Frontier Fighter The Autobiography of George W. Coe Who Fought and Rode With Billy the Kid As Related to Nan Hillary Harrison

220 pages, frontis, illustrations, minor edge wear and creasing to the jacket, the rare 4 page publisher’s promotional for the book is laid in. A difficult title to obtain in the first printing with the jacket. “Coe was born in Missouri, and ventured to New Mexico Territory in his youth, around 1871, alongside his cousin, Frank, to work on a ranch near Fort Stanton belonging to a cousin, and for a time during this period they lived near Raton, New Mexico. The two often rode in pursuit of cattle rustlers and horse thieves during this period, dealing with them harshly. On July 18, 1876, he and Frank Coe, accompanied by Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre and Ab Saunders forced their way into the weak Lincoln jail and freed horse thief Jesus Largo from Sheriff Saturnino Baca. After leaving Lincoln with Largo, they lynched him. By 1878 he had leased his own land to begin a ranch, during which time he and his cousin continued to find themselves battling rustlers, but now in defense of their own land. Coe found himself dragged into the Lincoln County War by way of his own unjust arrest by county Sheriff William J. Brady. Coe and his cousin would join the Lincoln County Regulators, riding with Billy the Kid, and facing off against the "Murphy-Dolan Faction" and their supporters, to include members of the Jesse Evans Gang and the John Kinney Gang. Coe figured prominently into the events of the final Battle of Lincoln between the two factions, and was eventually arrested for the murder of Buckshot Roberts, a shootout which became known as the Gunfight of Blazer's Mills, and in which he lost a finger.” Wiki. Howes C534, Herd 498, Rader 863, Adams One-Fifty 32, Six-Guns 458, "Though a good friend of Billy the Kid, the author was never considered an outlaw. As a participant in the Lincoln County War, he gives, I believe, a fairly accurate account of the affair and the Kid's activities.".