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Subject: [BREWER-L] Billy the Kid and Dick Brewer
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 19:44:26 EST

I found this on a Angelfire page. However, the URL I copied was for the
popup, not the site. A GOOGLE on -- "Dick Brewer" Regulator -- should locate
the samesite.

Dick Brewer

Richard M. (Dick) Brewer was born in St. Albans, Vermont on February 19, 1850
to Ransselaer and Phebe Brewer. In 1860, the Brewers moved to Wisconsin.
Dick's father enlisted in the U. S. Army and left him to take care of his
mother and sisters. By 1870, Dick's father had returned and Dick left
Wisconsin. He left because the girl he loved married his cousin. He ended up
in Lincoln County, New Mexico and went to work for L. G. Murphy & Co. After
four years, he quit Murphy and bought his own ranch on the Rio Ruidoso, near
the town of Glencoe. He became a very well liked and respected citizen and
was known as honest, fair, and hardworking. In 1876, he became good friends
with John Tunstall and eventually became the foreman on Tunstall's ranch,
when not working on his own. Dick even led a posse to arrest members of the
Jessie Evans Gang when they stole horses belonging to Tunstall and himself.
On February 18, 1878, Tunstall was killed by a posse composed of known
outlaws while he, Brewer, and other ranch-hands were herding nine horses to
Lincoln. Brewer witnessed the murder of Tunstall, and thereafter felt guilty
for his friend's death. After Tunstall was murdered by Murphy-Dolan-Riley
men, Dick was made a deputized constable by Justice of the Peace John Wilson,
under the suggestion of Alex McSween. Brewer was immediatly given leadership
of the newly formed Regulators, a group organized for the purpose of serving
arrest warrants on the murderers of Tunstall. He led the group that killed
William McCloskey, William Morton, and Frank Baker, but was not one of
Sheriff William Brady's assassins. On April 4, 1878, Dick led the Regulators
to Blazer's Mills to eat. While they were there, Buckshot Roberts, a man they
held a warrant for, approached and a wild gunfight ensued, with Charlie
Bowdre firing a bullet into Buckshot, inflicting a mortal wound. Before
Buckshot cashed in his chips, he wounded five Regulators and blew the top of
Dick's head off. Thus ended the life of the Regulator's first leader.


"History doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes." Mark Twain

Grant Johnston, Chico, CA

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