Charlie Bowdre and Wife

Andrew “Buckshot” Roberts was confronted by Billy the Kid and his Regulators at Blazer’s Mill on April 4, 1878.

Charlie Bowdre (photo) told Roberts to surrender, or else.  Roberts reply?  “Not much, Mary Ann.”  And the guns went off.

But what did that phrase mean?  One source says “Mary Ann” was a term sometimes given to an assistant cook on a cattle drive.  Or it could be that Roberts was insulting Bowdre, calling him a woman’s name. In any case, the fight left Buckshot and Regulator chief Dick Brewer dead.

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