Billy was here

Messilla, New Mexico

Mrs. Phred and I played our first tennis in four months yesterday. My right wrist has been hurting all that time. I finally gave up waiting for it to heal and just used the wrist brace the ortho doctor gave me. I don't have a backhand because I'm ambidextrous and just switch hands when the ball is on my left, so some of my best shots are on that side now.

From the Messilla blog:

Billy was captured December 23, 1880.

On March 28, 1881, he was transported to Rincon by train and from there to Mesilla by wagon for trial for the murders of Andrew “Buckshot” Roberts and Sheriff William Brady. The indictment for killing Roberts was a federal indictment. The indictment for killing Brady was a territorial indictment. The territorial district court handled both jurisdictions, with the federal cases tried first.

His trial for killing “Buckshot” Roberts began on March 30, 1881. The case against him in this trial was thrown-out on the grounds that the killing took place on private land, not public land, and the federal government thus had no standing to prosecute.

The trial for the killing of Sheriff Brady began April 8. The judge presiding, Judge Bristol, dismissed Billy’s defense attorney from the Roberts trial, probably because of the change in jurisdiction, and appointed John D. Bail and Albert Fountain to represent him.

On April 13. the jury brought in its verdict: guilty. The judge then sentenced Billy to death by hanging, to be carried out on May 13, 1881 in Lincoln, New Mexico.


Three days later he was taken to Lincoln. It was from the Lincoln courthouse that Billy escaped on April 28, killing two deputies.

We went into Mesilla in the afternoon for lunch. Mesilla was a stop on the Butterfield stage line and  the Pony Express.

The building below is the courthouse where Billy was tried. It's a gift shop now. The wind was gusting to 60 MPH and our food kept blowing off the table.

Mesilla was the territorial capital of the Arizona and New Mexico. A lot of the old adobe buildings are still here.The sandstorm closed a number of highways in New Mexico because of zero visibility.
 

Our RV is full of very fine grit.

We have a reservation at the the Double Eagle tonight at 7PM for their award winning margaritas and steaks. Maybe more tennis and a movie.