Stinking Springs

Stinking Springs rock house

Stinking Springs was a ranch[1] and an overnight way station for cattle drivers and sheep herders[2] located near the present site of Taiban, New Mexico.[3][4] On 23 December 1880 sheriff Pat Garrett and his posse found Billy the Kid and the Regulators in a stone hut, where it began a shoot-out which killed Charlie Bowdre and captured Billy, Dave Rudabaugh, Tom Pickett and Billy Wilson.[5][6] Only the foundation remains nowadays.[7]

The musical production The Lighter Side of Stinking Springs centers around the stonehouse. The song is simple and includes the reprisal of The Ballad of Stinking Springs.[8]

  1. ^ Metz 1983, p. 284.
  2. ^ Metz 1983, p. 77.
  3. ^ Compton, Ralph (1 December 1996). The Autumn of the Gun. Penguin. p. 373. ISBN 9781101127278.
  4. ^ "John W. Green Recalls Stirring Times During Panhandle's Early Day". Amarillo Sunday News Globe. 30 November 1930. p. 68. Retrieved 19 April 2024 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  5. ^ Bell, Bob Boze (9 December 2013). "Shoot-out at Stinking Springs". True West Magazine. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  6. ^ Utley, Robert M. (2020). "12. Stinking Springs". Wanted. The Outlaw Lives of Billy the Kid and Ned Kelly. Yale University Press. p. 81-86. doi:10.12987/9780300216684. ISBN 978-0-300-21668-4 – via De Gruyter.
  7. ^ Bell, Bob Boze (30 March 2020). "Special Classic Gunfights: Shoot-out at Stinking Springs". True West Magazine. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  8. ^ "Billy the Kid musical holds auditions". Clovis News Journal. 16 June 1989. p. 7. Retrieved 19 April 2024 – via NewspaperArchive.com.