Editing Billy the Kid (section)

===Capture and escape===
[[File:Pat Garrett2.jpg|thumb|upright|Sheriff Pat Garrett, {{circa|1903}}|left]]
On December 13, 1880, Governor Wallace posted a $500 bounty for Bonney's capture.{{sfn|Utley|1989|p=147}} Pat Garrett continued his search for Bonney; on December 23, following the siege in which Bowdre was killed, Garrett and his posse captured Bonney along with Pickett, Rudabaugh, and Wilson at [[Stinking Springs]]. The prisoners, including Bonney, were shackled and taken to Fort Sumner, then later to [[Las Vegas, New Mexico]]. When they arrived on December 26, they were met by crowds of curious onlookers.

The following day, an armed mob gathered at the train depot before the prisoners, who were already on board the train with Garrett, departed for Santa Fe.{{sfn|Wallis|2007|p=240}} Deputy Sheriff Romero, backed by the angry group of men, demanded custody of Dave Rudabaugh, who during an unsuccessful escape attempt on April 5, 1880 shot and killed deputy Antonio Lino Valdez in the process.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deputy Sheriff Antonio Lino Valdez profile |url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/13549-deputy-sheriff-antonio-lino-valdez |access-date=30 December 2019 |website=[[The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc]] |archive-date=November 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127004003/http://www.odmp.org/officer/13549-deputy-sheriff-antonio-lino-valdez |url-status=live }}</ref> Garrett refused to surrender the prisoner, and a tense confrontation ensued until he agreed to let the sheriff and two other men accompany the party to Santa Fe, where they would petition the governor to release Rudabaugh to them.{{sfn|Wallis|2007|pp=126–127}} In a later interview with a reporter, Bonney said he was unafraid during the incident, saying, "if I only had my Winchester I'd lick the whole crowd."{{sfn|Metz|1974|pp=76–85}}{{sfn|Utley|1989|pp=157–166}} The ''Las Vegas Gazette'' ran a story from a jailhouse interview following Bonney's capture; when the reporter said Bonney appeared relaxed, he replied, "What's the use of looking on the gloomy side of everything? The laugh's on me this time."<ref name="historynetbookreview">{{Cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=November 29, 2012 |title=Book Review: Billy the Kid's Writings, Words & Wit, by Gale Cooper |url=http://www.historynet.com/book-review-billy-the-kids-writings-words-wit-by-gale-cooper.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919050505/http://www.historynet.com/book-review-billy-the-kids-writings-words-wit-by-gale-cooper.htm |archive-date=September 19, 2015 |access-date=February 10, 2016 |website=HistoryNet |df=mdy-all}}</ref> During his short career as an outlaw, Bonney was the subject of numerous U.S. newspaper articles, some as far away as New York.{{sfn|Utley|1989|pp=145–147}}

After arriving in Santa Fe, Bonney, seeking clemency, sent Governor Wallace four letters over the next three months. Wallace refused to intervene,{{sfn|Wallis|2007|pp=240–241}} and he went to trial in April 1881 in [[Mesilla, New Mexico]].{{sfn|Wallis|2007|p=242}} Following two days of testimony, Bonney was found guilty of Sheriff Brady's murder; it was the only conviction secured against any of the combatants in the Lincoln County War. On April 13, Judge Warren Bristol sentenced him to [[hanging|hang]], with his execution scheduled for May 13, 1881.{{sfn|Wallis|2007|p=242}} Poet and journalist Arthur Chapman wrote in an essay that upon sentencing, the judge told Bonney he was going to hang until he was "dead, dead, dead", and his response was, "you can go to hell, hell, hell." Although this fabricated story eventually entered legend,<ref name="Etulain2020">{{cite book |last1=Etulain |first1=Richard W. |title=Billy the Kid: A Reader's Guide |date=2020 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-6807-4 |page=177 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MjZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT177}}</ref> according to the historical record, he did not speak after the reading of his sentence.<ref name="TWMagBtKlegends">{{Cite web |last=Nolan |first=Frederick |date=April 28, 2015 |title='What if everything we know about Billy the Kid is wrong?' – Special Report |url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/what-if-everything-we-know-about-billy-the-kid-is-wrong/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216044410/http://www.truewestmagazine.com/what-if-everything-we-know-about-billy-the-kid-is-wrong/ |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |access-date=February 12, 2016 |website=True West Magazine |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

[[File:LincolnNM Jail and Courthouse.jpg|thumb|Courthouse and jail, [[Lincoln, New Mexico]]]]
Following his sentencing, Bonney was moved to Lincoln, where he was held under guard on the top floor of the town courthouse. On the evening of April 28, 1881, while Garrett was in [[White Oaks, New Mexico|White Oaks]] collecting taxes, Deputy [[Bob Olinger]] took five other prisoners across the street for a meal, leaving [[James Bell (sheriff)|James Bell]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/1713-deputy-sheriff-james-w-bell|title=Deputy Sheriff James W. Bell|website=The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP)|access-date=August 14, 2020|archive-date=October 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023222958/https://www.odmp.org/officer/1713-deputy-sheriff-james-w-bell|url-status=live}}</ref> another deputy, alone with Bonney at the jail. He asked to be taken outside to use the [[outhouse]] behind the courthouse; on their return to the jail, Bonney—who was walking ahead of Bell up the stairs to his cell—hid around a blind corner, slipped out of his handcuffs, and beat Bell with the loose end of the cuffs. During the ensuing scuffle, Bonney grabbed Bell's revolver and fatally shot him in the back as Bell tried to get away.{{sfn|Utley|1989|p=181}}

Bonney, with his legs still shackled, broke into Garrett's office and took a loaded shotgun left behind by Olinger. He waited at the upstairs window for Olinger to respond to the gunshot that killed Bell and called out to him, "Look up, old boy, and see what you get." When Olinger looked up, Bonney shot and killed him.{{sfn|Utley|1989|p=181}}{{sfn|Wallis|2007|pp=243–244}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Olinger |url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/10157-deputy-us-marshal-robert-olinger |website=The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) |access-date=August 14, 2020 |archive-date=August 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804003517/https://www.odmp.org/officer/10157-deputy-us-marshal-robert-olinger |url-status=live }}</ref> After about an hour, Bonney freed himself from the leg irons with an axe.{{sfn|Jacobsen|1994|p=232}} He obtained a horse and rode out of town; according to some stories he was singing as he left Lincoln.{{sfn|Wallis|2007|pp=243–244}}