The Jessie Evans Gang…aka The Boys

or

Joe Hines?

The same Joe Hines, who told William V. Morrison about Brushy Bill Roberts, aka Billy the Kid, was proven to be none other than Jessie Evans just as he said he was.      

Jessie J. Evans was born in either Texas or Missouri, apparently he didn’t know for sure because he reported both states as being his origin at different times, but most historians agree that he was born sometime during the year of 1853 and was possibly half-Cherokee. He was an educated man for the era, being a graduate of Washington and Lee College, located in Virginia; just a few years before turning to a profession of outlawry.

As early as June 26, 1871, records show that Jessie was arrested along with both his mother and father in Elk City, Kansas for passing counterfeit money. He was released however and a short time later in 1872 he traveled south to the New Mexico Territory.

Upon arriving, little time lapsed before he was a member of a local outlaw gang led by John Kinney which was considered by most to be the biggest outlaw gang in the New Mexico territory.

Then on January 19, 1876, Jessie and two gang members, Samuel Blanton and a man known only as Morris shot and killed a 3^rd man named Quirino Fletcher in the street in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Jessie, in turn was tried for the murder, but was somehow acquitted.

Shortly there after, he left the John Kinney Gang and persuaded several other members of the Kinney group to join with him in forming a new outlaw gang that became known as the Jessie Evans Gang or the Boys, as they were also called.

The Jessie Evans Gang devised a new method for stealing cattle and horses in the area which was quite successful.  They acted as on of the links in what was then called the chain gang.  The chain gang was not just a single gang, but was the name given to several groups rustling in the area.

Here’s how it worked: One gang would steal a few head of livestock and pass them on to another gang, who passed them on to another gang, and so forth.  In this way the original owner of the stolen livestock was difficult to be determined, and the same applied to the original thief.

Finally in the fall of 1876, Jessie decided that Lincoln County, New Mexico offered a better "opportunity," so he moved his gang there.  Once they were in Lincoln County Jessie and several members of his gang were deputized and rode in the posse that ultimately killed John Tunstall one and the same young William Bonnie, aka Billy the Kid, was employed by.   Jessie was soon indicted for the murder of Tunstall and after he posted a $5,000.00 bond he returned to Lincoln County to participate in the remainder of the Lincoln County War games. In fact he fought in the “Five-Day Battle” at Lincoln and participated in the looting of the Tunstall store the day after the battle ended.

Shortly after the war, late one evening, Jessie was with gang members Dolan, Billy Mathews, and a new gang member named Billy Campbell.  They had plans to meet with Billy the Kid as well as other ex-Regulators as they were called, late that evening so as to establish a truce or peace of a sort; they didn’t made the meeting because in route they had an altercation with and killed Huston Chapman.  Instead of attending the meeting, they elected to leave town.

Jessie and his gang later turned up in Texas robbing stores; he was eventually captured  after his gang allegedly killed a Texas Ranger in a shootout. He entered the Huntsville, TX Prison in 1880, and was released on March 23, 1882. Many years later he was stumbled-upon by William V. Morrison, while investigating a probate claim in the state of Florida, but then he was calling himself Joe Hines.

Sources …

http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/billythekid/evans.html                                     http://tgsfree4allinfo.blogspot.com/2011/08/aka-billy-kid.html