Monopoly

   A monopoly can be ok as long as it doesn't get too greedy. But the temptation to gouge the customer is strong. And to protect itself, a monopoly will make friends with the authorities. Take for example the  Murphy-Dolan Dry Goods Store in Lincoln County, New Mexico back in the late 1870s.

   New Mexico was still a territory then and farmers and ranchers were claiming land and trying to make a living. Murphy and Dolan were Irish immigrants who supplied dry goods and banking services to the settlers. They formed an alliance with William Brady, the county sheriff, also an Irish immigrant. They started to get rich.

   

   Then an English immigrant, John Turnstall, decided to open a competing store and convinced Murphy and Dolan's lawyer to join him. These two allied themselves with a big rancher named John Chisum. John Wayne played this role in the movie version. Murphy and Dolan weren't happy about this competition and hired several gunman to harass Turnstall and his lawyer who was named McSween.

   Turnstall hired his own gang of gunmen which included Billy the Kid. Real trouble started when Lawyer McSween refused to turn over money from a will that should have gone to Murphy and Dolan. Murphy and Dolan got a court order for their ally Sheriff Brady to collect the money. The order mistakenly included the property of Turnstall.

   Sheriff Brady brought along several of the hired guns when he went to execute the order. Naturally gunfire broke out and on this day in 1878, Turnstall was killed. Turnstall and Billy the Kid had become good friends and his murder upset Billy. Billy and the other gunmen formed a group calling themselves the Lincoln County Regulators.

   The Regulators got themselves deputized by the Lincoln town constable who had been Turnstall's ally. This legalized the murderous rampage that ensued. The Regulators hunted down and killed three members of the posse that had killed Turnstall. Sheriff Brady realized his turn was next and appealed to the territorial governor for assistance. The governal lent moral support but that did not prevent Brady from being killed near his office..

   The new sheriff led Murphy and Dolan's men into a series of gunfights with the Regulators. At one point, the Regulators laid siege to the town of Lincoln. Then the U.S. Calvary arrived. The Regulators fired on the Calvary was a big mistake. 

   The Regulators were able to escape and recruit new members. Three months later, the Regulators returned for the "Battle of Lincoln." The Regulators outnumbered the Murphy-Dolan forces by 64-16, but the Calvary came to the rescue. They brought a cannon which proved to be the equalizer. The Regulators collapsed. Several were killed or captured. Lawyer McSween was shot as his house burned. A few Regulators escaped, including Billy the Kidd.

   The Monopoly won the war. Murphy died later that year of natural causes. His partner Dolan was tried and acquitted for the murder of Turnstall. He managed to acquire all of Turnstall's property. He lived another 20 years, dying of alcoholism at the 1898. Pat Garrett, the new sheriff of Lincoln County collected a large reward by tracking down and killing Billy the kid. The kid was 21. 

   Many of the participants in the War of Lincoln County  stood trial, but all were acquitted. Several guilty parties died in the fighting. Billy the Kid was the only person legally executed for his part in the War of Lincoln County. 

The deck was stacked in the Old West.