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Badges That Won The West -- Lincoln County Sheriff's Badge

By: JoAnn Graham

Lincoln County Sheriff Badge Replica



The Lincoln County Sheriff's badge recalls the violent 1870s, when a range war erupted between several wealthy ranchers and a trio of corrupt businessmen in the town of Lincoln. The most famous participant in the conflict was William Henry McCarty, a.k.a. William H. Bonney, who was better known as "Billy the Kid", though the outlaw gained most of his notoriety during the Lincoln County War by killing Sheriff William Brady and several deputies wearing Lincoln County badges.

The trouble in Lincoln County began when wealthy cattle ranchers and town merchants Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan were joined by a third partner named John Riley in their ownership of Murphy and Dolan Mercantile and Banking.

At the time, Lincoln County was the largest county in the nation, spanning about 20% of the entire New Mexico Territory. Murphy, Dolan and Riley were part of a ring of corruption—called “The House”--that extended all the way to the territorial capital of Santa Fe. They used their political clout to obtain lucrative government contracts to sell their cattle to Fort Stanton, and soon controlled virtually all the trade in the large county. The immense profits on the goods they sold for extortionate prices in their store—the only one in Lincoln County at the time--coupled with the low prices they paid smaller ranchers for their cattle, understandably angered the county's less prosperous residents.

Lincoln Attorney Alexander McSween was sympathetic to the plight of the smaller ranchers. He and John Tunstall, a wealthy English cattleman, opened a rival mercantile to compete with Murphy and Dolan's monopolistic general store. Their new venture had the financial backing of John Chisum, another wealthy rancher in the region who owned more than 100,000 head of cattle. The John Wayne movie, "Chisum" is based upon the main characters in the Lincoln County saga.

Murphy, Dolan and Riley were infuriated by the opening of the new mercantile, especially since it was run by a competitor with the financial means to put an end to their dominance of trade in Lincoln County. Determined to put an end to the new competitor before that could happen, they again called on their political cronies--this time to issue a court order giving them the right to seize a herd of horses from Tunstall as payment for a debt he supposedly owed.

The posse--a tool of the Murphy/Dolan faction recruited by Sheriff William Brady to serve the writ and seize Tunstall's horses--was composed mostly of criminals. Many were members of the Jessie Evans Gang--an outlaw band that had once counted Billy The Kid among its members. This Murphy/Dolan posse bided their time until they caught Tunstall alone in open country on February 18, 1878. When he objected to their presence on his land, he was shot dead by Jessie Evans, William Morton and Frank Baker.

Though they were too far away to prevent it, the murder was witnessed from a distance by several of Tunstall's "cattle guards", including The Kid. It was Tunstall's murder that ignited the Lincoln County conflict into a full-blown range war. Led by Dick Brewer (Tunstall's ranch foreman), Billy the Kid and several of Tunstall's other "cattle guards" formed their own posse--called "The Regulators"--to track down and and apprehend Tunstall's killers.

The Regulators soon flushed out Morton and Baker, and fought a running battle with the two men in the countryside until they were persuaded to surrender by a promise of safe conduct back to Lincoln. What happened next is still debated. There reportedly followed an altercation with several members of the Regulators including Captain Richard Brewer and the Kid wanting to kill the pair on the spot, and one man, William McCloskey--a friend of Morton's-- who protested this plan. What is certain is that McCloskey ended up dead, along with the two lawless lawmen.

The Regulators returned to Lincoln a few days later claiming Morton and Baker had both been killed during an alleged escape attempt in which they'd killed McCloskey. Few believed this tale, given the number of bullet holes in McCloskey and the two former deputies. But between the Regulator's unanimous statement that an escape attempt resulted in the three deaths, and their possession of legal warrants of arrest charging Morton and Baker with Tunstall's murder (obtained by Alex McSween from an honest justice of the peace in the county), they were still at least technically operating within the bounds of the law.

That would soon change. Teritorrial Governor Axtell, who was squarely in Murphy-Dolan's camp in the dispute, promptly declared the Regulators outlaws. Branded as outlaws and fugitives, the Regulators no longer made any pretense at operating legally when they settled accounts with Sheriff William Brady. They suspected he looted Tunstall's store after his death, in addition to being complicit in his murder. Within a month, six Regulators, including The Kid, ambushed and killed Sheriff Brady and George Hindman, another of his deputies, in the middle of Lincoln's main street. Brady sustained at least a dozen wounds, and Hindman was shot twice.

Though he was part of the corruption that had led to open warfare in the county, the violent murder of Sheriff Brady and his deputy on the main street of Lincoln was enough to convince many other residents of the county that there were no 'good guys' in the conflict, only two sides that seemed equally bloodthirsty.

John Copeland was appointed sheriff to replace the late Brady, but when he refused to take sides in the dispute, Murphy-Dolan again called on their political cohorts, this time to remove Copeland and replace him with one of their own. Sheriff George Pippin not only favored the Murphy-Dolan faction, he was on their payroll.

The bloodshed continued with sporadic killings, finally culminating in a five-day siege of McSween's Lincoln home, during which his house was set on fire. The Regulators who had taken refuge in the house and nearby buildings managed to escape and flee in the confusion as a troop of Army cavalry summoned by Copeland joined the fray, but both McSween and his law partner were shot and killed, though McSween was unarmed when he ran from the blazing house.

In the fall of 1878, Governor Lew Wallace was appointed by President Hayes to replace the corrupt Governor Axtell, whose collusion with the Murphy/Dolan group was a major factor in the Lincoln County conflict. In an attempt to end the range war, Governor Wallace issued an amnesty for all combatants--except Billy the Kid. The amnesty officially ended the range war.

The Kid and his gang of fellow fugitives, meantime, had turned to cattle rustling to support themselves, and had become a serious problem to the cattle ranchers in the area, including John Chisum. In November, 1880, Pat Garrett was elected Sheriff of Lincoln County with Chisum's backing, running on a platform of putting an end to the cattle rustling in the county, and Governor Wallace put a $500 bounty on Billy the Kid.

Two of The Kid's fellow Regulators and closest compadres--Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre--were killed after being tracked down by Sheriff Garrett and a posse in July, 1881. On July 14 of that year, Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid in Fort Sumter, New Mexico. All three are buried together in Fort Sumter, beneath a headstone with their names carved on it, and an epitaph that reads, simply, "Pals". After the marker was stolen several times, it was surrounded by a heavy wire cage to deter further souvenir hunters.

Article Source: https://www.collectibles-articles.com

JoAnn Graham is an internet marketer and author with 28 years experience in advertising and marketing, and a special interest in vintage firearms and their history. For authentic replicas of Old West badges and historic firearms from the Old West, Civil War, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries and both World Wars, please visit www.GunsOfOld.com

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