A Promise Left Hanging

A vow to protect three men from a mob turned out to be hollow.

February 5, 1880. Las Vegas (NM) Deputy Marshal J.J. Webb and five men—including Billy the Kid’s buddy Dave Rudabaugh—go after two cowboys who were involved in the killing of Marshal Joe Carson two weeks before. The posse surrounds them in a house about 30 miles north of Las Vegas. The pair agree to surrender if they’ll be protected from town mobs. But on February 8, the mob comes–probably including the lawmen and other members of the Dodge City Gang that runs Las Vegas. The doomed men are marched to a windmill and strung up.