the morning, the Evans Gang splits up into several parties. Some of the gang, including Jessie himself, continue on towards Seven Rivers. Others travel back to Tularosa. Probably on the same day, Billy Bonney and Tom O'Keefe leave La Mesilla and head east. They may have left due to Sheriff Barela finding out that Billy is the one who stole his daughter's race horse. It's possible the duo heads east because they hope to meet back up with the Evans Gang. That night, while riding through the Guadalupe Mountains, the pair is attacked by Apaches. Billy and O'Keefe separate and Billy runs for a river bank, where he hides in the surrounding brush. A short time later, after Billy no longer hears the Apaches, he comes out of his hiding place and discovers his horse, all of his supplies (except his canteen, which he had on him at the time of the attack), and O'Keefe are gone. Billy then has no choice but to continue to head east, but now must walk on foot. Sources differ on what happened to O'Keefe. Some say he was killed by the Apaches and never seen again. Others say he found his way back to La Mesilla.
- Oct. 12, 1877---Jessie Evans and gang members Tom Hill, Frank Baker, and Dolly Graham/George Davis arrive at the Beckwith ranch in Seven Rivers. Alex McSween, in Lincoln, hears of this and meets with Sheriff Brady. McSween orders Brady to appoint Dick Brewer a deputy sheriff so he can go arrest the outlaws. Reluctantly, Brady complies and deputizes Dick. Dick immediately rounds up a posse of fifteen men, including Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock, and prepares to leave for the Beckwith ranch. Just before leaving, Dick asks Brady to come along with the posse. Not wanting to look usurped by Dick, Brady reluctantly agrees to go along, although he is in cohoots with the gang. On the way to the Beckwith ranch, Brady proclaims that he's going to turn back to Lincoln. Dick, however, says he's going to continue on, by himself if need be. The other fifteen members of the posse all decide to go with Dick and Brady, thoroughly shamed and probably not wanting his association with the gang to become more obvious than it already is, also decides to continue on to the Beckwiths'.
- Oct. 13, 1877---Billy Bonney, exhausted and in bad shape from three days of walking through the desert, arrives at the Seven Rivers house of the Jones family. Barbara Jones, the mother of the Jones boys (who are Seven Rivers Warriors), called 'Ma'am Jones of the Pecos,' brings Billy into her house, feeds him, cleans his sores and wounds, dresses him, and puts him to bed.
- Oct. 14, 1877---Tunstall arrives back in Lincoln from Las Vegas. There, McSween brings him up to speed on the recent events, most notably the theft of his horses and mules by the Evans Gang and the fact that McSween filed on 3,840 additional acres of land on the Rio Feliz for Tunstall. McSween also informs Tunstall that he and his brother-in-law David Shield are now partners in a law firm and are keeping their offices in Tunstall's store. Early in the morning of the same day, Billy awakes at the Jones place and feels much better than he did the night before. He tells the Jones family of the attack he suffered at the hands of the Apaches and for the next several days, he works around the ranch and the house, helping with all he can. He also plays with the little Jones children and allegedly practices his shooting skills with the oldest Jones boy, John, with whom he quickly becomes good friends with.
- Oct. 15, 1877---John Chisum sends an order to Tunstall in Lincoln requesting several supplies from his not-yet-opened for business store. Tunstall begins putting together the supplies that Chisum requested and plans to travel to Chisum's South Spring ranch with the supplies in a few days. This makes Chisum the first customer of Tunstall's store.
- Oct. 17, 1877---Before dawn, Dick Brewer and his posse (still including Sheriff Brady) arrive at the Beckwith ranch, where Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, Frank Baker, and George Davis/Dolly Graham are hold up inside a well-armed choza. The posse surrounds the choza, and at dawn, when the outlaws awake, they begin shooting at the posse through windows and portholes. The posse returns fire and several hundred shots are fired in total. According to Jessie, he was intent on killing Dick and fired three shots at him, each bullet missing him by only a few inches. The shooting eventually stops when it becomes clear that no one on either side has been hit. A standoff begins, with the outlaws refusing to exit the choza. However, some of the posse members who know the outlaws shout out that if they surrender, they will not by harmed or lynched. The outlaws apparently believe whoever said this (possibly Brady, Charlie Bowdre, and/or Doc Scurlock) and exit the choza with their hands up. All four are then disarmed, arrested, and put on horses. The posse with their new prisoners then begin riding back up the Pecos towards Lincoln. Billy Bonney is believed to still be at the Jones ranch a short distance away from the Beckwith ranch.
- Oct. 18, 1877---Tunstall, driving a wagon, leaves Lincoln for Chisum's South Spring ranch. The wagon is loaded with the supplies Chisum requested.
- Oct. 19, 1877---On his way to the Chisum ranch, Tunstall crosses paths with Dick Brewer, his posse, and the four captured outlaws. Tunstall shakes hands with Dick and most of the posse, then he and Dick begin joking about things. Jessie Evans then exclaims that Tunstall doesn't know if the posse has got the outlaws, or if the outlaws have got the posse. Tom Hill then asks Tunstall if he has any whiskey, to which Tunstall replies that he has very little. Tunstall then offers to meet the outlaws in Lincoln once they're in jail and to give them some whiskey. Hill accepts the offer. The posse, with the outlaws, then moves on, while Dick stays behind to bring Tunstall up on current events. Afterwards, Dick catches up with his posse and Tunstall proceeds on to the Chisum ranch.
- Oct. 20, 1877---The Brewer posse throw Jessie Evans, Frank Baker, Tom Hill, and George Davis/Dolly Graham in the dungeon-like jail in Lincoln. The four outlaws have the opinion that they are very sure they won't be in the jail for long.
- Late Oct. 1877 (exact dates unknown)---Billy Bonney leaves the Jones ranch and heads up to Lincoln, where he meets Sheriff Brady. Brady, feeling sorry for Billy, gives him a job working on his ranch east of Lincoln. After working there for only a few days, Billy quits and heads back to the Seven Rivers area, where he gets a job working on a Jas. J. Dolan & Co. owned cattle camp, of which the foreman is Billy 'Buck' Morton. While working at the camp, Billy meets the Casey family and stays with them. Billy is soon fired by Morton after Billy had taken a liking to Morton's girlfriend. Apparently, Billy is pretty bitter over being fired. He then follows the Rio Pecos north, and he may have gotten a very brief job working as a cowboy on the Chisum ranch. He soon after arrives at the Rio Ruidoso ranch of George Coe, who gives him a job on his ranch and lets him stay there as well. George and Billy soon become close friends, and Billy also gets reacquainted with George's neighbors, Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre. He also meets and befriends George's other neighbor, Dick Brewer, and George's cousins who visit frequently, Frank Coe and Ab Saunders. According to George, he, Billy, Frank, and others go hunting often and notice Billy's prowess with a gun.
- Oct. 25, 1877 (approx.)---Dick Brewer hires John Middleton as a ranch-hand and gunman for the Tunstall Rio Feliz ranch.
- Oct. 27, 1877---In the morning, the widow Ellen Casey has some Texas cowboys go to the Tunstall ranch and steal back all 209 head of her cattle that she lost at auction to Tunstall and McSween. The Caseys are planning to leave New Mexico behind and head for Texas. Around the same time, Tunstall and Brewer visit Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, Frank Baker, and George Davis/Dolly Graham at the Lincoln jail. The four outlaws joke (?) and say that they sold Tunstall's mules to a priest in Mexico. Angry, Tunstall and Brewer leave, but apparently, true to his word, Tunstall sends a bottle of whiskey to the outlaws later in the day. Also later in the day, Tunstall and Brewer discover that the widow Casey stole all of Tunstall's cattle and is heading for Texas. Dick forms another posse that's made up of John Middleton, Fred Waite, Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, Rob Widenmann, and others. Tunstall himself supplies brand new carbines to each of the posse members. The posse then leaves Lincoln and goes off on the trail of the Caseys. After traveling several miles, Dick and another member of the posse realize they need fresh horses, so they depart from the rest of the posse to acquire some. Middleton then takes command of the posse and they press on after the Caseys. Just before reaching the Texas border, the posse encounters the Caseys and their large herd of cattle. Middleton demands 209 head of the cattle and Ellen gives them to him, probably out of fear. The posse then drives the cattle back to the Rio Feliz ranch, while the Caseys for some reason return back to their own Rio Hondo ranch.
- Oct. 30, 1877 (approx.)---The Tunstall store opens for business in Lincoln, with Samuel R. Corbet serving as manager and clerk and David Shield's teenage boys working there as well. Now, the store, the bank, and the offices of McSween & Shield are all set up in the fort-like building. Tunstall also keeps a bedroom in the back of the store for him when he stays in Lincoln. After being opened for only a short time, the Tunstall store begins taking business away from the House, causing Jimmy Dolan to lose even more money, something he can't afford to let happen.
- Nov. 1, 1877---In La Mesilla, John Kinney shoots and kills one Ysable Barela. Kinney and his gang then flee for Silver City, in Grant County.
- Nov. 7, 1877---A drunken Sheriff Brady enters the Tunstall store and begins accusing him of giving credit for the arrest of the members of the Evans Gang to Dick Brewer rather than himself. Brady goes on to call Tunstall a fool, and Tunstall does the same to him. Brady then accuses Tunstall of trying to help Evans, Hill, Baker, and Davis/Graham escape from jail. Tunstall takes offense to this and states that Brady knows full well that the outlaws have cut holes in the logs over their heads and have filed down their shackles, but has done nothing about it. Brady then begins to pull his pistol, but McSween, who is also present, restrains him, saying that it wouldnt look very good for the sheriff to kill and unarmed man. Brady apparently agrees and holsters his pistol. As he leaves, he tells Tunstall that he won't be sheriff forever and Tunstall doesn't have long to run.
- Nov. 16, 1877---At dawn, a party led by Dick Lloyd and Andy Boyle and made up of around thirty Jessie Evans Gang members and Seven Rivers Warriors ride into Lincoln and to the jail. They bust down the door of the jail and break out Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, Frank Baker, George Davis/Dolly Graham, and Lucas Gallegos, who is not involved with the gang but was in jail for another reason. The large party then rides to Dick Brewer's ranch, where they steal eight of Tunstall's horses. They tell the cook at the ranch that they are sorry to have to steal the horses, but that they need them, and they'll never again steal from Tunstall. The party then heads for the Beckwith ranch in Seven Rivers. Some have claimed that Billy Bonney was in the group of liberators, but this is unlikely. It's also been claimed that Tunstall helped to liberate the outlaws, but this is also very unlikely. The party's comment that they would never steal from Tunstall again was probably a way for them to hint that Tunstall did help them escape, when in fact he did not.
- Late Nov. 1877---Dick Brewer hires Billy Bonney as a cowboy and/or a gunman for Tunstall's Rio Feliz ranch. Billy becomes good friends with fellow cowboy Fred Waite and, allegedly, the two plan to start their own ranch eventually. Around the same time it's believed that Old John Chisum sends one of his cowboys, Henry Brown, to go work on the Rio Feliz ranch and to serve as a bodyguard for either Tunstall or McSween.
- Dec. 4, 1877---McSween deeds the east wing of his U shaped house to Elizabeth Shield.
- Dec. 7, 1877---Charles Fritz files a petition with the Lincoln County Probate Court requesting that McSween be ordered to pay the insurance money owed to him. It's believed that Fritz did this under the influence of Jimmy Dolan. Tom Catron, head of the Santa Fe Ring, had recently thought up a grand scheme to get McSween and Tunstall, told Dolan the plan, and Fritz's filing a petition is the first step of his plan.
- Mid Dec. 1877 (exact date unknown)---Alex and Susan McSween plan to take a trip to St. Louis, Missouri and vacation there for a few months. John Chisum plans to accompany them to St. Louis because he has matters to discuss with the Hunter & Evans firm. McSween plans to give Charles Fritz the insurance money before he leaves, and writes a letter to Fritz telling him this. When Dolan hears of this, he writes a letter to Fritz as well, telling him not to accept the insurance money from McSween. Dumbfounded, Fritz follows Dolan's advice and doesn't accept the money from McSween, but tells him to hold on to it.
- Dec. 18, 1877---The McSweens leave Lincoln and head towards Anton Chico, where they are to meet with Chisum before moving on to St. Louis.
- Dec. 21, 1877---Dolan, knowing that the McSweens are leaving the territory, races to the home of Emilie Fritz Scholand in La Mesilla and tells her that McSween is leaving the territory with her money permanently. He prompts her to sign an affidavit stating that McSween embezzled her money. Dolan and his friend District Attorney William Rynerson immediately telegraph Tom Catron in Santa Fe, who says he'll swear out a warrant for McSween's arrest based on Scholand's affidavit. Catron then telegraphs Sheriff Desiderio Romero of San Miguel County (the county Las Vegas is in) and tells him to hold the McSween party when they arrive in Vegas. Of course, if the warrant for McSween's arrest doesn't arrive before McSween does, it will be illegal for McSween to be arrested. Catron knows this, but it doesn't matter to him. This is all part of Catron's devious plan for Tunstall and McSween.
- Dec. 24, 1877---Alex and Sue McSween and John Chisum are arrested by a posse just outside of Las Vegas. The party is then brought back to Vegas, where McSween and Chisum are thrown in jail (Chisum is being held on other charges). The warrant for McSween's arrest has not yet arrived in Vegas from Santa Fe, so the arrest is illegal. Sheriff Romero decides to wait forty-eight hours for the warrant to arrive. If it doesn't arrive within that time, he's going to release McSween.
- Dec. 26, 1877---The warrant doesn't arrive in Las Vegas and Sheriff Romero lets the McSweens and Chisum leave. Shortly after the party leaves, the warrant does arrive in Vegas, and Romero sends a posse out to go after them again. A few miles outside of Vegas, the posse finds the party and McSween and Chisum are arrested again. Sue McSween is allowed to go free and she continues on to St. Louis by herself. McSween and Chisum are taken back to Vegas and are again thrown in jail.
- Early Jan. 1877 (exact dates unknown)---Federal warrants are issued for the arrest of Jessie Evans and some of his gang for their theft of government mules from the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency back in Aug. 1877. U. S. Marshal John Sherman for some unknown reason appoints Rob Widenmann a deputy marshal and hands him the warrants for the arrest of the Evans Gang.
- Jan. 4, 1878---McSween is ordered for arraignment at La Mesilla. He leaves Vegas for Mesilla in the care of Vegas deputies Adolph P. Barrier and Antonio Campos. McSween plans to stop at Lincoln on the way to La Mesilla. Chisum is left in the Vegas jail. On the same day, the Jessie Evans Gang raids the Lloyd ranch on the Rio Mimbres. The gang makes off with several horses, but Jessie is shot in the groin during the raid. The wound is not serious, but Jessie can't ride on a horse for a while.
- Jan. 9, 1878---McSween, Deputy Barrier, and Deputy Campos arrive in Lincoln. Word gets to Lincoln that La Mesilla's judge, Warren Bristol, is seriously ill at La Mesilla and cannot be at the courthouse for McSween's arraignment. For the time being then, McSween remains at his house under house arrest. Deputy Barrier continues to stay with McSween at his house, but Deputy Campos returns to Las Vegas.
- Jan. 12, 1878---Dolan and Riley mortgage the House and everything else belonging to Jas. J. Dolan & Co. to Tom Catron.
- Jan. 17, 1878---Tunstall writes a letter to the Mesilla Valley Independent accusing Sheriff Brady of embezzling $1, 545.13 worth of McSween's tax money. His letter is published by the Independent . Dolan is furious when he hears of this and writes a rebuttal.
- Jan. 19, 1878---Judge Bristol is still very sick at La Mesilla and is laid up in bed.
- Jan. 21, 1878---McSween, accompanied by Tunstall, David Shield, Deputy Adolph Barrier, and John B. 'Green' Wilson leave Lincoln for La Mesilla, where Wilson has business of his own to attend to. Dolan leaves for La Mesilla as well, accompanied by Charles Fritz, James Longwell, and several members of the Jessie Evans Gang. Jessie himself needs to ride in a wagon due to his groin wound.
- Jan. 26, 1878---The McSween party arrives in La Mesilla. Dolan's party arrives around the same time and sets up camp at Shedd's Ranch.
- Jan. 27, 1878---The Rudabaugh-Roarke Gang of rustlers (which is composed of Dirty Dave Rudabaugh, Mike Roarke, Dan Dement, Tom Golt, J. D. Green, and Edgar West) fails in their first attempt to rob a train near the small town of Kinsley, Kansas. The gang ends up having to flee the train without a dollar's worth of loot (although Dirty Dave does steal a nice coat from a passenger on the train).
- Jan. 28, 1878---Dirty Dave Rudabaugh and Edgar West are arrested by Bat Masterson and a small posse for attempted train robbery.
- Late Jan. 1878 (exact date unknown)---Dolan confronts Tunstall in La Mesilla and tries to goad the Englishman into a fight by calling him names. Tunstall, however, doesn't fight, angering Dolan further.
- Feb. 2, 1878---Due to the fact that Judge Bristol is still sick at his home, McSween's preliminary hearing is held at Bristol's house. William Rynerson serves as the prosecution at the hearing, and, according to Deputy Barrier, throughout the hearing both Rynerson and Bristol insult McSween and show they are partisan to Dolan. It's decided that additional evidence is needed before McSween can go to trial.
- Feb. 4, 1878---McSween's hearing is concluded at Bristol's house. McSween is bound over to the April term of court and his bail is set at $8,000. Rynerson, however, refuses to accept the $8,000 when it's offered. Deputy Barrier is given instructions to escort McSween back to Lincoln and to hand him over to Sheriff Brady when they get there.
- Feb. 5, 1878---McSween, Tunstall, David Shield, Deputy Barrier, and John Wilson leave La Mesilla on their return trip to Lincoln. They reach Shedd's Ranch that night and set up camp. The Dolan party is still camped at Shedd's Ranch as well.
- Feb. 6, 1878---Early in the morning, Dolan and Jessie Evans approach Tunstall and Dolan again tries to get Tunstall to fight. When Tunstall again refuses to fight, Dolan pulls out his Winchester rifle and is about to shoot Tunstall when Deputy Barrier steps in-between the two men and orders Dolan away. Dolan, angrier than ever, leaves Shedd's Ranch with his party and heads back to La Mesilla. At Mesilla, using affidavits from Emilie Fritz Scholand and Charles Fritz, Dolan, Bristol, and Rynerson work feverishly to issue a writ of attachment of $10,000 worth of McSween's property. The $10,000 figure is taken from the amount of the Emil Fritz insurance policy that McSween is accused of embezzling. However, by this time, only $7,148.46 of the insurance money actually remains. And, to top it off, McSween himself was owed a total of $5,115.50 for his services in the insurance matter, leaving only $2,032.96 of the insurance money left. So, basically, even if McSween had embezzled the money, he only embezzled around $2,000 of it, not the $10,000 it was originally worth.
- Feb. 7, 1878---Bristol issues the $10,000 writ of attachment on McSween's property. After the writ is issued, Bristol gives it to Dolan, Tom Hill, Jessie Evans, and Frank Baker, who ride as fast as they can to Lincoln, bypassing the McSween party that is also on its way to Lincoln. Dolan wants to give the writ to Sheriff Brady as fast as he can so Brady can start attaching the property before McSween or Tunstall know what's going on. The real goal of this was not to get McSween's property, but Tunstall's. According to Bristol, Dolan, and Rynerson, McSween and Tunstall testified at the hearing that they were co-partners in the store business and in Tunstall's Rio Feliz ranch. Technically, however, they were not actually partners. David Shield, Deputy Barrier, and McSween said that neither McSween nor Tunstall ever testified they were partners, and Tunstall and McSween would have no reason to say they were. Deputy Barrier would likewise have no reason to lie for McSween and Tunstall if they actually had testified they were partners. Dolan, Rynerson, and Bristol did have a reason to lie and say that Tunstall said they were partners: that way, they could attach Tunstall's property as well. This was Tom Catron's plan from the very beginning.
- Feb. 8, 1878---Jimmy Dolan, Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, and Frank Baker arrive in Lincoln and give the writ of attachment for $10,000 worth of McSween's property to Sheriff Brady. On the same day, Johnny Riley cleans Lincoln's jail/pit especially for McSween.
- Feb. 9, 1878---Sheriff Brady and his men attach the Tunstall store. Rob Widenmann protests against this, but is himself arrested by Brady. Widenmann is bound over to the April term of court.
- Feb. 10, 1878---Brady and his men attach the McSween house. Later in the day, Tunstall, McSween, Deputy Adolph Barrier, David Shield, and John Wilson arrive back in Lincoln. McSween and Tunstall are furious over the fact that their house and store, respectively, have been attached without their knowledge. Tunstall is especially angry since his store has been unlawfully attached in the first place. To make matters worse, Brady also intends to attach Tunstall's ranch and livestock soon. Nevertheless, Tunstall and McSween are both helpless against the sheriff and his men. Also upon arrival in Lincoln, Deputy Barrier refuses to hand McSween over to Sheriff Brady, fearing that McSween will be harmed, or even killed, while in Brady's care. So, for the time being, McSween will remain under house arrest under Deputy Barrier's care.
- Feb. 11, 1878---Tunstall is able to get several of his horses and mules in Lincoln exempted from Brady's attachment. He then has cook Godfrey Gauss drive the mules and horses to his Rio Feliz ranch. Later in the day, Tunstall also sends ranch-hands Billy Bonney, John Middleton, Fred Waite, Rob Widenmann, and newcomer William McCloskey to the ranch, where foreman Dick Brewer already is. On the same day, McSween writes a letter to Interior Secretary Carl Schurz accusing Jas. J. Dolan & Co. of fraud of the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
- Feb. 12, 1878---Sheriff Brady sends a posse under the command of his deputy, and employee of Jas. J. Dolan & Co., Billy Mathews to the Rio Feliz ranch in order to attach McSween's (Tunstall's actually) cattle. Also included in the posse are members of the Jessie Evans Gang, such as Jessie himself, Frank Baker, and Tom Hill. Upon reaching the ranch, Dick Brewer tells Mathews that there are no McSween cattle at the ranch (which is true; all the cattle there belongs to Tunstall, not McSween). Widenmann than threatens to arrest Hill, Baker, and Evans, seeing as how he's a deputy U. S. marshal and has warrants for them. Baker, Evans, and Hill then begin threatening and trying to intimidate Widenmann. Possibly to calm the situation, Dick invites the Mathews posse into the choza for dinner. Throughout the meal, things are tense and Widenmann and the outlaws almost end up shooting it out. Confused over what to do about the cattle, Mathews says he and his posse will stay at the ranch for the night then return to Lincoln in the morning to get further instructions from Brady.
- Feb. 13, 1878---In the morning, the Billy Mathews posse leaves the Tunstall ranch to head back to Lincoln. Billy Bonney, Fred Waite, and Rob Widenmann accompany the posse on the trail. At some point during the fifty-mile ride to Lincoln, Mathews asks Widenmann if Tunstall's men will resist the attachment of Tunstall's cattle. Widenmann says they will if the posse attempts to drive the herd to the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency, for fear that the cattle will be butchered there. Meanwhile, Jessie Evans, Frank Baker, and Tom Hill break apart from the posse and head to the ranch of Bob Paul, located several miles southwest of Tunstall's ranch.
- Feb. 14, 1878---James H. Farmer resigns his position as Lincoln's justice of the peace. John B. Wilson is thereafter appointed justice of the peace to replace Farmer. On the same day, D. A. William Rynerson writes a letter from Las Cruces to Dolan and Riley in Lincoln. In the letter, Rynerson advises Dolan and Riley to ''shake the McSween outfit up till it shells out and squares up, and then shake it out of Lincoln.'' Rynerson also hints, in a not-so-subtle manner, that Dolan and Riley should have Tunstall, McSween, and/or Chisum murdered. He also volunteers to help them all he can in the forthcoming months. Probably that same night the Mathews party, as well as Billy, Waite, and Widenmann, arrive in Lincoln. Billy, Waite, and Widenmann also discover that the Tunstall store is being guarded by several of Sheriff Brady's deputies.
- Feb. 15, 1878---In the morning, Sam Wortley, owner of the Wortley Hotel & Restaurant, attempts to bring food to the deputies at the Tunstall store. On his way down the street, Billy Bonney and Fred Waite stop him. Billy and Waite then walk to the Tunstall store, where Billy pulls out his Winchester rifle, aims it at the front door, and yells out for Deputy James Longwell to come out and face him in a fair gunfight. Longwell, however, has enough sense to turn down the offer. On the same day, Tunstall employs a neighboring rancher, 'Dutch' Martin Martz, to work on his Rio Feliz ranch. Also on the same day, the eastern section of Dona Ana County is annexed into Lincoln County, making Lincoln County the biggest county in the country.
- Feb. 16, 1878---L. G. Murphy officially puts his Carrizozo ranch up for sale. He wishes to leave Lincoln County for good. On the same day, Billy Mathews, under the orders of Sheriff Brady, and Jimmy Dolan head for Bob Paul's ranch, where a large party of members of the Seven Rivers Warriors and the Jessie Evans Gang is being put together by Buck Morton to go after Tunstall's herd. Also on the same day, Billy, Waite, and Widenmann leave Lincoln to head back to the Rio Feliz ranch. Tunstall, by himself, leaves his ranch to head to Chisum's South Spring ranch. He hopes to get Chisum to 'loan' him some of his cowboys/gunmen in order to defend his ranch and property.
- Feb. 17, 1878---Tunstall arrives at the Chisum South Spring ranch, but discovers that Old John is still in jail back in Las Vegas. John had refused to list all of his assets, as a Vegas court ordered him to do, and was subsequently ordered to remain in jail. It's believed that Chisum did this for the precise reason to stay in jail in Vegas, and thereby avoid direct activity in Lincoln County for the next few months. Tunstall does find that Old John's brothers, Jim, Pitzer, and Jeff are at the ranch though. Tunstall asks them to loan him some of their cowboys, but they refuse, not wanting to get involved in any troubles of Tunstall's. Angry over this, Tunstall leaves the ranch to head back to his own ranch. He arrives there around ten o'clock at night. On the same day, Dolan and Mathews discover about forty-five men at the Paul ranch (most of them members of the Jessie Evans Gang and Seven Rivers Warriors) who are more than willing to help them attach Tunstall's property and livestock.
- Feb. 18, 1878---Around 3:00 in the morning, Tunstall decides to drive his horses back to Lincoln. At dawn, he, Dick Brewer, Billy Bonney, John Middleton, Rob Widenmann, Henry Brown, and Fred Waite (in a wagon) leave with nine horses. Of the nine horses, six are Tunstall's, two are Dick's, and one is Billy's. After ten miles of riding, Waite splits from the rest of the party and takes a wagon trail that will lead him to La Junta, on the Rio Hondo; the rest of the group takes a short cut through Pajarito Springs. Around this same time, the posse of forty-five men led by Deputy Billy Mathews and Jimmy Dolan leaves the Paul ranch for the Rio Feliz ranch. Not too long afterwards, Henry Brown's horse throws a shoe, and he must turn back to the Rio Feliz ranch to get it fixed. On the way back, Henry runs into the Dolan-Mathews posse heading for the Tunstall ranch as well. Henry and the posse arrive at the Tunstall ranch and the posse is angry to discover that all the horses are gone and only cook Godfrey Gauss is still there. The posse asks Brown and Gauss where Tunstall and the horses are, but they both play dumb. The posse then decides to simply follow the tracks of Henry's horse in the snow. Dolan, Mathews, and Buck Morton decide not to send all forty-five posse members after Tunstall, but to send only eighteen men, along with Morton who will be in charge. Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, and Frank Baker all go with the sub-posse. Meanwhile, the rest of the posse, including Dolan and Mathews, stick around at the Tunstall ranch. Around five in the afternoon, and only about ten miles from Dick's Ruidoso ranch, Tunstall, Billy, Dick, John, and Widenmann ride down a gorge leading to the Rio Ruidoso. In front of the pack of horses are Tunstall, Dick, and Widenmann, and Billy and Middleton ride drag. Billy and Middleton suddenly hear the sound of horses behind them and turn to see the sub-posse approaching. The duo race forward, shouting for Tunstall, Widenmann, and Dick to ride with them. At the same time, the sub-posse opens fire on the five men. Widenmann and Dick race along with Billy and Middleton to reach cover, but Tunstall himself freezes for some reason, although Middleton yells directly at him to run. Billy, Dick, Widenmann, and Middleton take cover in a ravine and lose site of Tunstall. Seeing the frozen Tunstall, the sub-posse ceases their fire and rides up to him. Tunstall then rides his horse closer to the sub-posse, hoping to talk to them. As he approaches, Tom Hill and Billy Morton each fire one shot at him with their rifles. One bullet hits Tunstall in the chest, and the other in the head, killing him instantly. One the posse then shoots Tunstall's horse once in the head, killing it. Shortly thereafter, one of the posse takes Tunstall's pistol out of its holster and fires two shots in the air with it to make it look as though the group killed Tunstall in self-defense. Members of the sub-posse then carry Tunstall's body and lay it next to the body of his horse. His hat is then placed on the horse's head as a sick joke. One member of the sub-posse then takes it upon himself to bash in Tunstall's head with the butt of his rifle. The sub-posse then rounds up the nine horses Tunstall was driving and drive them back to the Rio Feliz ranch. Immediately after the shooting, Billy, Dick, John, and Widenmann knew that Tunstall had been killed. They wait until dark, when they're sure that the sub-posse is gone, then ride on towards Lincoln. Around midnight, the four men arrive in Lincoln and tell McSween what occurred. McSween then holds a mass meeting of most of his and Tunstall's supporters at his house. During the meeting, a very drunk Johnny Riley appears and for some reason empties his pockets at McSween's house. He then departs, leaving the contents of his pockets at McSween's. After Riley leaves, McSween himself examines the possessions he left behind. He happens to find a book which contains the letter from Rynerson, as well as documented business transactions with the Jessie Evans Gang and Seven Rivers Warriors. With the murder of John H. Tunstall, the Lincoln County War has begun.
- Feb. 19, 1878---Around 2:00 in the morning, the Morton sub-posse arrives back at the Rio Feliz ranch with Tunstall's horses. Morton tells Mathews that Tunstall resisted arrest and pulled his pistol on them, forcing them to kill him in self-defense. Around dawn, John Newcomb, Florencio Gonzales, Patricio Trujillo, Lazaro Gallegos, and Ramon Baragon travel to the Tunstall murder site, where they find the bodies of Tunstall and his horse. Newcomb straps Tunstall's body to a mule and the party takes it back to Lincoln. While the Newcomb party is gone, Billy Bonney and Dick Brewer sign affidavits before Justice of the Peace Wilson stating that Jimmy Dolan, Jessie Evans, and sixteen others were in the sub-posse that killed Tunstall. Immediately after the Newcomb party arrives back in Lincoln with Tunstall's body, Wilson organizes a coroner's jury made up of George B. Barber, John Newcomb, Bob Gilbert, Sam Smith, Frank Coe, and Ben Ellis. Tunstall's body is taken to the McSween house, where the coroner's jury holds its inquest. Based on the testimony of Billy, Dick, and John Middleton, the jury reaches the verdict that Tunstall was killed ''by one or more of the persons whose names are herewith written, to wit, Jessie Evans, William Morton, Frank Baker, Thomas Hill, George Hindman, J. J. Dolan, and others not identified by the witnesses who testified.'' With the jury's verdict, Wilson swears out warrants for the arrest of Dolan, Jessie, and sixteen others. Wilson also swears out warrants for Sheriff Brady, Deputy James Longwell, and every other deputy Brady had guarding the Tunstall store, due to the fact that they had stolen hay from the Tunstall store. Wilson then hands the warrants to Constable Atanacio Martinez, who plans to start making arrests the next day. Rob Widenmann did not testify before the coroner's jury because he had left Lincoln for Fort Stanton before the inquest was held. On the same day, Rev. Dr. Taylor Ealy, his wife and two children, and a school-teacher, Susan Gates, arrive in Lincoln, where they plan to make their home. They come to Lincoln at the bequest of the Presbyterian Board of Missions, to whom McSween had recently requested a Presbyterian missionary to come to Lincoln.
- Feb. 20, 1878---At the McSween house, Fort Stanton's assistant surgeon, Lt. Daniel M. Appel, conducts the post-mortem on Tunstall's body and embalms it. On the same day, Constable Martinez deputizes Billy Bonney and Fred Waite and the trio sets off to the House in order to arrest Sheriff Brady, his deputies, and some of the members of the group that killed Tunstall. Upon arriving at the House, they discover Sheriff Brady and several of Tunstall's killers, all heavily armed. When Martinez states his, Billy's, and Fred's business, Brady refuses to be arrested or to allow any of Tunstall's killers to be arrested. Brady then unlawfully arrests Martinez, Billy, and Fred, confiscates their guns, and walks them down main street at gunpoint, in full view of the entire town, to Lincoln's jail/pit. Billy, Waite, and Martinez are humiliated by this ordeal. That same night, Brady releases Martinez, but refuses to free Billy or Waite. On the same day, Rob Widenmann arrives at Fort Stanton. Leaning on his deputy U. S. marshal status, Widenmann asks commanding officer Capt. George Purington for military assistance to aid him in arresting members of the Jessie Evans Gang on charges of stealing government mules. Purington complies and says in a few days he will send a detachment of troops under the command of Lt. Millard F. Goodwin to Lincoln to aid Widenmann in making his arrests. Satisfied, Widenmann heads back to Lincoln.
- Feb. 21, 1878---McSween has Sheriff Brady arrested by Constable Martinez for stealing hay from the Tunstall store. Brady's case is bound over to the April term of court. That night, one of the McSweens' black house servants, Sebrian Bates, digs a grave for Tunstall beside Tunstall's store. Tunstall's body itself is placed in a coffin in the McSween house, where it will remain until the following day.
- Feb. 22, 1878---At 3:00 in the afternoon, Tunstall's body, in its coffin, is carried out of the McSween house and to the grave beside the Tunstall store by pallbearers Dick Brewer, Frank Coe, George Coe, and John Newcomb. Rev. Dr. Ealy conducts the graveside funeral, and Justice Wilson translates the sermon into Spanish. After the sermon, Tunstall is buried, with Dick Brewer vowing at the gravesite that he will catch every man that was involved with Tunstall's murder. Following the funeral, a mass meeting of outraged Tunstall-McSween supporters is held at the McSween house. The citizens at the meeting decide that Sheriff Brady deserves to give them an explanation as to why Constable Martinez and Deputies Waite and Bonney were arrested and why he refuses to arrest the men that killed Tunstall. Judge Florencio Gonzales, Isaac Ellis, John Newcomb, and Jose Montano march down to the House and confront Brady. They ask him why Martinez, Billy, and Fred were arrested, and he replies simply because he ''had the power'' to do so. When they ask him why he won't arrest Tunstall's killers, he doesn't answer. When someone then asks if he will now accept McSween's bond in the Fritz embezzlement matter, he says he will not. On the same day, Jimmy Dolan leaves Lincoln for La Mesilla, hoping to get D. A. Rynerson to issue an alias warrant for McSween's arrest, which will make it possible for Brady to rearrest McSween and get him out of Deputy Barrier's care.
- Feb. 23, 1878---As promised, Capt. Purington sends a detachment of troops under the command of Lt. Goodwin from Fort Stanton to Lincoln to assist Widenmann in making his arrests. Upon the troops' arrival in Lincoln, Widenmann, the troops, and a large group of Tunstall-McSween supporters (which includes Dick Brewer, Doc Scurlock, George Coe, Frank Coe, Sam Smith, Constable Atanacio Martinez, John Middleton, and Sam Corbet, among many others) goes to the Lincoln jail/pit and free Billy Bonney and Fred Waite. The party then goes to the House and searches it for members of the Jessie Evans Gang. However, none of them are found at the House. The party then walks over to the Tunstall store, which Sheriff Brady still has his deputies guarding. At the store, Constable Martinez arrests the five deputies Brady has posted there for stealing hay from the store and throws them in the jail/pit. The deputies arrested are George Peppin, Jack Long, James Longwell, John Clark, and Charles Marshall. By arresting the deputies, the Tunstall-McSween faction has successfully retaken the Tunstall store. On the same day, Sheriff Brady goes before Justice Wilson and posts $200 bond for the charge facing him for stealing hay from the Tunstall store. After the day's events, the U. S. troops return to Fort Stanton. Also on the same day, Jessie Evans Gang member Jim McDaniels shoots and kills one H. Martin, a rustler in competition with the Jessie Evans Gang.
- Feb. 24, 1878---In the morning, Rev. Ealy holds a Sunday school class in the McSween house. Also in the morning, Deputies Peppin, Long, Marshall, Clark, and Longwell are bound over to the April term of court and are released from the jail in Lincoln. Sometime during the day, McSween and Widenmann write a letter together to Tunstall's father in London, informing him of his son's recent murder. After mailing the letter, another mass meeting of Tunstall-McSween supporters is held at the McSween house. McSween is advised by the people at the meeting to leave Lincoln for his physical safety. McSween agrees and plans to leave Lincoln the next day.
- Feb. 25, 1878---Isaac Ellis is appointed administrator of the Tunstall estate. Also, sometime during the day, Widenmann claims his food is poisoned by someone from the Murphy-Dolan faction. On the same day, McSween writes another letter to Tunstall's father, informing him of Ellis's appointment as the administrator of his son's estate. McSween then makes out his last willing testament, with Sam Corbet and David Shield as his witnesses. When his will is finished, McSween, still in the care of Deputy Barrier, leaves Lincoln for the mountains.
- Feb. 26, 1878 (approx.)---At La Mesilla, D. A. Rynerson issues an alias warrant for McSween's arrest and hands it over to Dolan, who then begins to ride back to Lincoln.
- Feb. 28, 1878---David and Elizabeth Shield, as well as their children, finally move into the east wing of the McSween house. The west wing of the house still belongs to Alex and Susan McSween, although Susan is the only one living there now, since McSween is still living in the mountains outside of Lincoln with Deputy Barrier. Probably on the same day, Jimmy Dolan arrives back in Lincoln and hands the alias warrant for McSween over to Sheriff Brady. However, Dolan is disappointed when he finds out that only a few days previously McSween, along with Deputy Barrier, left Lincoln for parts unknown to Sheriff Brady and his men.
- Mar. 1, 1878---Dick Brewer, furious over the fact that Sheriff Brady refuses to arrest his friend Tunstall's killers, goes before Justice of the Peace Wilson, who appoints him a special constable and hands him the warrants for all of Tunstall's killers. Immediately after his appointment as constable, Dick begins putting together a posse for the express purpose of catching Tunstall's killers. By the end of the day, the posse is made up of Dick, as their leader, Billy Bonney (who Dick appoints as his deputy), John Middleton, Doc Scurlock, Fred Waite, 'Big Jim' French, Henry Brown, Charlie Bowdre, Jose Chavez y Chavez, 'Dirty Steve' Stephens, John Scroggins, and 'Tiger Sam' Smith. John Chisum, who just recently arrived back at his South Spring ranch after finally being released from jail in Las Vegas, 'loans' the posse his Hunter & Evans cattle detective, Frank MacNab, since the killers the posse are going after are members of either the Jessie Evans Gang or the Seven Rivers Warriors, which are Chisum's arch-enemies. After the posse is fully formed, its members decide to call themselves 'the Regulators.' All of the members also take part in an iron clad oath that states that under no circumstances whatsoever, can any member reveal anything about the activities of the group to outsiders. After hearing of the formation of the Regulators, Sheriff Brady strikes back by arresting Widenmann and fifteen others of the group that had thrown his deputies in jail and taken back the Tunstall store. Brady says he had them arrested for ''rioting.'' Widenmann and the fifteen other men can't all fit in Lincoln's jail, so they are all released, but are bound over to the April term of court. Also on this day, construction of a twelve-foot adobe wall around the McSween-Shield house begins. It's built for defense in case of a siege.
- Mar. 2, 1878---The thirteen members of the Regulators leave east out of Lincoln and head for the Rio Pecos on the trail of some of Tunstall's killers.
- Mar. 4. 1878---Sheriff Brady writes a letter to Tom Catron in Santa Fe, justifying his posse's murder of Tunstall and his ''misappropriation'' of McSween's tax money.
- Mar. 5, 1878---Tom Catron forwards Brady's letter to fellow Santa Fe Ring member (and thereby a Murphy-Dolan-Riley supporter) Gov. Samuel Axtell. Axtell then forwards the letter to President Rutherford B. Hayes and asks him to authorize the use of U. S. troops to assist the ''civil law enforcement officers in Lincoln County,'' which basically means Brady and his deputies.
- Mar. 6, 1878---Late in the afternoon, the Regulators spot Buck Morton, Frank Baker, Dick Lloyd, Tom Cochran, and one other man in a cluster of trees on the Rio Penasco. When the five men spot the Regulators, they mount their horses and take off, riding at breakneck speed. As the Regulators give chase, the five men break into two groups, one made up of Morton, Baker, and Lloyd, and the other of Cochran and the unidentified man. All thirteen Regulators elect to pursue the group of three, and begin firing their pistols at them as they run. After running for five miles, Lloyd's horse collapses underneath him. However, the Regulators overlook him and continue to pursue Morton and Baker, allowing Lloyd to escape on foot. After about another mile of running, the horses of Morton and Baker also give out, forcing the two men to take cover in a cluster of bushes. The Regulators soon after approach and threaten to burn them out if they do not surrender. After Dick Brewer promises the two men no harm will come to them, they both surrender. As they are being disarmed, one Regulator, in all likely hood Billy Bonney, has to be restrained from killing Morton. It makes sense that it was Billy who wanted to kill Morton, since not only had Morton lead the group that killed Tunstall, but had fired Billy months previously from the Jas. J. Dolan & Co. owned cattle camp. After Baker and Morton's surrender, Dick himself says he's sorry they actually surrendered, since he would have rather liked killing them. The two men are put on their tired horses and the Regulators begin leading them north up the Rio Pecos, back towards Lincoln.
- Mar. 7, 1878---The Regulators, along with their prisoners Morton and Baker, continue to follow the Rio Pecos north and stop at the ranch of Bob Gilbert. Also at the Gilbert ranch is William McCloskey, a former Tunstall ranch-hand and close personal friend of many of the men who were in the group that killed Tunstall, including Morton and Baker. Later in the day, as the Regulators leave the Gilbert ranch with Morton and Baker and continue north up the Pecos, McCloskey joins them, saying he wants to go to Lincoln as well. The Regulators dislike McCloskey and do not trust him, but t
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History
