Tom was born in 1858, in Uvalde, Texas, the son of Tom O'Folliard Sr., an Irish immigrant, and Sarah Cook. Still in his mother's arms, the family moved to Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico. His parents died of smallpox there. Sarah's brother John Cook, upon his return from the Civil War, went to Mexico and brought the orphan Tom back to Uvalde. Until 1873 Tom lived with his aunt, Margaret Jane Cook. That year she married Pat Dolan. Tom then went to live with his uncle, John Cook, until he married a Miss McKinney in 1875. Then Tom, age 17, was passed along yet again, this time to his grandmother, Mrs. James Cook.
Tom and a friend, James Woodland, in the spring of 1878, hit the trail for New Mexico, probably arriving in Lincoln County in late May or early June. (Remember that Billy's employer, John Tunstall, was killed in February of the same year, and all hell had broken loose.) Don't know what happened to James Woodland, but Tom joined the supporters of Alexander McSween, now the leader of the faction opposed to the Murphy-Dolan gang's heavy-handed rule of Lincoln County. And that's where Tom met up with William Bonney. There is an account of Tom being involved in stealing cattle from Emil Fritz, a member of the Murphy-Dolan faction, thus putting him against the House.
Tom, recalled Mrs. Susan McSween a long time later, was a "good-natured, rollicking boy, always singing and full of fun." Pat Garrett, after he was elected Sheriff of Lincoln County on November 7, 1880, described him as "something of a gun expert, in his own belief at least. He was a man of medium height and dark complexion, and of no very great amount of mental capacity. He was one of those who wanted a reputation as a bad man." Newspapers in 1880-81, upon Tom's death at the hands of Sheriff Garrett, said he was 5' 8" tall and weighed about 175 pounds.
Tom O'Folliard was there along with Billy The Kid and twelve other men in the midst of the big five day battle, when McSween's house was set afire by the Dolan crowd between 3 and 4 p.m., July 19, 1878. With the house almost consumed by flames, Billy took charge as McSween had broken down and didn't know what to do. At dark Billy and 4 others: Tom, Jose Chaves y Chaves, Jim French, and Harvey Morris, made a break for the gate in the east fence to draw attention away from McSween and the others, who were to escape out the north gate. All of Billy's bunch got away, except for Harvey Morris, who was killed. It was said later that Tom halted and knelt beside Morris in the hail of bullets to help his friend, but Harvey was dead. By stopping Tom exposed himself to gunfire. Tom, it has been said, caught a bullet in the right shoulder and dropped his gun, darted through the gate, stumbled down the river embankment and collapsed in the underbrush. McSween, Francisco Zamora, Vincente Romero, and Yginio Salazar were not so fortunate. They were riddled with bullets from a line of riflemen crouched behind a low adobe wall and most died instantly. Yginio, although severely wounded, played dead and later after the Dolan crowd left, crawled off and lived to be an old man. After the Lincoln County War, anarchy reigned. Billy and his "Pals" decided it was best that they head for a more agreeable clime, and henceforth made for Ft. Sumner and the vicinity. There they commenced making their living rustling John Chisum's cows. Billy figured somebody owed his "Pals" compensation for fighting in the war, and with Tunstall and McSween both dead, Chisum was the richest Tunstall ally left above ground. As Billy saw it, Chisum owed him for back wages. When Chisum refused to pay up, Billy figured each cow he took from Jinglebob John was worth $5 toward the debt.>BR>
All others deserted Billy, except Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre (Bowdre was in the act of quiting too, but ran out of time). Of course Billy had Billy Wilson, Tom Pickett and Dave Rudabaugh (and Bowdre) with him when Garrett and Barney Mason and a posse of Texas cowboys tracked them to Stinking Springs, but what had happened to Tom?
Two nights before, on Dec. 19, 1880, Billy and his "pals" rode into Fort Sumner, thinking they were safe to come in and get supplies. One of Garrett's spies (Jose Roibal) had spoiled all that, and the lawman and his posse were playing cards and waiting for them in the old hospital building where Bowdre's wife Manuela was making her home. (Along the trail Tom and Billy rode side by side out front, but Billy confessed a hankering for some chewing tobacco Billy Wilson had in his saddlebags, and fell back to get some. Tom Pickett rode up and took Billy's place, and it was Pickett and O'Folliard who rode up first to the old hospital building.) Suddenly Garrett yelled out: "Halt! Throw up your hands!" Taken by surprise, Billy and his "Pals" fled into the snowy night. All but Tom. As he wheeled his horse about and jerked out his pistol, either Garrett or Lon Chambers shot Tom in his left side, wedging a slug just below his heart. (Tom rode after his pals for a hundred yards, but the pain of riding the frightened, bucking horse was too much, and he resigned to walking it back to Garrett and his men) Apparently he dropped his pistol when hit. (Some say that Tom had his pistol in his hand and cocked, but had not the will left to fire it, so when Garrett and his men took Tom off his horse, they just took his pistol from his hand.) Garrett trained his gun on Tom and called for him to drop his firearms. Tom is reported to have said "Don't shoot anymore, I'm dying." Tom asked that he be taken from his horse and made to die as easily as possible. They helped Tom off his horse and took him into the building and laid him on the floor. It was said that in great pain, he first begged to be put out of his misery as Barney Mason taunted him by saying "Take your medicine!" (Tom is reported to have repiled weakly; "It's the best medicine I ever took.") Tom asked Mason to have Thomas C. "Kip" McKinney (who was one of Garrett's deputies at the time of the killing of the Kid, and who was a cousin of Tom's), to write his grandmother in Texas, informing her of his death" (Another relative, Uncle Thalis Cook, reported to have been a Texas ranger, also once tried to get Tom to give up his lawlessness, but to no avail.)
None of the witnesses agree on what Tom's last words were (though some report Garrett as having told him; "Tom, your time is short." To which he replied; "The sooner the better. Then I'll be out of pain."). Tired of waiting for him to die, most of the posse resumed the poker game that had been interrupted by the Kid's "pals". Jim East, one of the Texas cowboys in the posse, gave Tom a cup of water which he drank a little of, shuddered, and was dead. (It took poor Tom three-quarters of an hour to give up his ghost, and he was in great pain most of the time.)
He, Charlie and Billy are the "Pals" engraved on the big headstone over their graves in the lonely military cemetery at Old Fort Sumner.
Don McAlavy, president of the Billy the Kid Outlaw Gang, had help from Ed Erdelac in writing the above article on Tom O'Folliard. Erdelac says: "Reason I had asked for anything about Tom (in an email to BTKOG) is I had written a short four page ballad about Tom's death called The Ballad of Tom O'Folliard, and was thinking of turning it into a short story for one of my writing courses in school. Your article has sure helped me out. I really appreciate it." - Ed Erdelac at atticus@mcs.com
