Cold Case by W. C. Jameson

Author:W. C. Jameson [Jameson, W. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TwoDot
Published: 2018-02-14T05:00:00+00:00

The Colt .45 revolver that was buried in a corner of the Stinking Springs cabin by Billy the Kid in 1880

Steve Sederwall collection

In truth, according to investigator Sederwall, the urine-soaked weapons were good for something: They were hiding the hole in which the counterfeit money was buried. Garrett had been tricked.

There is yet more evidence for this ruse. In 1932, Tom Pickett, one of the Kid’s gang who was captured at Stinking Springs, was living in Arizona. By this time he was elderly and living on a small pension he received from serving sixteen months in a Texas Ranger battalion. According to author Phillip J. Rasch, Pickett grew desperately short of money, so “he sent Ed Coles to dig up a lot of money which the Kid’s gang had buried under the floor before their surrender at Stinking Springs. Cole found the spot, but the money was all paper and had all rotted away.”

It is possible, probable, that the money did not rot away at all. It is more likely that the Kid had returned to the site and retrieved it.

There is more. Five months elapsed from the time the Kid was arrested at Stinking Springs until his return to Fort Sumner. Logic suggests that, following his return, it would have been an ideal time to retrieve the money. Assume for a moment that the Kid made his way back to the rock house and dug up the money and the Colt .45 he had buried there earlier. Having lain in the ground for five months, the handgun more than likely displayed some rust. Since by this time it can be assumed that the Kid was well armed, the rusted revolver lacked importance, so he tossed it back into the hole and shoved dirt back on top of it.

In the summer of 1910, nine-year-old Ralph Camp was digging in a corner of the old rock house. Only a few inches below the surface, he found a rusted, and still loaded, Colt .45.

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