Robert Ameredith B. "Pecos Bob" Olinger (1850 in Delphi, Indiana – April 28, 1881 in Lincoln, New Mexico) was a frontier lawman best known as the last victim of

Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at t ...

and as a participant in the

Lincoln County War The Lincoln County War was an Old West conflict between rival factions which began in 1878 in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, the predecessor of the state of New Mexico, and continued until 1881. The feud became famous because of the pa ...

Early life and career

Ameredith Robert B. Olinger was born around March 1850 to William C. Olinger and his wife Rebecca Robinson in

Carroll County, Indiana Carroll County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 20,155. The county seat is Delphi. Carroll County is part of the Lafayette, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histor ...

. They moved to Delaware, Polk County, Iowa and were living there at the time of the 1856 Iowa State Census. The Olingers then moved to Mound City, Linn County, Kansas Territory, arriving there in 1858. They were still there when the 1860 U.S. Census was taken. William C. Olinger died at age 37 in 1861. His widow, Rebecca, remarried to a Joshua Stafford. The Stafford-Olinger family was living in Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas in 1865. The family then moved to the Indian Territory, which would later become Oklahoma. The family then moved to Grayson County, Texas, about 1874, as Rebecca Stafford is listed on the County tax rolls for 1874, 1875 and 1876. Robert Olinger is listed in the 1875 Grayson County, Texas, tax rolls. His brother John Wallace Olinger and his ranching partner, William Harrison Johnson, arrived at

Seven Rivers, New Mexico Seven Rivers, New Mexico was formerly a ghost town, located between Carlsbad and Artesia, New Mexico. The town itself was first settled in the mid-1860s, and for a time thrived as a trading post. Its name derives from seven creeks that flowed thro ...

, and stayed at the Beckwith Ranch. Robert, along with his mother, arrived sometime later. Bob Olinger later participated in the

as part of the Murphy-Dolan faction before being assigned as a deputy for famed lawman Pat Garrett after Garrett was elected Sheriff of Lincoln County in 1880. After the capture of Billy the Kid, Olinger was one of two deputies assigned to guard him in the Lincoln County Courthouse, the other being James Bell.

Death

On April 28, 1881, while guarding Billy the Kid with Bell, Olinger left to go across the street to the Wortley Hotel to have lunch. During this time, "the Kid" overwhelmed Bell and shot him as Bell attempted to run down the courthouse stairs. Hearing the gunshots, Olinger assumed that Bell had killed the Kid and started back across the street to investigate. Meanwhile, the Kid had secured Olinger's shotgun, which he had left leaning against the wall and positioned himself in a second-floor window where he would see Olinger return. When Olinger was almost under him, the Kid was reported to have said "Hello Bob!" before shooting him with both barrels of ten-gauge buckshot. Olinger was struck in the breast and died instantly.

Controversy

Despite his service as a deputy, Olinger has been widely denounced as a "bully with a badge" and a serial murderer. Most notably, fellow deputy Pierce Jones brought charges against Olinger for shooting an unarmed Bob Jones in the back while serving a small civil fine. The charges were dismissed, but Olinger's reputation as a bully has persisted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olinger, Bob Lawmen of the American Old West Lincoln County Wars 1881 deaths