Paddock’s Picks: Blackwater Draw

Editor’s note:  Anita Paddock’s review of books we should read are scheduled to appear on the second Friday of each month. Enjoy.

review by Anita Paddock
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This little book, written by the Historian for the U.S. Marshal Service, David Turk, is one that would appeal to anyone who ever read a western novel or saw a movie about Billy the Kid.

Most little boys (and a few little girls) grew up with a romanticized version of the short and violent life of William “Kid” Bonney.

Students of western history, particularly of the era known as The Lincoln County War, will find this book of real interest, and I recommend it to anyone who likes to read about cattle rustlers, bandits, and unscrupulous politicians in New Mexico territory during the late 1800‘s.

The conflict began between two factions:  the older, established powerful men who monopolized the dry goods trade, and the newcomer, the English-born John Turnstall, a rancher who had the backing of cattlemen, John Chism and lawyer, Albert McSween who wanted to cash in on the lucrative dry goods business by opening their own store.

Also involved in this rivalry were political skullduggery and cattle rustling, a crime that eventually led to gangs called The Regulators who backed the Englishman and the Jessie Evans Gang who rode for the established moneyed interests.

Billy the Kid was a vengeful kid who was ready for a fight, and when his boss, the Englishman Turnstall, was murdered, he and his fellow Regulators set out on revenge.  This  resulted in the capture of three men who supposedly killed the Englishman. On route from Roswell to Lincoln, the three prisoners supposedly tried to escape, and they were shot and killed supposedly by Billy the Kid. Their bodies were either left in the sand or buried by Mexicans.

It was at this site, on March 9, 1878, at Blackwater Draw or Agua Negra Springs, as it was also called, that the three men were killed in an “eye for an eye” shooting that helped catapult Billy the Kid (along with dime novels) to fame.

The author of this book, along with other historians, visited this site in July and October of 2006. In true lawmen fashion, they set out to see if they could reconstruct the scene of the killings by searching for bones or graves and spent shell casings from Colt pistols and Remington rifles. What they discovered, and questions they didn’t solve, is told in this book.

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Last spring, I visited Billy the Kid’s grave at Fort Sumpter, N.M. My traveling buddy, P.D. Duvall, a childhood friend since the second grade, told me the story of The Lincoln County War as we reverently walked around the little cemetery. The Kid’s grave was surrounded by an iron fence, and you could see where vandals had once chipped pieces out of his tombstone.

We also visited a museum devoted to Billy the Kid and the fascinating history of lawless New Mexico territory where the landscape is desolately and incredibly beautiful.

Duvall is a native of Van Buren. He retired from the Arkansas Air National Guard as a lieutenant colonel in 1994. He is a collector of period Colt pistols and Remington rifles. He and his friend, Carl Gross, also of Van Buren, formed Hanging Judge Productions which produces gun shows in the area. They also actively promoted the campaign to raise money for the Bass Reeves statue and contributed financially to that endeavor.

Duvall has always loved history. As a young boy, he read all the Captain Hornblower series. He is currently “Route 66: The Mother Road” by Michael Wallis and has recently completed “Billy the Kid” by the same author.

One of his favorite places to hang out is the Van Buren Public Library. There, he says, “The girls are always taking good care of me.”