Billy the Kid Falls: End of Wild West Legend

Pat Garrett shot and killed Billy the Kid at approximately midnight on July 14, 1881, inside a darkened bedroom at Pete Maxwell's ranch house near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Garrett had entered the room to question Maxwell about Billy's whereabouts. Billy walked in moments later, saw a figure in the darkness, asked "Quien es?" and Garrett fired twice. The first shot struck Billy in the chest. He was 21 years old. Born Henry McCarty, probably in New York City in either 1859 or 1860, Billy moved west with his mother as a child and was orphaned by her death from tuberculosis in Silver City, New Mexico when he was about fifteen. He drifted into petty crime, escaped from jail, and became involved in the Lincoln County War, a violent commercial dispute between rival factions of merchants, ranchers, and politicians in southeastern New Mexico. During the Lincoln County War, Billy fought on the side of John Tunstall and Alexander McSween against the business interests of Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan. He participated in the ambush killing of Sheriff William Brady and several other violent incidents. When the territorial governor, Lew Wallace, offered amnesty to participants in the conflict, Billy initially cooperated but broke the agreement and returned to cattle rustling. He was captured by Garrett in December 1880, tried for the murder of Sheriff Brady, convicted, and sentenced to hang. On April 28, 1881, he killed his two guards at the Lincoln County courthouse and escaped, riding out of town while townspeople watched from their windows. Garrett tracked him to Fort Sumner, where Billy had been hiding among friends and a romantic interest. The killing in Maxwell's bedroom ended a pursuit that had consumed Garrett's career and made both men famous. Billy the Kid became one of the most mythologized figures in the American West. Dime novels and newspaper stories published during and after his lifetime portrayed him as everything from a cold-blooded killer to a Robin Hood of the frontier. The number of men he killed has been endlessly debated; he is confirmed to have killed four and may have participated in the deaths of several others.