Lincoln County Regulators - Members History and Friendships

Members History and Friendships

The Regulators were formed out of numerous small ranch owners in the Lincoln area. Many of those who became best known as "Regulators" had a long history with one another previously. William Bonney aka Billy the Kid would become the best known, most likely due to the notoriety of his name, received due to news accounts that readily attached his name to everything the Regulators did. The Lincoln County War brought him to the front, but several of the other Regulators were actually the driving force behind the events, and had a history of killing alongside one another prior to the war.

Ab Saunders, Charlie Bowdre, Doc Scurlock, and the two Coes had previously killed rustlers together. On July 18, 1876, that group had stormed the Lincoln jail, removing horse thief Jesus Largo, and hanging him. Ab Saunders and Frank Coe had tracked down cattle rustler Nicos Meras, shooting and killing him that same month in the Baca Canyon. Their association with McCarty began when, in the spring of 1876, at the time known as either Henry Antrim or William Bonney, Henry moved to Lincoln County and began working for Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre at their cheese factory. He later worked, for a time, for rancher Henry Hooker, and then for Ab Saunders and the Coe's on their ranch. By the time the Lincoln County War came along, those main core members, referred to as the "iron clad", were all more experienced and closer to being actual "gunmen" than was McCarty.