266 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



Now, it happened that the redoubtable 

 Billy was actually in the house at the time, 

 and finding himself attacked with the pangs 

 of hunger, arose from his couch, and, taking 

 a knife, was proceeding to the storeroom 

 to cut himself some meat. Hearing voices 

 in the room of his host, he opened the 

 door and demanded to know who was 

 there. 



Of course the Sheriff made no reply, but 

 while the other man was explaining, he took 

 careful aim at the young outlaw, as he stood 

 in the doorway with a lighted lamp in his 

 hand, and shot him through the heart. And 

 that was the end of Billy the Kid. His 

 career had lasted for five years, and in that 

 space of time three hundred persons had met 

 with death by violence. History does not 

 relate the number that fell by the hand of 

 the Kid alone. 



It has been well said by one* intimately 

 acquainted for years with the inner life of the 

 Territory, that, despite her imperative claims 

 to recognition as a State, she has herself 



* H. O. Ladd. 



