 After the death of his father in 1846, William Brady took over the responsibilities of their potato farm — this during the potato famine of 1845-58. Once it seemed apparent that his younger brother Phillip could manage the farm and family affairs. William came to the United States in the summer of 1851 and joined the military and fought with the 2nd New Mexico Volunteers during the American Civil War. He was five feet, eight inches, tall, with blue eyes, brown hair, and a fair complexion — as indicated from his military records.
By 1851, he left Ireland for America. On July 11, 1851 he enlisted in the U. S. Army and was assigned to Company F., First Regiment Mounted Rifles. After five years, he was discharged in Texas, but reenlisted for five more years.
After getting discharged in 1861, he again reenlisted and took comand of Fort Stanton, in Lincoln County, in 1864. He was out of the army for good on October 31, 1866. While he was in the service, he married Maria Bonifacia Chaves Montoya on November 16, 1862.
In 1869 Lincoln County was formed with Las Placitas becoming the county seat. It was because of this Las Placitas changed its’ name to Lincoln to honor the late President. J.J. Dolan was mustered out of the army at Ft. Stanton and went to work for L.G. Murphy. Rebuilding work at Fort Stanton was suspended with only the guardhouse being completed. September the 6th saw the first full election in Lincoln County. William Brady a past commander at Fort Stanton and a good friend of L. G. Murphy’s was elected sheriff.
He was a good friend of the Murphy-Dolan-Riley men and was basically a henchman for them with a badge. He deputized several of the other Murphy-Dolan-Riley men, some of which were known outlaws and killers. Since his posse were the ones that shot and killed John Tunstall, the Regulators decided to kill him. Some say Alex McSween offered a reward to the Regulators if they killed Brady, but this is false. On April 1, 1878, Brady and four deputies, Billy Mathews, George Peppin, George Hindman, and Jack Long walked from the House (Murphy-Dolan-Riley store) to the Ellis house to arrest McSween, who was supposed to be there that day. As the five men passed the Tunstall store, six Regulators, hidden behind the gate of the Tunstall store's corral, opened fire on them. The Regulators were Billy the Kid, Fred Waite, Frank MacNab, Big Jim French, John Middleton, and Henry Brown. Brady fell dead with eight or nine bullets in him and Hindman also was killed.
It is said that when he was shot by "Billy the Kid" on April 1, 1878, that he had 15 bullet holes in his body — and that his rifle was stolen by "the Kid". He died at the age of 49, and was buried first in Lincoln and then his remains were taken to his personal property in San Patricio, New Mexico.
The Brady property is located five miles east of Lincoln, New Mexico between mile markers 102 and 103. When traveling from Lincoln to Hondo, it is on the right-hand side of the road and was owned by the Grisbee family in 1989. The gravemarker is located approximately 400-500 feet off of the road, but is rather difficult to see since it is under some juniper trees and the back of the marker is to the highway.
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