More Nocturns In The Maxwell House

 April 26, 2025

   Still having fun with Maxfield Parrish-ish nocturnes.

Daily Whip Outs:

"Maxwell Bedroom Showdown"

   The Kid backs into Pete Maxwell's bedroom. Garrett, engulfed in the darkness, freezes. "He came directly towards me," Garrett recounted. "Came close to me."

   Garrett said he dared not speak because his own gun was in its holster, and he was sitting on it!

   "He came close to me, leaned both hands on the bed, his right hand almost touching my knee."

   "The Kid must have seen, or felt, the presence of a third person at the head of the bed. He raised his pistol, a self-cocker, within a foot of my breast."

Oh, Man, Garrett was so scared!

   The Kid jumped back, but instead of firing, he demanded in Spanish one more time, "Quien es?"

   Big mistake.  Garrett drew his revolver and fired twice.

   "The Kid fell dead. He never spoke. A struggle or two, a little strangling sound as he gasped for breath, and the Kid was with his many victims."

   Thus ends the sheriff of Lincoln County's version of the events in Pete Maxwell's bedroom in the early hours of July 15, 1881.

   I have never believed this self-promoting BS. Oh, I believe he shot the Kid alright, just not with the He-Was-So-Armed! embellishments. Walking across the parade ground in his stocking feet? No way, Jose! Okay, one caveat. As the little Aussie Bastard has since pointed out, indigenous peoples of New Mexico have walked about barefooted for time immemorial. And, it must be noted, even in my ancient childhood (the Nineteen Fifties!) white kids would go barefoot in the summer and by the fall their feet were impervious to "bullheads." So, there's that, but I still think the stocking feet and the buttoning of the pants is too precious by half.

   So, what, pray tell, is the reason for revisiting all of this for the eighteenth time when I recently claimed I had made my final word on the subject?

A Close-up On Buckeye's Billy Shrine

(going to be so cool and it's going to be part of the Traveling Wake of Billy the Kid starting this summer. That's why.)

   By the way, what was Billy the Kid's least favorite coffee?

A: Maxwell House

"Oh, no, not Maxwell House again!"