PIONEER STORY OF Josh Brent, EARLY DAYS IN LINCOLN COUNTY

by Frances E. Totty, May 26, 1938

Grandfather moved to Lincoln and bought a ranch as he figured that he was nearly broke. He started raising cattle, horses and mules and hogs. He had been a captain in the army was hired by the government to take supplies to The Fort Stanton Reservation. He never did have any trouble in getting the supplies to the Indians as Murphy was hired by the government to furnish the supplies.

Mother saw Billie the Kid kill Sheriff Brady from the window in the tower. The Spanish and Mexican class of people were friends to Billie the Kid. They often hid him under the floor of their houses and warned him of dangers. My father was an under sheriff of Pat Garrets and was with him when he captured Billie the Kid at Stinking Springs.

Pat Garrett told father after he killed Billie the Kid that a fellow from the east wrote to him and said that he would pay $500 for the trigger finger of the boy. I have read many books on the boy, but this is one fact that I have never seen published.

Billie the Kid was not a killer but was fighting for cause and father told us that he was an unusually nice boy. He took the part of McSween and fought for McSween's right to the finish.

Mr. McSween was a very refined gentlemen and never could believe that the guns should rule as they did, and could never be convinced that he should carry a gun and he died carrying his Bible. Mrs. McSween was a beautiful lady, and understood the ways of the world much better than her husband who was an idealist.

I have at home a spool made into a toy by Pat Garrett that he gave to me when I was a youngster. Pat Garret after killing Billie the Kid always said that he sure hated to kill the boy, but he knew that it was either his life or the boy's life, and as he was sent out to bring him back he did the only thing he could do for he realized that Billie would never be taken alive again.