Tom O'Folliard

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Born in Texas in 1858, Tom O'Folliard was the best friend of the famous outlaw Billy the Kid. Both were members of the Regulators, a gang of cattle rustlers operating in the New Mexico territory, and the two eventually became co-leaders of the outfit.

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

He was shot in the chest by Pat Garrett's posse in December, 1880, at Fort Sumner, and died approximately forty-five minutes later. He is buried at Old Fort Sumner Cemetery in a plot shared by his "pals" William Bonney and Charlie Bowdre.

Portrayal on the Big Screen

O'Folliard was portrayed in the 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. These characteristics are largely inaccurate, though, as O'Folliard never left the southwest and was in his late teens when he joined the Regulators.

The character of Tom O'Folliard was absent from the original Young Guns film, even though the real O'Folliard was 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

[Loyal Sidekick: 'Big Foot' Tom O'Folliard]

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