Bob Olinger’s place in New Mexico history roughly parallels Billy the Kid’s, as overblown as that statement may seem. His own mother remembered him with the following unique phraseology, "Bob was a murderer from the cradle, and if there is a hell hereafter then he is there."

It began about 60 years after the events that inspired it took place, and it has been going on for about another 60 years since. It is “The Last Escape of Billy the Kid” and it is held yearly at Lincoln, New Mexico, where it all happened. Started in 1940 as part of the Quatro Centennial, the pageant was, and is, staffed entirely by local folks, many of whom are descended from the actual participants being portrayed. The first local man to play Billy the Kid was renowned artist Peter Hurd of San Patricio.