America's Byways® Press Room
September 24, 2007 - Tom Bodett Interviews Laura Doth of Billy the Kid Trail

Listen as Laura Doth talks about history and mysteries along Billy the Kid Trail in New Mexico.

Following is a complete transcript of the interview. Download the audio below, or receive new episodes in your music software by subscribing to the podcast.

Tom

Thanks for downloading this Podcast. What you’re about to hear is a true story—a story of American culture, history, and beauty. I’m Tom Bodett, and this is America’s Byways.

Laura

My name is Laura Doth, and I’m with the Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway in Ruidoso, New Mexico. As far as Billy the Kid goes, he’s one of those characters that…it depends upon what side of the Lincoln County War you were on. He was either a psychopathic killer, or he was Robin Hood. And it’s one of those stories that I…the dime store novelist kind of picked up on Billy the Kid and gave him the notorious twenty-one men killed by his twenty-first birthday. That is not historically accurate. They do know that he was responsible for three deaths, but, beyond that, they can’t prove anything. And…and in that time in the West, that actually wasn’t that unusual, unfortunately. But he was, apparently, very well liked by the people of Lincoln. At that time, he spoke fluent Spanish, and so all of the Spanish settlers thought very, very highly of him. …Loved to dance, was apparently quite the ladies man. So he was a very, very popular figure back then, and…and we, rather than celebrate the crimes that he supposedly committed, really look at it more as he was a very much a historic figure who had an extreme impact on our area.

Supposedly, the reason that Billy the Kid went to the Maxwell house the night he was killed was that his girlfriend was pregnant. The father would not let her run away with him, and he went to convince her to come away with him and was killed in…in the process. Pat Garrett and deputies came to the house, entered the house. Billy heard them and walked out of the bedroom and was shot…and then laid on the bench. And then, of course, that’s where the mystery truly begins. Um, there are people who say saw the body that was buried, and it was not Billy. And that, Pat Garrett, because he was a friend, actually helped him to escape. And from that point, like I said, there is the one theory that he was spirited away to England…actually lived a very full life over in the UK. There is also the…the more well-known stories of Brushy Bob and…and the men who, the gentleman from Arizona who claimed to be Billy the Kid. And so it’s…it’s a mystery that remains today. Did he die, and was he buried at Fort Sumner, or did he live a very full life after that?

One of the things…we talk with a lot of different people about the Byways program, in general, and sometimes I think the name “scenic byway” is a little bit of a misnomer because these roads are so much more than just spectacular scenery. Each of them brings to it history and culture and geology and archeology and…and so many wonderful stories that you can’t find if you’re strictly on the Interstate system. And…and that’s what our visitors really tend to enjoy about getting off on any of the byways…is the fact that they are in touch with what we like to call “real America,” the true people who live in the small towns and are able to welcome them with open arms. And…and they find that the hospitality within the United States is something very, very special. And the Billy the Kid Scenic Byway…you know, we sometimes think, “Wow! How can we have so many amazing things on one small stretch of road?” We have a 20-million dollar performing arts theater in the Spencer Theater. We have the world’s richest quarter-horse race run there every year at Ruidoso Downs. It’s the home of Smokey Bear; it’s where he’s buried. And it is the stomping grounds of the notorious Billy the Kid.

But, one of the unknown stories in our byway is…we happen to have one of the most well preserved old-frontier forts in Fort Stanton, which is found right on our byway. It was the home of the buffalo soldiers under the command of Black Jack Pershing. The buffalo soldiers were actually a black brigade of soldiers that served during the Indian Wars…very highly respected by the Indians because of their intelligence and their fighting ability. And they were sent, many of them, out to the Western regions specifically for the Indian Wars and to protect the settlers that were out there. The fort itself is, amazingly, in very, very good shape. Um, in fact, if you recall seeing the movie Into The West, it served as the Carlyle school, as the set for that because it was so well preserved. So much of the fort itself is, um, in very good shape. We’re in the process of even doing some more renovations to it. There is a small museum there that talks about the entire history of the fort. As far as Billy the Kid goes, the entire town of Lincoln is actually a national landmark. And one of the things we like to tell people is, “It looks exactly the same today as it did when Billy rode out in the late 1800s.” If he came back to town today, he’d recognize almost every building there.

Tom

We’ve just heard another story from America’s Byways. I’m Tom Bodett. Travel well, act right, safe home.

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