The Story of the Outlaw: A Study of the Western DesperadoHough, Emerson
History
The Story of the Outlaw: A Study of the Western Desperado
Hough, Emerson
Crime -- West (U.S.); Criminals -- West (U.S.); Outlaws; West (U.S.) -- History
The remainder of the Kid's gang were now located in the stone house
above mentioned, and their whereabouts reported by the ranchman whose
house they had just vacated. The man hunt therefore proceeded
methodically, and Garrett and his men, of whom he had only two or three
upon whom he relied as thoroughly game, surrounded the house just before
dawn. Garrett, with Jim East and Tom Emory, crept up to the head of the
ravine which made up to the ridge on which the fortress of the
outlaws stood. The early morning is always the best time for a surprise
of this sort. It was Charlie Bowdre who first came out in the morning,
and as he stepped out of the door his career as a bad man ended. Three
bullets passed through his body. He stepped back into the house, but
only lived about twenty minutes. The Kid said to him, "Charlie, you're
killed anyhow. Take your gun and go out and kill that long-legged ----
before you die." He pulled Bowdre's pistol around in front of him and
pushed him out of the door. Bowdre staggered feebly toward the spot
where the sheriff was lying. "I wish--I wish----" he began, and motioned
toward the house; but he could not tell what it was that he wished. He
died on Garrett's blankets, which were laid down on the snow.
[Illustration: From a painting by John W. Norton
A TYPICAL WESTERN MAN HUNT Pat F. Garrett chasing Tom O'Folliard]
Previous to this Garrett had killed one horse at the door beam where it
was tied, and with a remarkable shot had cut the other free, shooting
off the rope that held it. These two shots he thought about the best he
ever made; and this is saying much, for he was a phenomenal shot with
rifle or revolver. There were two horses inside, but the dead horse
blocked the door. Pickett now told the gang to surrender. "That fellow
will kill every man that shows outside that door," said he, "that's all
about it. He's killed O'Folliard, and he's killed Charlie, and he'll
kill us. Let's surrender and take a chance at getting out again." They
listened to this, for the shooting they had seen had pretty well broken
their hearts.
Garrett now sent over to the ranch house for food for his men, and the
cooking was too much for the hungry outlaws, who had had nothing to eat.
They put up a dirty white rag on a gun barrel and offered to give up.
One by one, they came out and were disarmed. That night was spent at the
Brazil ranch, the prisoners under guard and the body of Charlie Bowdre,
rolled in its blankets, outside in the wagon. The next morning, Bowdre
was buried in the little cemetery next to Tom O'Folliard. The Kid did
not know that he was to make the next in the row.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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