The Killing of Morton and Baker


Blackwater Spring as it appears today. In Billy's time it was called Agua de Negra,
but after March 9, 1878 this area would forever be known as Deadman's Draw.
(Photo courtesy of Julie Carter and Steve Sederwall).

Following the brutal slaying of 24 year old Englishman John Tunstall at the hands of a posse sent by Sheriff William Brady , the town of Lincoln, New Mexico was outraged. Within hours of the shooting armed and angry mobs flocked to the dusty streets of what was perhaps the most violent town in the history of the American West. Many of these armed men gathered around the house of Tunstall's friend Alexander McSween.

Lawyer McSween was a very religious man and despised using violence to settle disputes. McSween was likely responsible for preventing immediate reprisals from the angry citizens. On February 19th Tunstall's foreman Richard Brewer and William Bonney swore out complaints against the members of the posse that they knew to be responsible for Tunstall's death before Justice of the Peace Wilson.

Based on these sworn complaints, Wilson issue warrants for the arrest of several members of Sheriff Brady's posse. Since Tunstall's employees and friends knew that Sheriff Brady would never arrest members of his own posse they convinced constable Antonacio Martinez to attempt to effect the arrest of the accussed parties. Since Martinez was not overly eager to go up against Brady he deputized William Bonney and Fred Waite to assist him.

With Bonney and Waite in tow the three lawmen walked down the street to the two story Dolan store at the west end of town and walked inside to locate the wanted men. The three lawmen instantly found themselves covered by Sheriff Brady and several of his friends holding Winchesters and revolvers on them.
Sheriff Brady not only refused to allow the arrest of the men named on the warrants, but he in turn placed Martinez, Bonney, and Waite under arrest and disarmed them before marching them in plain site down to the underground jail located on the east end of Lincoln.

Brady released Constable Martinez later that same afternoon, but held William Bonney and Fred Waite in the underground jail until after John Tunstall's funeral on February 22, 1878. William Bonney was extremely angered not onlt that Brady had confiscated his rifle, which had been a present from Tunstall, but also by the fact that he had missed Tunstall's funeral.

Within a few days Richard Brewer was appointed as a special constable several of Tunstall's friends and former employees were deputized to assist him in the job of arresting Tunstall's killers and bringing them to justice. Justice was on their minds, but arrest probably wasn't their main motive. The group then took on the name Regulators and swore an oath to bring Tunstall's killers to justice.

The Regulators started out by heading approximately 60 miles southeast towards the Seven River's area hoping to locate some of the murders near Jimmy Dolan's cow camp. After a few days of unsuccessful scouting the Regulators finally observed 5 men just below the crossing of the Penasco.

Upon seeing the Regulators the group quickly fled on horeback in two groups. The Regulators followed after the group of three men, which included Dick Lloyd, Buck Morton, and Frank Baker. After a long running battle in which approximately 100 shots were fired, Lloyd's horse gave out and sent him crashing to the ground. The Regulators thundered past Lloyd in a blind fury and continued after Morton and Baker, whom they knew to have been responsible for the killing of Tunstall.

Morton and Baker finally leaped from their horses and took cover in a low area covered by thule reeds. After a brief stand-off Morton and Baker agreed to surrender to the posse after Richard Brewer promised to arrest them and transport them safely back to jail in Lincoln.

Some sources say that Billy the Kid was not happy with this decision and wanted to deliver justice to the two prisoners at the end of a six-gun. However Brewer proved to be level headed enough to convince his fellow posse members to arrest the two prisoners instead of executing them on the spot.

Brewer and the Regulators then started then prisoners in a northbound route keeping close to the Pecos River and started back towards Roswell. Somewhere along the way they picked up another rider known as William McCloskey. McCloskey had been friendly with both Tunstall and Dolan's men in the past and many members of the posse were not happy that he was riding along with them.

The Regulators reached the ranch of cattle baron John Chisum on the night of March 8, 1878. Chisum fed the posse and allowed them to stay the night on his ranch where the prisoners were guarded in an inside room. During the stay Buck Morton was allowed to write a letter to his cousin H.H. Marshall in Richmond, Virginia. The letter read as follows:

"The 6th March I was arrested by a Constable party accused of the murder of Tunstall. Nearly all of the sheriff's party fired at him and it is impossible for any one to say who killed him. When the party came to arrest me and one man who was with me, first saw us about one hundred yards distant we started in another direction when they (eleven in number) fired nearly one hundred shots at us. We ran about five miles when both of our horses fell and we made a stand when they came up they told us if we would give up they would not harm us; after talking awhile we gave up our arms and were made prisoners. There was one man in the party who wanted to kill me after I had surrendered, and was restrained with the greatest difficulty by others of the party. The constable himself said he was sorry we gave up as he had not wished to take us alive. We arrived here late last night enroute to Lincoln. I have heard that we were not to be taken alive to that place. I am not at all afraid of their killing me, but if they should do so I wish that the matter should be investigated and the parties dealt with according to law. If you do not hear from me in four days after receipt of this I would like you to make inquiries about the affair."

On the following morning March 9, 1878 the Regulators left Chisum's ranch around 10:00 A.M. The posse stopped at the Roswell Post Office long enough to allow Buck Morton to register and post his letter with the postmaster Ash Upson. The posse then started out for Lincoln, but took a less traveled rour which wound around the north base of the Capitan Mountains.

Brewer had possibly received information that Jimmy Dolan's faction was planning to ambush and rescue the two prisoners, so by avoiding the main route back to Lincoln through the Hondo Valley he figured they could likely avoid any rescue attempt. What happened next has been the source of controversy for well over a century.

By one account the group had neared Blackwater Spring when Morton snatched McCloskey's pistol from his holster and shot him. By this account Morton and Baker then made a dash for liberty, but were quickly shot down by the Regulators. The other more likely story is that the Regulators decided that taking the prisoners back to Sheriff Brady was useless, since he would no doubt quickly allow them to escape from his custody.

This version has it that some of the Regulators decided to avenge Tunstall's death by executing two of his slayers, going against Regulator Captain Richard Brewer's wishes. Perhaps McCloskey, tried to intervene and was also shot down in the process. There may be some truth to this account, since a leter source claimed that the bodies had nine bullets each in them.....one for each member of the Regulators. What really happened that day will never be known for sure, because the Regulators took that secret to their graves with them. However this area has forever since been known as Deadman's Draw.