John Tunstall’s Journey West

John Tunstall is best known for his ties to Billy the Kid—but he almost never made it to New Mexico. At the age of 19, in 1872, he left his home in England for Victoria, British Columbia, to work at a dry goods store partly owned by his father.  But Tunstall was aloof, condescending, insulting and generally made a bad impression with most of the Canadians he ran into. He decided to move on in early 1876; a few months later, he was trying to make a success of himself in Lincoln, NM.