AN AMERICAN DESPERADO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6213, 15 October 1881, Page 7

AN AMERICAN DESPERADO.

An American correspondent, writing to the Times, says : —" Aβ many of your readers might like to know the end of one of the principal of those desperados mentioned iu your correspondent's letter from the United States, I send you the enclosed extract from the Santa Fe New Mexican. You will see his career has been a short one:—"William Bonny, alias 'the Kid,' is dead. No report could cause a more general feeling ot gratification than this, and when it was further announced that the faithful and brave Pat Garrett, he who has been the mainstay of law and order in Liucoln county, the chief reliance of the people in the dark days, when danger lurked on every hand, had accomplished the crowning feat of his life by bringing down his fierce and implacable foe singlehanded, the sense of satisfaction was heightened to one of delight. The following is Sheriff Garrett's official report to the chief executive of the territory. It is concise and simple, in keeping with the character of the writer, and will be found of interest, from the fast that it is the account which is absolutely correct, and because of the characteristics it betrays. It is as follows :—' Fort Sumner, N\ M., July 15. —To His Excellency the Governor of New Mexico.—l have the honour to inform your Excellency that I have received several communications from persons in and about Fort Sumner that William Bonny, alias "the Kid," had been there, or in that vicinity, for some time. In view of these reports, I deemed it my dnty to go there and ascertain if there were any truth in them or not, all the time doubting their accuracy ; but on Monday, July 11, I left home, taking with me John \V. Poe and T. L. M'Kinney, men in whose courage and sagacity I relied implicitly, and arrived just below Fort Sumner on Wednesday, July 13. I remained concealed near the houses until night, and then entered the fort about midnight, and went to Mr. P. Maxwell's room. I found him in bed, and had just commenced to talk to him about the object of my visit at such an unusual hour, when a man entered the room in stockinged feet, with a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other. He came and placed his hands on the bed just beside me, and in a low whisper, "Who is it?" (and repeated the question) he asked of Mr. Maxwell. lat once recognised the man, and knew he was " the Kid," and reached behind me for mj - pistol, feeling almost certain of receiving a ball from his at the moment of doing so, as I felt sure ho had now recognised me, but fortunately he drew back from tlie bed at noticing my movement, and, although he had ln's pistol pointed at my breast, he delayed to fire, and asked in Spanish, " Quien es? Quien es ?" This gave me time to bring mine to bear on him, and the moment I did so I pulled the trigger and he received his death wound, for the ball struck him in the left breast and pierced his heart. He never spoke, but died in a minute. It was my desire to have been able to take him alive, but his coming upon me so suddenly and unexpectedly leaves me to believe that he had seen me enter the room, or had been informed by some one of the fact, and that he came there armed with pistol and knife expressly to kill me if he could. Uuder that impression I had no alternative but to kill him or to suffer death at his hands. I herewith annex a copy of the verdect rendered by the jury called in by the justice of the peace (cxojjicio coroner), the original of which is in the hands of the prosecuting attorney of the first judical district.'—' BiUy the Kid's'funeral took place at Fort Sumner the day after the shooting, and not one of those who were present but rejoiced at his death."