Yginio Salazar was the youngest of the Lincoln County Regulators

Lincoln County Regulators

The Lincoln County Regulators was a deputized posse in Lincoln County, New Mexico during the Lincoln County War, consisting of a dozen or so members who wanted revenge for the killing of their boss, John Tunstall...

 at the youthful age of 15.

Childhood

He grew up on the Hondo River, but his family eventually settled a few miles west of Lincoln. Yginio learned how to play the fiddle when he was little and was hired to play at a dance at Fort Stanton and was paid $50 for doing it. Also, Yginio became a skilled horseman and good with a rifle and pistol.

Lincoln County War and beyond

Yginio met Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid

William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...

 and looked up to him as a role model. The only battle Yginio fought in during the Lincoln County War

Lincoln County War

The Lincoln County War was a 19th-century range war between two factions during the Old West period. Numerous notable figures of the American West were involved, including Billy the Kid, aka William Henry McCarty; sheriffs William Brady and Pat Garrett; cattle rancher John Chisum, lawyer and...

was the Five-Day Battle and was one of the fourteen Regulators inside the McSween house. When the Regulators had to flee the burning home, he was shot in the back and shoulder and pretended to be dead so he wouldn't be shot again. He crawled to his sister-in-law's house, a half-mile away from Lincoln and was treated by the Fort Stanton doctor, Dan Appel. Yginio recovered and was one of the former Regulators that met with J. J. Dolan and his henchman in February 1879 to discuss peace. Yginio later became an honest rancher and after Billy the Kid escaped from jail in Lincoln, killing his two guards, he fled to Yginio's home and Yginio cut his shackles off and fed him.

Later life

He continued to farm in Lincoln County until his death on January 7, 1936. He was buried alongside his wife in the Lincoln Cemetery and his headstone still reads "Pal of Billy the Kid."
The Grave of Yginio Salazar at www.angelfire.com