Historical Figure
Billy The Kid
1859–1881
American outlaw and gunfighter (1859–1881)
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Biography
Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders. He was solely responsible for four of them, and he may have played a role in five, alongside other men. He is also noted for his involvement in New Mexico's Lincoln County War.
Timeline
The story of Billy The Kid, told in moments.
Linked to nine killings, four of them confirmed his alone. Dead at 21. Dozens of men later claimed to be him. Only one authenticated photograph exists, purchased at auction in 2011 for $2.3 million.
Born Henry McCarty in New York City (probably). His mother is Irish. The family drifts west to Kansas, then New Mexico. His mother dies of tuberculosis when he is 14. He is orphaned.
Arrested for the first time at 15 for stealing a bundle of laundry from a Chinese laundromat. He escapes through the chimney of the Silver City jail.
Kills a blacksmith named Frank "Windy" Cahill during a bar fight near Fort Grant, Arizona. He is 17. He flees to New Mexico, starts calling himself William H. Bonney, and falls in with cattle rustlers.
Joins the Regulators during Lincoln County War. Involved in the killing of Sheriff William Brady. Indicted for murder. He offers to testify in exchange for amnesty. The governor reneges. Billy runs.
Sentenced to hang. Kills two guards and escapes from the Lincoln County jail while handcuffed and shackled. He reportedly waves to onlookers from the balcony before riding out of town.
Shot in the dark by Sheriff Pat Garrett at Pete Maxwell's house in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He is 21. Garrett later writes a book about killing him and gets rich off the story.
Artifacts (15)
Billy the Kid tintype, Fort Sumner, 1879-80
unattributed, possibly a traveling photographer who came through Fort Sumner in 1880. [1]
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