Lincoln, New Mexico (cont.)

From Primedia Publications

Page:

Lincoln, New Mexico (cont.)
Catching up with Billy

Pat Garrett caught up with Billy again two months later in Fort Sumner. This time, he didn't attempt to arrest him; he simply shot him dead on July 14, 1881. Not satisfied with killing the infamous outlaw, Garrett and a ghost writer immortalized him in the first of many books about the Kid. Published in 1882, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, the Noted Desperado of the Southwest, Whose Deeds of Daring & Blood Have Made His Name a Terror in New Mexico, Arizona & Northern Mexico started an entire genre of Kid books and movies.

Back in Lincoln, the townspeople have calmed down a lot since the 1880s. They no longer carry six-shooters—except during Old Lincoln Days, the first weekend in August, when they put on the annual production of "The Last Escape of Billy the Kid." Since 1969, Lincoln has celebrated its most famous former citizen in an open-air drama with townspeople playing all the parts.

Anytime of year, the town still stands as it did in 1881 with a mile-long row of buildings lining both sides of a shaded street. The Rio Bonito (pretty river in Spanish) still forms the gurgling northern boundary of the town, which is surrounded by tree-covered hills. Some buildings are part of the Lincoln State Monument; others are protected as part of the Lincoln County Historical Society. There is no overt commercialization—no "Billy the Kid Slept Here" posters or tacky souvenir shops selling Billy water pistols.


	Indeed, peace has come to Lincoln. Its violent past no longer haunts the town, and today it's a place to escape to rather than from.

On the western edge of town, the two-story courthouse is its largest building. Touring the building, you can see the famous bullet hole in the stairwell, now protected by a layer of Plexiglas. You also come face-to-face with a life-size blow-up of the only authenticated photograph of Billy the Kid. Wearing a Colt in his holster and resting his left hand on a Winchester rifle, he looks like a teen prankster pretending to be tough. Down the street on the left, the Tunstall Store displays original merchandise from 1878. A little bit further is the Torreon, a round stone tower built by the early Hispanic settlers as a defense against the Apaches. Records show it was never used for that purpose, but the Dolan faction made use of it during the Lincoln County War.

Some 19th-century buildings are undergoing stabilization, and others are private homes. The Wortley Hotel, where Deputy Ollinger had his last supper, reopened in 1994 as an inn and restaurant. The Juan Patron House, the lovely adobe home of one of Lincoln's prominent Hispanic residents, has been converted into a bed-and-breakfast inn by current owners, Jerry and Cleis Jordan.

The Jordans were living in Houston when they drove through Lincoln on the way to visit family in Albuquerque.

"We fell in love with this valley on first sight," comments Cleis. "We wanted a change from the big city life and Lincoln seemed to be calling to us," says Jerry.

So a few years later, they moved to Lincoln and purchased the Patron house. "The peacefulness here is compelling," says Jerry. "I sometimes sit and watch these hills for hours at a time."

Indeed, peace has come to Lincoln. Its violent past no longer haunts the town, and today it's a place to escape to rather than from.

Page:

			Copyright � 2001: Primedia Enthusiast Publications, Inc. and Away.com. All Rights Reserved