Billy the Kid's Escape & The Missing Man

On April 28, 1881, Billy the Kid made his last spectacular escape from jail, just two weeks before he was to be hanged. While chained hand and foot, the Kid somehow managed to get a gun, kill one of his guards, grab a shotgun and kill the other guard, then ride out of town on a borrowed horse. He remained a free man until gunned down by Pat Garrett.

It’s an amazing story, and everyone from dime novelists to screenwriters tends to focus on the shotgun story – in which Billy reportedly grabbed a shotgun loaded with silver dimes and blew away Bob Olinger, the sadistic guard who had been tormenting him. (If you want to see what kind of damage is caused by two shotguns barrels of silver dimes, check out our DVD The Guns of Billy The Kid).

But the more mysterious part of the story is the first gun – where did Billy the Kid manage to get a revolver while shackled and under round-the-clock guard? Some have suggested the gun was left for him in the outhouse, others said Billy simply wrestled it away from his guard. No one has adequately explained the crime scene in 126 years.

But there is one intriguing missing link.

Godfrey Gauss.

The entire story of Billy’s famous escape apparently comes from the eyewitness report of one man. And though it’s rarely commented upon, that one man is a highly suspect source, and may have been more involved in the crime than anyone knew.

Godfrey Gauss was a cook and handyman who lived at worked at the Lincoln County Courthouse where Billy the Kid was jailed. He was an old local character, a guy who did odd jobs around Lincoln, New Mexico. If Billy has been played by Val Kilmer or Paul Newman, then Gauss should be played by Gabby Hayes.

Gauss was the only eyewitness to Billy’s escape. He testified to Pat Garrett and later to reporters. But what Gauss did not say in his story was the most important fact of all -- he had been Billy’s friend, supporter, cook and possibly arms supplier for years.

During the bloody Lincoln County War, William Bonney rode with The Regulators, a badge-carrying semi-vigilante force made up of young cowboys from the Tunstall Ranch. The cook for the ranch was Godfrey Gauss. When the Regulators were declared outlaws, Gauss was still giving the boys food, shelter, supplies and alibis. If anyone can be said to be one of the Kid’s greatest champions, it is Godfrey Gauss.

But by 1881, the Lincoln County War was over and all the participants dead or pardoned (with the notable exception of Billy the Kid – the only man convicted of a crime in the bloody six-months-long “war”). Old Gauss found himself employed as a janitor and handyman at the courthouse – working for the very folks who shot up his boys during the war. So how would he feel when the charismatic leader of the Regulators was chained up in the courthouse, waiting to hang?

Did Gauss actually help Billy escape? It’s hard to prove. All anyone really knows is that a gunshot rang out and Deputy Bell burst through out of the courthouse and died… in Godfrey Gauss’s arms. Then Gauss called out to Deputy Olinger…bringing Olinger directly into range of Billy’s shotgun. Then Gauss broke Billy’s shackles and saddled him up a horse. Then Gauss somehow was able to explain away the whole thing to Sheriff Garrett without incriminating himself.

So was Guass not just an eyewitness but a co-conspirator?

The question will probably never be answered, but I personally like the idea of old, gimpy Godfrey Gauss giving Billy the gun that let him shoot his way to freedom. But maybe I've seen too many Gabby Hayes movies.