On April 28, 1881, Billy the Kid—legally William H. Bonney—escaped from the Lincoln County courthouse in one of the most daring and debated jailbreaks of the American West. He was awaiting execution for the murder of Sheriff William Brady. The escape cost two deputy sheriffs their lives.
Now, more than a century later, historians still cannot answer the single most important question behind it all: where did Billy get a gun? Billy had been returned to Lincoln on April 21 and held under heavy guard ina second-floor room withhis irons on. Sheriff Pat Garrett was away from town that day, reportedly gathering lumber for the gallows, though some accounts suggest he may have been handling routine official duties instead. That left Deputies James W.
Bell and Robert “Bob” Olinger to guard the notorious prisoner. Olinger was the more intimidating of the two—described as a strikingly large man, roughly six feet tall and around 240 pounds, witha ruddy complexion anddark eyes. He had even posed for a photograph years earlier alongside members of the rival Murphy-Dolan faction, which had fought bitterly against the commercial interests backed by John Tunstall andAlexander McSween during the Lincoln County War. Around6:00 p.
m. that evening, Olinger escortedsome other county prisoners across the street to the Wortley Hotel for dinner. Bell was left in charge of Billy. It was the opening Billy needed.
According tothe most widely repeated account, Billy asked Bell to take him tothe outhouse behind the courthouse. On the way back upthe narrow stairs, Billy reportedly slipped one small hand free of its manacle and used the loose iron to overpower Bell, grabbing the deputy’s revolver. Bell bolted for the back door, but Billy opened fire. Bell collapsed just outside, in the yard, where a neighbor named Godfrey Gauss caught him as he fell.
Hearing the commotion, Gauss rushed around the east side ofthe courthouse and spotted Deputy Olinger acrossthe street, where he was watching the other prisoners outside the Wortley Hotel. Gauss shouted for him to come quickly. As Olinger approached the gate, Billy appeared at an upstairs window facing the hotel,, according totradition, called out “Hello, Bob,” and fired two blasts from a Whitney shotgun taken from Garrett’s office. Olinger fell dead.
There is no reliable contemporary record ofthe alleged greeting, and historians caution thatthe famous line may well have been added by later storytellers. With the two deputies down, Billy still had one shackle around his leg. From the window, he ordered Gauss to saddle a horse and toss him amining pick so he could work free ofthe remaining iron. Accounts say Billy labored at the shackle for nearly an hour, freeing only one leg before strapping the loose iron tohis belt and heading downstairs.
No horse belonging to JudgeLeonard was available, so Gauss saddled askittish colt owned by a local man named Billy Burt. Following Billy’s instructions, Gauss also tied two red blankets behind the saddle. Sam Wortley, co-owner ofthe Wortley Hotel, arrived during the preparations but Billy assured him he would not be harmed. Wortley lingered andhelped withthe arrangements.
When Billy finally emerged, hes reportedly expressed regret over Bell’s death, saying he felt he had no other way to escape. Passing Olinger’s body, he was said to have made abitter remark that the deputy would never arrest him again. Before riding off, he told Gauss to inform Billy Burt that the horse would be returned the next day. Gauss later admitted he placed little faith in that promise as he watched Billy ride out of Lincoln anddisappear into the countryside.
The broad sequence ofthe escape is confirmed by contemporary and later records: Olinger took the other prisoners to dinner, Bell was left with Billy, Billy somehow obtained a firearm, both deputies were killed, andBilly fled. But nearly every dramatic detail beyond that rests on testimony gathered later, especially from Gauss, andmust be treated as witness recollection, not uncontested fact. Exactly how Billy obtained his first weapon remains the greatest unresolved mystery. No eyewitness ever documented the confrontation upstairs between Billy and Bell.
Several competing explanations have emerged over the years, andhistorians remain divided. Sheriff Garrett himself offered one version: he claimed Billy, while returning from the outhouse, dashed ahead of Bell upthe stairs, burst into anearby room where firearms andammunition were stored, armed himself, then confronted Bell on the landing. Bell turned andran for the back exit, apparently intending to raise the alarm, but Billy cut him off, knowing that an alert would destroy his chance at freedom. Garrett’s account, however, was based on his later investigation, not on direct observation.
Another theory, popularized by author Walter Noble Burns, held that Billy somehow slipped both hands out of his shackles duringa card game, grabbed Bell’s revolver, andthen confronted the deputy as Bell tried to leave. But Judge Lucius Dills reportedly cast doubt on this version after examining the available evidence: Bell’s revolver, Dills said, was still snapped in its holster andfully loaded when the deputy was found. If that observation is accurate, Billy could not have used Bell’s gun—he must have obtained a different weapon. A third explanation has become part of local Lincoln tradition.
It holds thata young boy named José Aguayo, connected tothe Baca family, secretly stashed a pistol inside the courthouse outhouse. The boy, said to have been fond of Billy, allegedly hid the weapon wrapped ina newspaper—an unremarkable item that anyone might carry toa privy—and left it where Billy could retrieve it during one of his escorted visits. The story continues that Sam Corbett, a regular visitor to Billy, secretly passed him asmall piece of paper withasingle word: “toilet. ” Billy reportedly understood the message andknew where to look.
All three explanations remain speculative. No contemporary document conclusively proves that Aguayo orCorbett took part in the escape. The certain record shows only that Billy, taking advantage of Olinger’s absence, somehow gained control ofa firearm, used the resulting chaos to flee, andthat Deputies Bell andOlinger both lost their lives that day. The true source of Billy’s gun has never been established with certainty.
After the escape, news reached territorial officials inSanta Fe quickly. A recurring claim that Governor Lew Wallace issued anew $500 reward specifically after the breakout is inaccurate. Wallace had already authorized that $500 reward for Billy’s capture back in December 1880, months before the courthouse escape. Wallace’s diplomatic appointment asU.
S. minister tothe Ottoman Empire, made by President James Garfield onMay 19, 1881, also came later, andwas not a direct response to the prison break. Rather thanflee the New Mexico Territory permanently, Billy returned tound Fort Sumner withinashort time. He moved among friends andsupporters, sometimes staying atisolated ranches orsheep camps.
Some accounts claim he stole another horsealmost immediately upon reaching Fort Sumner, butthe details of his movements afterthe escape areinot fully documented. What is clear is thathe remained in familiar territory, where local acquaintances provided him food, shelter, andinformation. Garrett eventually learned that Billy was back around Fort Sumner. The exact source of that information is uncertain.
Although Pete Maxwell has sometimes been portrayed ashaving directly betrayed Billy, the historical record does not definitively prove that Maxwell deliberately summoned Garrett orprecisely revealed Billy’s hiding place. Garrett traveled toward Fort Sumner withDeputies John W. Poe andThomas K. McKinney.
The three men moved mostly at night, avoiding well-traveled roads, andarrived at Maxwell’s property onJuly 14, 1881. That night, Garrett was talking with Pete Maxwell insideadark bedroom whenBilly walked in unexpectedly. Garrett recognized him andshot him dead. Billy was buried thenext day in the old Fort Sumner military cemetery.
The official historical record places Billy’s death at Fort Sumner onJuly 14, 1881. Butthe precise movements, words, anddecisions made inside Maxwell’s room rest primarily onGarrett’s own account, andhave been disputed ever since. The courthouse escape remains one ofthe most audacious episodes inthe history ofthe American frontier. Its essential facts—the escape, the deaths ofthe two deputies, andBilly’s brief return tofreedom—are firmly established.
Yet the pivotal question, how Billy obtained the weapon that made his escape possible, has never been answered with certainty. Whether he broke free onhis own, raided astorage room, orwas helped byaloyal supporter, that enduring uncertainty has only deepened his legend.