Stinking Springs

{{Short description|Ranch in Taiban, New Mexico}}

File:Stinking Springs.jpg

Stinking Springs was a ranch{{sfn|Metz|1983|p=284}} and an overnight way station for cattle drivers and sheep herders{{sfn|Metz|1983|p=77}} located near the present site of Taiban, New Mexico.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWSw65hFIoAC&pg=PT373 |title=The Autumn of the Gun |first=Ralph |last=Compton |author-link=Ralph Compton |publisher=Penguin |date=1 December 1996 |page=373 |isbn=9781101127278}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/amarillo/amarillo-sunday-news-globe/1930/11-30/page-68 |title=John W. Green Recalls Stirring Times During Panhandle's Early Day |date=30 November 1930 |access-date=19 April 2024 |newspaper=Amarillo Sunday News Globe |url-access=subscription |via=NewspaperArchive.com |page=68}} On 23 December 1880 sheriff Pat Garrett and his posse found Billy the Kid and the Regulators in a stone hut, where it began a shoot-out which killed Charlie Bowdre and captured Billy, Dave Rudabaugh, Tom Pickett and Billy Wilson.{{cite news |url=https://truewestmagazine.com/article/shoot-out-at-stinking-springs/ |title=Shoot-out at Stinking Springs |first=Bob Boze |last=Bell |date=9 December 2013 |access-date=15 April 2024 |magazine=True West Magazine}}{{cite book |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300216684/html |title=Wanted. The Outlaw Lives of Billy the Kid and Ned Kelly |chapter=12. Stinking Springs |first=Robert M. |last=Utley |date=2020 |author-link=Robert M. Utley |publisher=Yale University Press |via=De Gruyter |page=81-86|doi=10.12987/9780300216684 |isbn=978-0-300-21668-4 }} Only the foundation remains nowadays.{{cite news |url=https://truewestmagazine.com/article/special-classic-gunfights-shoot-out-at-stinking-springs/ |title=Special Classic Gunfights: Shoot-out at Stinking Springs |first=Bob Boze |last=Bell |date=30 March 2020 |access-date=15 April 2024 |magazine=True West Magazine}}

The musical production The Lighter Side of Stinking Springs centers around the stonehouse. The song is simple and includes the reprisal of The Ballad of Stinking Springs.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-mexico/clovis/clovis-news-journal/1989/06-16/page-7 |title=Billy the Kid musical holds auditions |date=16 June 1989 |access-date=19 April 2024 |page=7 |newspaper=Clovis News Journal |via=NewspaperArchive.com |url-access=subscription}}