Spanish speaking settlers
founded Las Placitas del
Rio Bonito in the 1850s.
The town was renamed
Lincoln in 1869.
This quiet little town has a
history of violence &
bloodshed that lasted
for years.
Merchants & Cattleman in the
area vied for profits reaped from
supplying Fort Stanton & the
region throughout the 1860s
& into the 1870s.
English rancher John H. Tunstall and Irish-American merchants James Dolan and Lawrence Murphy ran the General Store (The House). Their fierce competition for control of commerce escalating tensions in Lincoln County.
Tensions grew English rancher
John Tunstall hired gunmen,
John Tunstall was forced, by court order, to turn over cattle to repay a debt and he refused to comply. Early in 1878, a posse was sent to Tunstall's to get the animals. Tunstall met the posse to protest their presence on his land. He was gunned down, and the fight was on...
Billy the Kid set out for revenge. The number of bodies on both sides began to rise... Violence continued into the next decade.
A link for more details on the Lincoln County War. The carnage had to come to an end. Gunmen were being rounded up and brought to justice. Billy the Kid, who had killed at least 20 men over the years, was on the run. Early in 1881, Sheriff Pat Garrett got his man.
The Kid was put on trial &
sentenced to death on
He was held in a cell on the second floor of the Lincoln County Courthouse, awaiting his hanging on May 13, 1881. The Kid broke out of jail on April 28, 1881, killing two guards.
The Wortley Hotel is where
heard gunshots at noon on
April 28, 1881.
He rushed out of the Hotel and died at the hand of Billy the Kid, who was on his way out of town.
Sheriff Pat Garrett went after The Kid again. On July 14th, the murderer and jailbreaker was cornered at the Maxwell Ranch in nearby Fort Sumner. This time Sheriff Garrett gunned Billy the Kid down. There would be no second trial for the 22-year-old.
have historic significance.
They, along with two museums,
comprise the Lincoln State
Monument.
History lives in Lincoln, New Mexico, with frequent re-enactments aspects of the Lincoln County War.
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