Charlie Bowdre
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2015) |
Charlie Bowdre | |
|---|---|
Gunshot wounds | |
| Resting place | Old Fort Sumner Cemetery 34°24′13″N 104°11′37″W / 34.40361°N 104.19361°W |
| Occupation(s) | Ranch hand, gunfighter, outlaw |
| Parents |
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Charles Bowdre (c. 1848 – December 23, 1880) was an American cowboy and outlaw. He was an associate of Billy the Kid and member of his gang.
Early life
Bowdre was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. When he was three years old, he and his parents moved to Mississippi. By 1854, young Charlie started working in his father's farm, and as he grew up became an adept farmer. Much of what Bowdre did between the year in which his last sister was born (1863) and 1874 remains a mystery.
It is believed, however, that he abandoned the family's farm to become a wanderer. Records show that by 1874, he had arrived at
Lincoln County War
With the outbreak of the
After the Lincoln County War
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2015) |
Bowdre worked as a cowboy on the ranches of Thomas Yerby and Pete Maxwell as the war went on, as well as being an active participant. Bowdre married a twenty-five-year-old Mexican woman, Manuela Herrera, some months before his death.
Manuela was a sister to Doc Scurlock's wife, María Antonia Miguela Herrera, known as Antonia. The fact that he was recently married when he died perhaps suggests that he would have been less likely to have been involved in the gang's activities during the few weeks that passed between his marriage and his death.
By December 1880, Charlie Bowdre was ready to quit riding with Billy the Kid and surrender for the murder of Buckshot Roberts, but he still joined the rest of the gang on a mission to ambush Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner.
A gun battle ensued, but Bowdre and most of the Kid's gang members escaped alive. On December 23, however, the gang was holed up in a rock house at Stinking Springs, New Mexico.
At dawn, Bowdre emerged to feed the horses and was riddled with rifle slugs by Garrett's posse, which had surrounded the building in the night. After being riddled with bullets he fell back into the doorway where, at the urging of Billy the Kid to "take a few of them with you when you die", Bowdre made a valiant exit. [1]
Unfortunately, he was already too weak and near death at that point and couldn't get his gun out of his holster. In the last seconds of his life he stumbled and fell towards Garrett repeating the phrase, "I wish...I wish..." [1]
His remains were returned to his wife, and he was interred next to Tom O'Folliard, another member of Billy's gang. They were joined later by Billy himself, after he was killed in July 1881.[2]
Portrayals
Charlie Bowdre was played by James Congdon in the 1958 film
In the 1988 film Young Guns, he is portrayed by actor Casey Siemaszko.[6] The circumstances of his death were the basis of a scene in Young Guns II, however, in the movie, Doc Scurlock played by Kiefer Sutherland, is the one who meets his fate outside the hut, and not Bowdre. Actor Chris Bylsma was cast as Bowdre in the film The Kid directed by Vincent D'Onofrio.[7]
References
- ^ a b Utley 1989, p. 158-159.
- ^ Utley 1989, p. 195.
- ^ Bloom, Lansing Bartlett; Walter, Paul A. F. (2007). New Mexico Historical Review. University of New Mexico. p. 204.
- ISBN 9780786486700.
- ISBN 9780786465552.
- ISBN 9781472123732.
- ^ "Vincent D'Onofrio Taps 'Valarian's Dane DeHaan to Play Billy the Kid in Suretone Western". Deadline. 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2018-06-24.
Bibliography
- Utley, Robert Marsahll (1989). Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life. ISBN 0-8032-9558-8.