[3] The Olingers then moved to Mound City, Linn County, Kansas Territory, arriving there in 1858.

Bob Olinger later participated in the Lincoln County War as part of the Murphy-Dolan faction before being assigned as a deputy for famed lawman Pat Garrett after Garrett was elected Sheriff of Lincoln County in 1880.

After the capture of Billy the Kid, Olinger was one of two deputies assigned to guard him in the Lincoln County Courthouse, the other being James Bell.

[8] On April 28, 1881, while guarding Billy the Kid with Bell, Olinger left to go across the street to the Wortley Hotel to have lunch.

Hearing the gunshots, Olinger assumed that Bell had killed the Kid and started back across the street to investigate.

[11] Despite his service as a deputy, Olinger has been widely denounced as a "bully with a badge" and a serial murderer.