In a four-year span between 1877 and 1881, the baby-faced outlaw was involved in the shooting deaths of some nine men, at least four of whom he killed singlehandedly. McCarty was shot in the thigh while attempting to retrieve a rifle that Brady had seized from him during an earlier arrest. [107] Close to midnight, as Garrett and Maxwell sat talking in Maxwell's darkened bedroom, McCarty unexpectedly entered the room. The Kid got caught with it and was arrested. The Kid left the war with a reputation as one of the Wests most skilled gunmen, but he remained wanted for the murder of Sheriff Brady. [2] The horse returned two days later.[106]. Despite discrepancies in birth dates and physical appearance, the town of Hico, Texas (Brushy Bill's residence), has capitalized on the Kid's infamy by opening the Billy The Kid Museum.[119]. There, he was regarded as a champion of the oppressed. As he approached, he saw Garretts two deputies on the porch and since he didn't recognizing the strangers, he backed cautiously into Maxwells room and asked Pete, who are those fellows outside? He got no answer and as he walked towards the bed, he saw Garretts silhouette and started to back away and asked in Spanish, Whose there? Garrett recognized the Kids voice and fired his gun. Its estimated that he was born around 1860-61 possibly in New York. Billy the Kid was unable to settle down, so he made his living by gambling and rustling cattle. [89] Recognizing their mistake, the posse members became demoralized and scattered, enabling McCarty and his gang to slip away. All we know is that his mother's name was Catherine Devine or McCarty, Katherine Beaujean or Katherine Bonney. The family moved to Silver City in Grant County, located in southern New Mexico. [37] During this period, McCarty was spotted by a resident of Silver City, and the teenager's involvement with the notorious gang was mentioned in a local newspaper. In 1954, however, western historians James D. Horan and Paul Sann wrote that McCarty was "right-handed and carried his pistol on his right hip". Since there were now two Billies in the household, the Kids mother referred to him by his middle name, he was now Henry McCarty-Antrim (2). This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billy-the-Kid-American-outlaw, American Heritage - Billy the Kid: From Outlaw to Legend, PBS - American Experience - The Life and Legend of Billy the Kid, Billy the Kid - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). [25] Two days after McCarty was placed in jail, the teenager escaped by worming his way up the jailhouse chimney. [118] In 2004, researchers sought to exhume the remains of Catherine Antrim, McCarty's mother, "so her DNA could be tested and compared with DNA to be taken from the body buried under the Kid's gravestone". Footnote 1: There's a mystery with the last name of McCarty; it's speculated that it may be his father's name, mother's maiden name, or the last name of his half brother's father. After his escape from death row, the Kid spent several months hiding out on the frontier and taking refuge with sympathetic locals in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. [17] Nevertheless, young McCarty often used the surname "Antrim" when referring to himself. [97] Realizing that they had no hope of escape, the besieged and hungry outlaws finally surrendered later that day and were allowed to join in the meal. In 1870 the two accompanied each other to Wichita, Kansas and settled in different homes. There is an interesting tale of a mysterious stranger who came to the Ramah country to live shortly after Billy the Kid was "killed". The family moved to New Mexico, and, in his early teens, Billy fell into a career of thievery and lawlessness, wandering throughout the Southwest and northern Mexico, often with gangs. [47] "As a wry and macabre joke on Tunstall's great affection for horses, the dead bay's head was then pillowed on his hat", writes Frederick Nolan, Tunstall's biographer. The governor, accompanied by James Dolan and associate John Riley, proved hostile to the faction now headed by McSween. Source: About Billy the Kid William H. Bonney alias Billy the Kid is probably the most misunderstood historical figure of the Old West. But it wasn't the end, Billy the Kid lives on in history and legend. According to one version of events, Carlyle heard a shot that had been fired accidentally outside. One biographer, Joel Jacobsen, recounts the story as described in Utley, describing Grant as a "drunk" who was "making himself obnoxious in a bar". HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. When Otero met Bonney in 1881, the Otero family and other prominent Hispanos of central and northern New Mexico shared little . Billy the Kid, byname of William H. Bonney, Jr., original name Henry McCarty?, (born November 23, 1859?, New York, New York, U.S.died July 14, 1881, Fort Sumner, New Mexico), American outlaw who was one of the most notorious gunfighters of the American West. The Kid heard about Governor Axtell being replaced by Lew Wallace, who was now trying to bring law and order to Lincoln. [30] Biographer Robert M. Utley writes that the nickname arose because of McCarty's "slight build and beardless countenance, his young years, and his appealing personality". McCarty vehemently denied shooting Carlysle,[89] and later wrote to Governor Wallace, claiming to be innocent of this crime and others attributed to him. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, 1989 time travel time travel movie featuring Dan Shor as Billy the Kid. Wilson. A large number of residents in the surrounding country and . Supporting Dolan was the powerful Santa Fe Ring (similar to a mafia) in which members consisted of the governor, politicians and attorneys. After a year of no parental guidance and looking out for himself, the Kid quickly fell in with the wrong crowd. It happened when a posse from White Oaks surrounded the Kid and his gang at a station house, during the standoff the posse accidentally killed their own deputy, James Carlyle. DC shooting Gold heist The Power of Water 'Rust' shooting Photo of Billy the Kid and His Killer Uncovered at Flea Market, Owner Says Frank Abrams is working with experts to verify if the photo he bought at a North Carolina flea market is really of Billy the Kid posing in a group with Pat Garrett. In the late 1940s, an elderly Texas man known as Brushy Bill Roberts even claimed to be Billy the Kid in the flesh, but his story was largely discredited after family records revealed his birthdate to be 1879. The Kid was successful in getting a drop on the lone guard, Deputy James Bell, by slipping his hand out of the handcuffs and using the heavy restraints to hit the deputy over the head. William H. Bonney, known as Billy the Kid, was the youngest and most famous example of a gun-fighter from the American West. [59] Notably, Axtell refused to acknowledge the existence of the so-called "Santa Fe Ring", a group of corrupt Republican politicians and business leaders led by U.S. Attorney Thomas Benton Catron. Henry hid the loot in his boarding house, but was arrested after his landlord turned him in to the sheriff. Before the local newspapers reported Pat Garrett shot and killed Billy the Kid in Pete Maxwell's bedroom on July 14, 1881, there were already rumors that Garrett killed the wrong man. After a short standoff, Billy the Kid came out and surrendered. The Kid was a celebrity in his own time, but his legend only grew after his death thanks to dime novels, television shows and Hollywood films. [91] At some point in the evening, Carlyle evidently decided the outlaws were stalling. History tells us that the outlaw known as Billy the Kid (aka Henry McCarty, aka William Bonney) was gunned downat the ripe old age of 21by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881, in Fort. Add languages. This perception was encouraged by the only documented photograph of McCarty (an undated ferrotype), in which he appears to be wearing a gun belt with a holster on his left side. The pair had been searching for McCarty's physical remains since 2003, starting in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and eventually ending up in Arizona. The actor Richard Jaeckel played The Kid in a 1954 episode of Jim Davis's syndicated television series, Stories of the Century. [111], The undeserved notoriety that McCarty gained during the Lincoln County War effectively doomed his appeals for amnesty. McCarty retrieved the gun, and turned it on Bell when the pair had reached the top of a flight of stairs in the courthouse. In July 1878, the feud reached its climax with a deadly, five-day firefight in the town of Lincoln, after which the Regulators disbanded and the two sides sealed a flimsy peace agreement. That same year, he adopted the alias William H. Bonney and became known as Billy the Kid or simply The Kid.. To this day, genealogists are still stumped. [14] In 1873, after several years of moving around the country, the two were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico,[15] and settled further south in Silver City. [51] On April 1, Regulators Jim French, Frank McNab, John Middleton, Fred Waite, Henry Brown and McCarty ambushed Sheriff Brady[62] and his deputy, George W. Hindman,[63] killing them both in Lincoln's main street. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On April 28, 1881 the Kid made his most daring escape (which would also be his last). The Kid was known for his easygoing personality, but he wasnt afraid to draw his six-shooter when provoked. Wallis wrote in 2007 that McCarty was ambidextrous. [127], "Billy the Kid" folksong sung by Woody Guthrie, recorded by Alan Lomax in 1940 for the Library of Congress (#3412 B2), with a melody Guthrie later used for his song "So Long, it's Been Good to Know You". Billy the Kid, 1941 remake of the 1930 film, starring Robert Taylor and Brian Donlevy. With his execution scheduled for May 13, McCarty was removed to Lincoln, where he was held under guard by two of Garrett's deputies, James Bell and Robert Ollinger, on the top floor of the town courthouse. Billy the Kid, the notorious Old West outlaw, was buried in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, about 150 miles southeast of Santa Fe. At the time Brady arrested them, the two men were attempting to serve a warrant on Brady for his suspected role in looting Tunstall's store after the Englishman's death, as well as his posse members for the murder of Tunstall. One day while at a saloon in Camp Grant, Arizona, the Kid who was about sixteen at the time, got into serious trouble. Of course the death was credited to the Kid and destroyed any ounce of sympathy the public had for him, not to mention, any chance for him to get things squared up with the governor to get his pardon. [96] Soon afterward, somebody from within the building reached for the horse's halter rope, but Garrett shot and killed the horse, whose body blocked the building's only exit. Buster Crabbe played Billy the Kid in a serial series during 1942 and 1943. Unlike other Old West outlaws such as Jesse James, Cole Younger or Butch Cassidy, Billy the Kid didnt make his living as a bandit. [61], Unfazed, the Regulators planned to settle a score with Sheriff William J. Brady, who had arrested McCarty and fellow deputy Fred Waite in the aftermath of Tunstall's murder. [87] While popular accounts often depict McCarty and Garrett as "bosom buddies", there is no concrete evidence that they were ever friends. A matter of fact, Billy the Kid is known as the Old West's most favorite outlaw. [72] The only casualty was Dutch Charley Kruling, a Dolan man wounded by a rifle slug fired by George Coe at a distance of 440 paces. Wherever they were living, history picks up the family's trail in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the First Presbyterian Church . Beginning with the 1911 silent film Billy the Kid, the gun-toting outlaws story has appeared on the big screen more than 50 times. Willie Nelson's 90th birthday celebration looked like a hell of a time. Nashville Tennessean. Who is it?"). As the story goes, a drunk named Joe Grant was terrorizing the bars patrons and threatening to kill someone before the night was out. According to legend, he killed over 20 white men and a number of Mexicans and Indians,[2]but he is generally accepted to have killed four men.[2]. Now fighting for the Tunstall side and in the hopes of a better future, the Kid changed his name to William H. Bonney, but his friends called him Kid. Tensions were high and the feud between Dolan and Tunstall escalated in to bloody violence. Some researchers believe that a sympathizer placed a pistol in a nearby privy that McCarty was permitted to use, under escort, each day. Now an outlaw and unable to find honest work, the Kid met up with another outlaw named Jesse Evans, who was the leader of a gang of rustlers called The Boys. The Kid didn't have anywhere else to go and since it was suicide to be alone in the hostile and lawless territory, the Kid reluctantly joined the gang. [76] Under indictment for the Brady killing, McCarty and the other Regulators spent the next several months in hiding and were trapped, along with McSween, in McSween's home in Lincoln on July 15, by members of "The House" (as the Murphy-Dolan faction was known) and some of Brady's men. The Kid from Texas (1950, Universal International) film starring Audie Murphy--location of title character's place of origin changed to appeal to Texans and capitalize on Murphy association with that state. While McCarty and his gang were asleep inside, Garrett's posse surrounded the building and waited for sunrise. [69] For a short period, the Regulators benefited from the appointment of Sheriff John Copeland, who proved sympathetic to the McSween faction. Upon returning to Lincoln, the Regulators reported that Morton and Baker had been shot on March 9 near Agua Negra during an alleged escape attempt. The Kid fled to one of his foster families and they put him on a stagecoach to Clifton, Arizona where his stepfather was living, but when he found his stepfather he didnt want him and told the Kid to leave. There's also something fishy about this whole incident and there may have been more foul play then we're led to believe. Once in control of the courthouse, the Kid collected a small arsenal of weapons, cut his leg shackles with a pickaxe and fled town on a stolen horse. By 1871, Catherine was diagnosed with Tuberculosis and was told to move to a climate that was warmer and drier. With appearances from Billy Strings, Charley Crockett, Chris . But after some close calls, arrest, and escaping from custody, the Kid decided it was wiser to give up his new occupation. Footnote 3: The Silver City newspaper reported: Henry McCarty, who was arrested Thursday and committed to jail to await the action of the grand jury, upon the charge of stealing clothes from Charley Sun and Sam Chung, celestials, sans cue, sans Joss sticks, escaped from prison yesterday through the chimney. Jon Bon Jovi's album Blaze of Glory, used as part of the soundtrack for Young Guns II, and featured the song "Billy Get Your Gun". On July 14, 1881 just before midnight, Pat Garrett waited till the town was quiet before he slipped into Pete Maxwells room to ask him about Billy the Kid.

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