the Kid" when leading a gang of his own. In the Spring of 1877, Sheriff Brady was beaten up by two bravados, who were believed to be acting on John Tunstall's orders, in the middle of the main street of Lincoln. On February 18, 1878, Tunstall, Richard M. Brewer, John Middleton, Henry Newton Brown, Robert Widenmann, Fred Waite, and William Bonney, were driving nine horses from Tunstall's ranch on the Rio Feliz to Lincoln. A posse deputized by Lincoln Sheriff Brady went to Tunstall's ranch on the Feliz to attach his cattle on a warrant that had been issued against his business partner, McSween. It was a testament to how completely entangled the business affairs of Tunstall and MacSween had become that the posse came to attach Tunstall's cattle as collateral for MacSween's debts. Finding Tunstall, his hands, and the horses gone, a sub-posse broke from the main posse and went in pursuit. But these horses were not covered by any legal action. Deputies Jesse Evans, Hill, Morton (and probably Frank Baker) rode ahead after Tunstall. Evans, Morton, and Hill caught up with Tunstall and his men, in an area covered with scrub timber a few miles from Lincoln. Tunstall, the nine horses, and his hired guns were spread out along the narrow trail. Bonney, who was riding drag, alerted the others. The deputies began firing without warning. Tunstall's hands galloped off through the brush to a hilltop overlooking the trail. Tunstall first stayed with his horses, then rode away, but was pursued by the three deputies. Only the three deputies survived the following confrontation. The historian Robert Utley writes that Tunstall may have surrendered or he may just as easily have drawn his sidearm and tried to defend himself from Deputies Morton, Hill, and Evans. Either way, the shooting began and Tunstall died instantly when hit by two rifle bullets; one in the chest and another that ripped through his brain. In the aftermath, Tunstall's supporters, "claimed that he was murdered in cold blood". Supporters of the House, however, "insisted that he had been shot down while resisting arrest by a lawfully commissioned deputy sheriff of Lincoln County." John Tunstall died less than three weeks before his birthday. He was 24 years old. Aftermath Tunstall's murder ignited the Lincoln County War. In response, William Bonney, Richard M. Brewer, Chavez y Chavez, Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, George Coe, Frank Coe,