Nun Who Took On Billy The Kid May Become A Saint

No one in the wild west was wilder than Billy The Kid ... he even went up against a nun!

When Sister Blandina Segale heard Billy was coming to town to kill 4 doctors who refused to treat one of his compas, she cared for them.  Then, when Billy showed up to thank her, she asked him not to kill the docs and he didn't.  Later, while robbing a stagecoach, Billy looked inside and saw Sister Blandina.  His reaction?  He tipped his hat and rode away.

Sister Blandina met up with a bunch of famous old west characters and letters she wrote about them to her sister became the book, "At The End Of The Santa Fe Trail".  She started programs that are still in operation today in locations as far apart as Cincinnati and Albuquerque!  Now, the arch diocese in Santa Fe is pushing for her to be made a saint.

There's still a lot more to do to get her canonized but the Vatican is now on the case as well.  Sister Blandina could become the first New Mexican to ever achieve sainthood!  I hope she makes it!!

Photo by Marco Secchi/Getty Images

Billy The Kid, of course, is a major character in our corner of the southwest.  He spent his childhood in Silver City and other significant events in his life happened as close as Old Mesilla where he was tried and sentenced to death.  (He dodged the hangman by shooting his way out of jail in Lincoln County.)

His mentor, John Tunstall, was killed just outside of Ruidoso, near Glencoe and he once rode to El Paso to break a friend out of jail in what is now San Elizario.

He was .. supposedly .. killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett  Garrett would later be shot himself on the edge of what is now White Sands Missle Range.  He is buried in Las Cruces.