Charlie Wall did his loafing while recovering from his bullet wounds, in the room where the “Kid” was kept.
On the morning of April 28th, 1881, Sheriff Garrett prepared to leave for White Oaks, thirty-five miles north, to have a scaffold made to hang the “Kid” on. Before starting, he went into the room where the “Kid” sat on his stool, guarded by Ollinger, who was having a friendly chat with Charlie Wall—the man who gave the writer the full details of the affair. J. W. Bell was also present in the room.
Garrett remarked to the two guards: “Say, boys, you must keep a close watch on the ‘Kid,’ as he has only a few more days to live, and might make a break for liberty.”
Bob Ollinger answered: “Don’t worry, Pat, we will watch him like a goat.”
Now Ollinger stepped into the other room and got his double-barrel shot gun. With the gun in his hand, and looking towards the “Kid,” he said: “There are eighteen buckshot in each barrel, and I reckon the man who gets them will feel it.”
With a smile, “Billy the Kid” remarked: “You may be the one to get them yourself.”
Now Ollinger put the gun back in the armory, locking the door, putting the key in his pocket. Then Garrett left for White Oaks.
About five o’clock in the evening, Bob Ollinger took Charlie Wall and the other four armed prisoners to the Ellis Hotel, across the street, for supper. Bell was left to guard the “Kid.”
According to the story “Billy the Kid” told Mrs. Charlie Bowdre, and other friends, after his escape, he had been starving himself so that he could slip his left hand out of the steel cuff. The guards thought he had lost his appetite from worry over his approaching death.
J. W. Bell sat on a chair, facing the “Kid,” several paces away. He was reading a newspaper. The “Kid” slipped his left hand out of the cuff and made a spring for the guard, striking him over the head with the steel cuff. Bell threw up both hands to shield his head from another blow. Then the “Kid” jerked Bell’s pistol out of its scabbard. Now Bell ran out of the door and received a bullet from his own pistol. The body of Bell tumbled down the back stairs, falling on the jailer, a German by the name of Geiss, who was sitting at the foot of the stairs.