The raid on San Patricio

The Sheriff's posse found no Regulators in San Patricio, but a lot of sympathy for them. They ransacked the little plaza and rudely searched homes. They battered down locked doors and tore off part of the roof of Dow's Store. They shot a picketed horse. When their anger was vented, they rode off to Ruidoso seaching for Regulators and destroying property.

The Regulators had ridden up the Pecos toward Fort Sumner, but then had cut west into the Capitan mountains where they camped in Aqua Negra Canyon. Soon they heard of the raid on San Patricio. Most of the Regulators had spent many enjoyable evenings in the little Mexican town of San Patricio and had friends there.

"And that's another thing the Murphies will pay for," Billy the Kid may have predicted.