Pum, pum. Pum-pum-pum (gunfire - not far away). Zip, zip, pop–pop...pop-pop (bullets, all around you, breaking the sound barrier). “Dang, c'mon Boys get down here quick. We have a chanct ta git away. Them bullets is jist rica-shays – theys not even shootin' this way. What!? McSween's killed? Who else? Damn.” Zip-zip, pop-pop. “Sum-uns got a bead on us now, Boys. Them ain't ricashays. Les' git. Bam, bam. Bam bam – I gotcha covered boys – git a acrost da valley.” Bam, bam, bam.
This is William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, and his pards’ daring escape from the McSween House, which is engulfed in flames. The smoke and vegetation cover their escape route. It's the so-called 5-day Battle and it's ending with this escape – we know for a fact that they ran right by this cache location. The Lincoln County War, the last great shootout of the Old West, grew from a conflict between two rival mercantile operations, the Murphy-Dolan and Tunstall stores. Lawyer Alexander McSween, a Tunstall partner, was killed in the "Five Day Battle." His widow, Susan, went on to become known as the Cattle Queen of New Mexico. She is buried in the cemetery at White Oaks. McSween and Tunstall are buried right behind the Tunstall Store.
Enjoy the "river walk" trail.
www.angelfire.com/mi2/billythekid/fiveday.html