Note from "The Ballad Index.
"Logsdon notes a complicated story here. He states that Eben E. Rexford published "The Ride of Paul Venerez" in 1881. But it was in 1882 (July 17) that the White Mountain Apaches broke out of their reservation. Riders did bring warning of the outbreak, which allowed the settlers to protect the Burch Ranch near Payson, Arizona."
"There is no documentation of a rider named Billy Venero so while the Rexford poem was probably adapted to the Arizona situation, the details are anything but clear."

The verse was published in Youth's Companion, 1881. Has anyone access to this magazine?

Fife & Fife, in Cowboy and Western Songs, A Comprehensive Anthology, says "we are told Billy's grave is located near the town of Payson, Arizona."

The tune's author is unknown; it was collected by John Donald Robb, formerly professor, University of New Mexico.

Musical score in Fife & Fife, with chords.
No. 46, pp. 129-131, 1969, Cowboy and Western Songs, A Comprehensive Anthology, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. (reprint 1982, Bramhall House).
Lomax makes no acknowledgments. The score, given in the 1938 Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, Lomax & Lomax, (not in previous editions) is similar to that in Fife & Fife.

Besides Art Thieme, other early recordings by Billy Maxwell, 1929; Harry McClintock, 1928; Luther Royce, 1941; and Glenn Ohrlin. (The Traditional Ballad Index).