Charline Lake

Can't wait, Rex!  Beep beep!!

Jim Milstead

Fred and Rex,

I am a fan and love history about Billy The Kid.  If you have not seen it I'd recommend you get on NetFlix and look for "Old Henry".  It's  an excellent film about "the kid".  

Rex Booth

Jim,

I too just watched  "Old Henry" starring Tim Blake Nelson.  The movie was pretty clever how his first name Henry became associated with his last name McCarty. Clues were  given to his identifty during the film.  Unless one was a fan of Billy the Kid, the name Henry McCarty would go right over their head.

You are not alone, there are many who speculate whether Patrick Garrett actually shot Billy the Kid at the Pete Maxwell House near Ft. Sumner. I'm a "safety engineer", I believe in all "them-thar" theories!  Cause it don't leave any room for argument.

The movie "Old Henry" was a slow burn... building tension and was exciting!

Fred Miller

RE:  post 9156

I do not believe I have seen an answer to Rex's question about where Billy the Kid was born.  When I was younger, I spent many an hour walking around Lincoln, NM.  Spent a lot of time in that courthouse.

I found it odd that the subject of so much NM lore and history was actually born in NYC...

Fred Miller

Another tidbit on Billy the Kid I just ran across.  Did you know that several years back Gov. Bill Richardson was considering a pardon for Billy?  129 years after his death.

Pat Garret's descendents threw a fit over it saying it was detrimental to the memory of Garret.  Richardson eventually backed off.

Rex Booth

Fred, you are right on!

Many historians believe The Kid, Henry McCarty was born in the Irish slums of NYC in 1859.  The date is unclear but somewhere between (September 17 or November 23, 1859. The Kid was killed July 14, 1881 (21 years of age) at Bob Maxwell's house near Ft. Sumner.

One year I spent some time on the 2nd floor of the Lincoln County Courthouse.  There was a table next to a window that looked directly at the Wortley Hotel across the street from the courthouse.  That same table is where Billy the Kid sat playing cards with Deputy James Bell while the other Deputy Bob Olinger was at the Wortley having lunch. 

The Kid asked Deputy Bell to go to the outhouse. When the Kid returned from the outhouse back into the courthouse, the Kid walked ahead of Deputy James Bell and at the top of the 2nd floor stairs the Kid turned around with a pistol in  hand shouting at James Bell to drop this holster and gun! Bell refused and the Kid shot him mortally.

Deputy Bob Olinger heard the shots and ran back across the street to the courthouse. The Kid got Bob Olinger's shot gun from the armory, stood by that 2nd floor window and as Bob Olinger was in view, the Kid said: "Hello Bob"... and pulled the trigger to the shotgun! Theory has it that a friend hid the pistol in the outhouse for the Kid. The same friend had a horse saddled and waiting for the Kid to make his escape. 

I stood at that same 2nd floor window and looked down at the ground where a small stone marker lays where Bob Olinger was shot and killed. Story has it that Bob Olinger had it in for the Kid and threatened to shoot or beat the Kid with the same shotgun that wound up killing him in the end.

Rex Booth

Re post  9164

That's not the first time a pardon for Billy the Kid was petioned to a governor. There was a previous petition for pardon decades before Gov. Bill Richardson.

In 1950, Brushy Bill Roberts in Texas, petitioned New Mexico Governor Thomas J. Mabry for a historical pardon

Basis of claim: Roberts claimed he was actually Billy the Kid and sought fulfillment of an alleged amnesty promise made by Territorial Governor Lew Wallace in 1879.

The petition was drawn with the help of attorney/writer William V. Morrison.

Governor Mabry refused to grant the pardon, unconvinced by Roberts' identity claims, and Bushy Bill Roberts died a month later.

Joe Treat

Just found out that Mike Curtis passed away in March.  We both live in or near Santa Fe and would run into each other occasionally.  No idea that he had passed as there was no obit in the Santa Fe paper that I knew of .

Rex Booth

John Landess sent me Mikes obituary. 

Classmates have been sent an RHS email  notification regarding Mike.

Condolences to Mike's family and freinds.

Fred Miller

I watched the movie "Old Henry" yesterday.  That was a tough life back in those days...

Rex Booth

Fred.

Do you 'spose "Old Henry" might have been the chap who invented "Oh Henry! the candy bar with chocolate, caramel, and nuts?   Not sure if a candy bar named "Billy the Kid" would have sold very well... 'cept with us kids!

Fred Miller

Rex, can't quite see that happening.  Although if it was, maybe he married and they had a daughter named Ruth....(cough...cough)

You might hear Oh Henry saying: "What a sweet little Baby you are... Ruth"!!

 

Fred Miller

I have often said how lucky I am to have married a woman who loves dogs as much as I do.  During our marriage, we have rescued around 40 dogs, we currently have three.

I ran across this statement awhile back.  It is so true...

Rex Booth

Fred,

It would be super of you to post your "pooch pictures" right here!  And this goes for all y'all canine aficionados  too! Include stats: Breed, dog name, height, weight, and shoe size (if applicable). 

Fred Miller

Rex, that is a great idea.  I'll start with the three we have now.

This is Smokie.  He is about 6 years old. We went to the Sherman shelter looking for a Black Lab, which we are both partial to.  Smokie is our 4th.  He was laying in his cage, wouldn't look at us.  He looked like he had just given up on everything.  We took him out in the little play area, but he didnxt play. It was so sad.  We decided we were taking him home right then.  

He weighed 42 lbs when we got him, he now weighs about 80 lbs which is about right for his breed.  It took him about 2 weeks before he perked up.  The other dogs we had at the time showed him the ropes.  He perked up after about 10 days and became a new dog.  He is now the Boss Dog...

Fred Miller

This is Toby.  We were told by the lady we got him from that he was a Yorkie.  He is actually an Affenpinscher.  Toby is the most entertaining dog we have ever had.  He likes to gather all the dogs' toys and keep them in one spot.  He likes to snuggle and sleeps with us in bed.  Toby weighs all of 14 lbs.  His best friend is our 80 lb Lab Smokie.

Fred Miller

Anybody else have any pets, past or present, that they want to talk about?  Step up, come on!  It doesn't have to be just dogs.  I have a video of my daughter's pet squirrel Rocky that I am gonna post later...

Rex Booth

Yeah Fred, think I get your drift. Participation by our "looky-lou's" ain't that great these days. Maybe cause it's past nap time. But on a good note, your posts about Smokie the Lab and Toby the Yorkie gathered 23 classmates who visited your posts on the Message forum today!  How does the administrator know... because the website records each classmate name, date, and time to confirm each sign-in (log-on) as being valid. It's also a security function for any bad guy trying to log-on or impersonate a classmate.

On the other hand, some classmates (as we tend to conger) may be looking through old picture albums for pictures of their pets, When that old picture is taken with a digital camera...the digital picture can then be posted on the Message Forum!  Cool Huh!  

I was four years old when I had my first dog. "Skipper" was also a black lab with a large white star on his chest. During grades 7-12, was "Red", a half Chow and Shepard mix. Red would occasionally go with me on my paper route, as a hired gun. Red wasn't very big but he could intercept and run off any large bad dog who tried to bite my heels and legs while peddling! Good ole Red!

OK, let's see your "numero tres" dog picture before we go squirrel hunting...  

Rex Booth

150 years ago, on this day in 1876, "Wild Bill Hickok", one of the greatest gunfighters of the American West, was murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota while playing poker. He was holding two pair, aces and eights, now known all over the world as the "dead man’s hand". 

James Butler Hickok (Wild Bill)  Scout for the Union Army 1865

Wild Bill Hickok's original 1876 wooden grave marker read: "Wild Bill, J. B. Hickock killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876"

Inscription below marker:

“Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. Good bye”  ~ Colorado Charlie, C.H. Utter. Colorado Charlie paid for Wild Biil’s funeral, burial, and grave marker. Colorado Charlie sitting. Steve (last name unknown) standing.

There were "hundreds" of men, women, and children who attended.

Fred Miller

On this post I am going all the way back to our very 1st Black Lab, Winston.  Got him as a 9 week old puppy.  He made it clear that he was an outside dog and that he was there to protect our property. Winston had the ability to quickly figure out what needed to be done in various situations. 

His favorite spot was laying on the top of my old pickup truck surveying his domain.

Two stories about him.  One morning a strange pickup pulled up in the driveway.  As the guy got out of his truck, Nancy went out to ask what he wanted.  Winston jumped down from the truck, and walked over stopping and sitting about 10 feet in front of Nancy.  He just sat there with his eyes glued to the man.  The man stopped and asked for directions from about 30 ft. away.  He didn't move or anything.  When he left, Winston followed his truck out to the road.  

My favorite Winston story.  We were at work in Dallas.  The police in Denison busted up a drug deal and the guy took off in his car.  His boss lived in the house behind us, and had about 15 acres of pasture next to ours.  The guy came flying up to his boss's house with the cops right behind him.

My neighbor, David, heard all the commotion, came across the road to my house to see what was going on.  By then the commotion had died down.  He saw a deputy he knew and asked what was going on.  The rest is the deputy's story.

The guy  had pulled  around behind the house, got out and started running down the pasture which had about waist high grass growing.  All of a sudden he just disappeared in the tall grass.  David asked what happened.  The deputy pointed at Winston and said that black dog right there just took him down and stood over him till we caught up.

Fred Miller

Winston's last night on earth.  At the age of 12, our vet had discovered large grapefruit sized growth attached to his organs.  He and I sat together out in the driveway until well after dark.  The next morning, the vet performed surgery to try and remove the growth.  As they led him down the hall to the operating room, Winston's tail was wagging. 

Winston passed on the operating table. A biopsy of the growth tested as cancer.

Rex Booth

Fred,

Loss of any pet is a difficult situation and its reality makes it hard to swallow. Especially the loss a fine watch dog who patrolled your castle day and night providing protection for you and your family.

I really loved your story told by the officer who found Winston holding the bad-guy at bay until he caught up with him. Classic!!  

Thanks for sharing!!

Fred Miller

I am still waiting for someone else to post their dog stories.  I know I am not the only one who had fur baby companions.

"I use # 10 below almost daily"  ~ The Shadow

*I do too.  But mostly, I use #15* -- The Fred

In the meantime..

Rex Booth

Classmates,

Look what was found in the Administrator "Statistics" section today.

An observaton:

From 8-4-26 through noon of 8-6-26 (the past 2 days)

(32) Classmates visited the Message Forum

There have been "O" posts by classmates

It would appear on the surface that none of our classmates have pictures of their former pets nor have owned a pet at all. Or possibly do not care one way or the other. But one would think if another classmates lays his feelings out there and providing pictures of his beloved animals, that at least one classmate would come forward to make a comment.

However, not dwelling on a "seemingly" lost cause, let us extend our appreciation for Fred Miller's effort to share his heartfelt experiences with his companion dogs over the years!  I commend anyone who has empathy for both animals and er ah... humans.

The sad reality is, unless classmates begin to show an interest in the RHS1962 "Message Form" by posting and responding to posts by others, this website may be doomed an early death.

The purpose of the administrator or Fred, is not to keep our classmates entertained. If one wants entertainment, you've come to the wrong place. Go to X or YouTube or other site. It is You, Classmates, your "responsibility" to add comments or pictures to keep this website interesting and alive.

Ponder this...

"If one takes the time to log-on to this website, take the time to post something"!

Thank you for your consideration!

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

So here's my pet experience. 
I was extremely allergic to dog and cats so the Carl's had hamsters and birds. My dad worked with the birds and it was extremely entertaining to hear them talk and whistle like my dad. He would saucer his coffee for them and they would perch there and drink coffee. Quite a treat for we children. 
After I married we had 2 birds until the children came along. Then my parents gave me Princess the chihuahua and I loved her. But when my son began walking she nipped his butt with every step. Unfortunately, I couldn't break her from doing that so she went to live with the neighbors. 
We eventually got a mongrel dog named Flip. He was a great dog and we loved him immensely. But he could back out of his harness and jump the fence in a heartbeat. But he took one too many trips over the fence and that was the end of Flip but I still have his Christmas stocking! So that's the last of Paula's dog stories.