In the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid was a friend of the English businessman, John Henry Tunstall, and had vowed to avenge the death of Tunstall after he witnessed the Englishman’s assassination. Tunstall came to New Mexico well aware of the corrupt business that Lawrence G. Murphy had created and aimed to make a competing business to profit off of the monopoly, of practically everything, that Murphy controlled. Once Tunstall founded his company Murphy had already grew ill and the business was then primarily ran by John Dolan and John Riley. Tunstall had acquired land and cattle to make a ranch, which is where he befriended Billy the Kid whom he hired as a chuck wagon cook and later, a cattle guard. Billy the Kid and Tunstall developed
