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Tom O'Folliard

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Other names
  
Tom O'Folliard

Other name
  
Tom O'Folliard

Tom O'Folliard httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Full Name
  
Thomas O. Folliard, Jr.

Born
  
1858
Uvalde, Texas

Cause of death
  
Gunshot wound from Sheriff Pat Garrett

Resting place
  
Old Fort Sumner Cemetery

Occupation
  
Ranch hand, gunfighter, outlaw

Parent(s)
  
Father: Thomas O. Folliard, Sr. Mother: Sarah Cook

Died
  
19 December 1880, New Mexico, United States

Similar
  
Charlie Bowdre, Dave Rudabaugh, Doc Scurlock, Jose Chavez y Chavez, Richard M Brewer

Tom O'Folliard (c. 1858 – December 19, 1880) was the best friend of outlaw William Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid. Both were members of the Regulators during the Lincoln County War. After the war ended, they became cattle rustlers, forming the Bonney gang with fellow outlaws Dave Rudabaugh and Charlie Bowdre.

Contents

O'Folliard, a Texan, was a participant in the Lincoln County War and survived the famous Five-Day Battle in Lincoln during July 1878. He is said to have been wounded by a gunshot to the shoulder while escaping from the McSween residence, which had been set on fire, with Billy and three others.

Death

He was shot in the chest by sheriff Pat Garrett on December 19, 1880, at Fort Sumner, dying approximately 45 minutes later. He was interred at Old Fort Sumner Cemetery in a plot later shared by Bonney and Charlie Bowdre.

Portrayals in the media

  • O'Folliard was portrayed in the 1942 film Apache Trail (film) by William Lundigan.
  • In the 1954 film The Law vs. Billy the Kid O'Folliard was played by actor George Berkeley.
  • O'Folliard was also portrayed in the 1958 film The Left Handed Gun by James Best alongside Paul Newman's portrayal of Billy The Kid.
  • Christopher Mitchum portrays O'Folliard in Chisum, in the film he is friends with Billy the Kid (Geoffrey Deuel).
  • The Tom O'Folliard character also appeared in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), played by screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer, although depicted inaccurately as middle-aged.
  • O'Folliard was portrayed in the 1990 film Young Guns II by Balthazar Getty as a 14-year-old "tenderfoot" orphan from Pennsylvania who begs his way into Billy the Kid's gang. This was inaccurate, as O'Folliard was a Texan, never left the southwest and was in his late teens when he joined the Regulators.
  • O'Folliard was not depicted in the original Young Guns film, although in real life he had been present for the majority of the events depicted in the movie and had been one of Billy the Kid's best friends since the two first met.
  • References

    Tom O'Folliard Wikipedia