CHARLES L. BALLARD
From the WPA Files of the Library of Congress
I was eleven years old when my parents A. J. Ballard and Katherine Redding Ballard and my brothers and sisters and I left Fort Griffin, Texas during the winter of 1878 and came to New Mexico to live.

In Lincoln we found ourselves in the excitement of feuds and Billy the Kid's escapades.

I remember good times I had with Billy the Kid. He was not an outlaw in manners - was quiet, but good company, always doing something interesting. That was why he had so many friends. We often raced horses together. He was not very large - weighed a hundred and twenty-five or thirty pounds. He was a fine rider.

Billy was credited with more killings than he ever did. However, there were plenty that could be counted against him. It was reported he was the one who killed Chapman, when Chapman refused to dance when ordered, but Billy had nothing at all to do with that shooting.



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