THERE’S A BULLET HOLE in the western wall of the Old Lincoln County Courthouse, but not just any bullet hole. On April 28, 1881, William H. Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, was being held at the courthouse when the outlaw tried to escape. A popular account claims that Deputy Sheriff James W. Bell was escorting the Kid upstairs from the privy when the prisoner slipped out of a handcuff and hit the lawman across the head. Bell attempted to flee down the stairs and was shot twice by the Kid, who somehow got a firearm. One of the bullets allegedly passed through the deputy and created a scar in the wall at the base of the stairs. Although the authenticity of the bullet hole that’s visible today is hotly debated, historian Tim Roberts, project director at Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso, takes a shot at settling the question in a new book, Billy the Kid’s Courthouse (Bad Hoss Ventures). Tim and co-author Billy Roberts (no relation) trace the hole’s existence to the 1920s, at least. But as with many details surrounding the Kid, the trail then goes cold under layers of legend. Whatever the truth, Tim knows one thing: “The hole is a physical connection to that day in April 1881 and the legend of Billy the Kid,” he says. “It’s tangible.”
Read more: The charismatic outlaw followed a rough and deadly path through the state.
Have a look and decide for yourself with a visit to the Old Lincoln County Courthouse, US 380, Lincoln.