Charles 'Charlie' Bowdre[]
Charlie worked for John Tunstall who took Charlie in when he was an outcast. He is a member of the Regulators and becomes deputized after the unfortunate death of Tunstall by the hands of Murphy's men. He is a good and honest man although a little prone to teasing others he thinks are weaker than himself. He takes great pride in his skill as a pugilist (boxer). He makes his fear of hanging known loudly to the rest of the regulators. Charlie is the son of a Soiled Dove working in an old cantina whom he goes to see upon thinking he may not survive the next few days, but his mother does not recognize him so Charlie pays her just to hold him. He marries a young Mexican girl but on their wedding night leaves to join the Regulators in one last stand.
In the movie his friends/ally appear to be William Bonney "Billy the Kid", Jose Chavez, Charley Bowdre, Josiah "Doc" Surlock, Richard "Dick" Brewer, John Tunstall, and Alex McSween. He was in an active participant in plenty of shootouts and roberies in his life. He was part of the Lincoln County War against Murphy. Charlie was shot numerous times outside the McSween home and died soon after, but not before he landed the shot that killed John Kinney, a bounty hunter he had feared for many years.
The Truth[]
Charles Bowdre was born in 1848 in Georgia. When he was three years old his family moved to Mississippi. He grew up working on his father's farm and quickly learned the trade of being a farmer. He met and became good friends with Doc Scurlock in Arizona, they opened a cheese factory together and upon its closure the two men traveled to Lincoln, New Mexico, where they bought a ranch. Charlie married a woman named Manuela Herrera and Doc married her sister.
Charlie became a member of the Jesse Evans gang and was arrested in Lincoln for shooting up the town with a friend and member of the gang, Frank Freeman, whilst drunk. He was released on bail but Freeman escaped jail and headed for Charlie's ranch. The law found him and shot him dead, this occurrence made Charlie cut all his ties with the Jesse Evans gang.
At the outbreak of the Lincoln County War, Charlie sided with Tunstall and after Tunstall's death became one of the 'Regulators'. Charlie was shot by Buckshot Roberts, at Blazer's Mill, the bullet hit his belt buckle and in return he shot the man back, delivering the fatal shot to Roberts. He was present at the five day battle at the McSween house and escaped unhurt.
After the Lincoln County War, Charlie moved to Fort Sumner and worked as a ranch cowboy for Pete Maxwell and Thomas Yerby, although he still rode with Billy the Kid's gang. Finally becoming tired of being hunted, Charlie met with Sheriff Pat Garrett to talk about surrendering. He told Garrett he would but he would first have to break it to Billy and the rest of the gang that he was quitting, it seems he never quite got around to telling his friends this information and continued to ride with them.
On December 23th 1880 Charlie was shot by Pat Garrett's posse at Stinking Springs when he walked out of the house the gang was hiding in to feed the horses, the posse had mistaken him for Billy because of the style of hat he was wearing. He stumbled towards Garrett's men mumbling 'I wish, I wish', and then 'I'm dyin'', before collapsing upon one of Garrett's men. In his breast coat pocket was found a photograph of himself and his wife taken only a few months prior. The blood stains are still visible upon the photograph.
Charlie was buried at Fort Sumner beside Tom O'Folliard and later Billy the Kid. Charlie was 32 at the time of his death.