The Life of Billy the Kid

William Henry McCarthy (23 November 1859 – July 14, 1881), more commonly known as William H. Bonney, or Billy the Kid, was born of Irish settlers, who came to the USA during the great famine. It is not known with certainty who his father was, but we do know his mother was called Catherine McCarthy, and that she remarried to a certain William Antrim (which would be the source of one of the Kid’s aliases: Henry Antrim).

Catherine McCarthy died, of tuberculosis, when William was 14 years old. He was taken in by the Truesdell family, who had just bought a hotel/restaurant where he worked for his keep. Ironically, despite the desperado image we have of Billy the Kid, the manager said the young boy was the only one who ever worked for him that didn’t steal.His schoolteachers also dismantled the myth of his personality, with one saying “the young man was no more a problem than any other boy. He was even quite willing to help with the chores around the schoolhouse”.

His brother Joseph was placed with the owner of a local club, a man named John Dryer, and continued to lead an honest life thereafter.

When the Truesdells started having problems, McCarthy sought his fortunes elsewhere. He went from small job to small job, without ever staying at the same place for a long time. It was during this time he was arrested twice, once for stealing cheese (april 1875) and a few months later again for the supposed theft of clothing and firearms from a Chinese immigrant. He escaped jail on that second occasion and was now officially a fugitive (though it was highly unlikely there’d have been much searches for a petty thief, whose biggest crime was stealing from a “Chinaman”)

In 1876, he met John Mackie, in Arizona. The two became involved in horse thievery, which was highly profitable.

In 1877, Billy the Kid (who was at that time mostly known by the local people as “Kid Antrim”, because of his youthful appearance and slight build), shot the blacksmith Frank Cahill. This was the first of his 4 victims.

Frank Cahill’s killing was considered unjustifiable by the law officers, even though most witnesses say it was self-defense: the blacksmith was a bully and often took pleasure in tormenting young McCarthy. On that fateful day, another of the bullying episodes ended more violently when Cahill threw the young man to the ground, intent on beating him up. The Kid drew his gun and shot his tormentor.

Regardless of eyewitnesses, he was now considered a murderer, and fled to New Mexico, in fear of reprisal.

Here he worked together with several bands of cattle thiefs. Ultimately, he ended up in the house of a certain Heiskell Jones (apparently near death after Apaches stole his horse and he had to walk many miles before encountering the first sign of civilization) He was nursed back to health by this family, and left them (with a horse they gave him). It’s presumably around this point he started calling himself William H. Bonney.

In 1877, Bonney was involved in what would become part of his lasting fame: the Lincoln County War.

The Lincoln County War originally started as a business conflict between two groups: the first one consisted of two established merchants: Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan. The second one consisted of merchants who came later: John Tunstall and Alexander Mcsween.

While the Lincoln county war and events could justify an entire essay themselves (which I may do at a later time), it’s enough for now to say that the conflict soon turned from businesslike to violent. When Tunstall was murdered by a group of men, who were working for Murphy and Dolan (one of these goons was local sheriff William Brady).

Mcsween did the necessary to obtain arrest warrants for the men responsible, and so a deputized group was formed, with the intent of arresting the men responsible. This group called itself “the regulators”. The Kid was part of this group.

After being deputized, the regulators arrested two of the men responsible for the murder of Tunstall. But these two men, Bill Morton and Frank Baker, never made it back to Lincoln alive. They were shot while escaping. The Regulators also shot one of their own men there, a certain William McCloskey (who had supposedly betrayed the regulators).

On April 1 1877, the violence flared up once more: 6 regulators, among which there was Billy the Kid, ambushed William Brady and his deputy George Hindman. Both of them were killed in Lincoln main street.

On April 4th, the regulators were involved in a gunfight with Buckshot Roberts, whom they suspected in the involvement of the murder.

These last incidents did negatively influence public opinion towards the Regulators, however. They were now considered just as bad as the man they went up against.

The Regulator’s position only worsened when the Dolan faction ended up allying with the US Cavalry. A few more violent episodes followed (which I’ll also detail in a separate essay about the Lincoln County War), but the “war” ended when McSween was killed, and the remaining regulators became fugitives.

Lew Wallace, Governor of New Mexico (also known as the writer of Ben Hur, and as a not so competent Civil War Commander), offered amnesty to those involved, but not indicted in the Lincoln County War.

The Kid was indicted, but tried to obtain some measure of peace in another way: in exchange for amnesty, he’d testify. Wallace accepted, and McCarty agreed to remain in jail for the time of the testimony. Wallace broke his word however and didn’t free McCarty, so after the Dolan trial, McCarty escaped together with his close friend Tom O’folliard.

For the next year and a half, the Kid remained on the run for the law. In 1880, he killed someone for the second time (while he was involved in a few gunfights, there are only 4 deaths which can be attributed to him with certainty). This time it was a man called Joe Grant. The man reportedly boasted how he would kill Billy the Kid if he encountered him, unaware that the Kid was next to him . McCarthy asked to see the gun with which he would do it. When Grant complied, McCarthy rotated the cylinder so it was on an empty chamber. He then handed back the gun and told Grant his real identity. The man took his gun and tried to shoot, with no effect, since it was an empty chamber...McCarthy then shot the man.

By November 1880, another name comes into the story: Pat Garret, who was elected sheriff of Lincoln County in November 1880. He set out with a posse to capture Billy the Kid.

He came near on December 19. However, the Kid managed to escape, but not withouot any cost: his good friend Tom O’Folliard was killed. On December 23, the Kid and his gang were tracked to an abandoned building near Taiban, where they were surrounded by the posse. Realising they had no food, and no hope of escape, the gang surrendered.

Billy The Kid was imprisoned in Santa Fe, where he remained for a few months. During that time, he tried to make Lew Wallace make good on his promise of amnesty, to no avail.

He was sentenced to be hung, with the penalty taking place on may 13, 1881. But again, The Kid surprised everyone by killing both of his guards (James W. Bell and Bob Olinger) with a hidden gun, before escaping.

Based on Rumours, Garrett set out to Fort Sumner, where the Kid was reportedly hiding.

On July 14th, Garret was questioning one of the Kid’s friends ( a man named Pete Maxwell), when Billy the Kid unexpectedly entered.

The official story said that when he entered, he did not recognize Garrett and drew his gun, while saying “who is it?” in Spanish. When Garret recognized the voice of the kid, he drew his gun and shot him twice. One bullet hit him in the heart and he died one minute later.

The other version that is told however, and which is probably more accurate, goes as follows:

The Kid entered, armed only with a knife, on his way to the kitchen. When he noticed shadows moving, he said “who is it?”. Garret said nothing and shot him.

Whatever the truth may be: the Kid was dead. He was buried in Fort Sumner, between his two longtime friends and allies: Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard.

While his life ended there, his legend only started. 130 years later, Billy the Kid is one of those enduring legends of the Old West. Years after his death, a few men even claimed to be him (one of these men, named Brushy Bill Roberts, was even the basis for the movie “Young Guns II”). In a final twist of irony, Billy the Kid has become some kind of a folk hero, with Pat Garrett taking on the role of the villain in the story.