How Did Billy the Kid Die? - History This wise precautionary move saved the Kid's life, because Grant then pulled his gun on him and fired. This year, in her book Billy the Kid's Writings, Words, and Wit, Billy the Kid historian Dr. Gale Cooper specifically authenticated an additional Billy the Kid letter. He became handy with a Winchester rifle and a Colt revolver, and in August 1877 he killed his first man during a dispute in an Arizona saloon. Billy the Kid was quickly put on trial in Mesilla and was sentence to hang for the murder of Sheriff Brady. The Kids original plan of escape was to take Bell prisoner, lock him up, and slip out unseen before Olinger came back. [50], McSween, who abhorred violence, took steps to punish Tunstall's murderers through legal means; he obtained warrants for their arrests from the local justice of the peace John B. McCarty was transported from Fort Sumner to Las Vegas, where he gave an interview to a reporter from the Las Vegas Gazette. Lincoln is. When the men began to run out of the burning house the Dolan side opened fire and all hell broke loose. [89] A posse member named James Carlyle[90] ventured into the house under a white flag, in an effort to negotiate the group's surrender. According to one version of events, Carlyle heard a shot that had been fired accidentally outside. McSween and three men were killed, but Billy the Kid and the others escaped into the darkness. Dave Paulson. [99], One widely reported characteristic of McCarty has stood the test of research: his personal charisma and popularity. McCarty was buried the next day in Fort Sumner's old military cemetery, between his fallen companions Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre. [84] After the trial, McCarty and O'Folliard slipped away on horses that were supplied by friends. The Kid rode out of Lincoln a free man and headed to the only place he could call home: Fort Sumner. Billy the Kid Returns, 1938: Roy Rogers plays a dual role, Billy the Kid and his dead-ringer lookalike who shows up after the Kid has been shot by Pat Garrett. [51] Tunstall's men formed their own group called the Regulators. Billy The Kid shooting down his foe who had taken refuge behind a saloon bar. Lincoln County Courthouse, site of Billy the Kids famous 1881 escape. Movie poster for a 1925 Billy the Kid film. Billy the Kid has been the subject and inspiration for many popular works, including: Billy The Kid (1958), a serial poem by Jack Spicer. Victims of Billy the Kid, the Regulators, and the Rustlers, Billy's HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Another individual who allegedly claimed to be Billy the Kid was John Miller, whose family supported his claim in 1938, some time after Miller's death. 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. While McCarty and his gang were asleep inside, Garrett's posse surrounded the building and waited for sunrise. He then met up with a horse thief name John Mackie who taught him the tricks of the trade and the two became partners. Miller was buried at the state-owned Pioneers' Home Cemetery in Prescott, Arizona. He got in with a band of rustlers in Apache Tejo in part of the county where he was made a hardened character".[35]. On November 30, 1880, Billy the Kid's Gang, David Anderson, aka Billy . [40] According to this account, Apaches stole McCarty's horse, forcing him to walk many miles to the nearest settlement, which happened to be Jones' home. News of the brazen escape was soon reprinted in newspapers across the country, making the Kid the most wanted man in the West. On April 28, 1881 the Kid made his most daring escape (which would also be his last). 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. The Kid then jerked Bell's pistol and told him to throw up his hands, but instead the deputy ran and the Kid had no choice but to shoot him. When Cahill fell over the Kid squirmed free, ran off, and mounted the nearest horse and fled Camp Grant. The Charlie Daniels Band recorded the song "Billy The Kid" (Daniels, Dean, Wilson) on their 1976 album High Lonesome (Charlie Daniels album). But before Garrett could get his prisoners to jail, he had to defend them from a lynch mob that formed around the train on the route to Santa Fe. Also known as: Brushy Bill, Henry McCarty, William H. Bonney, Jr. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Responding to rumors that McCarty was still lurking in the vicinity of Fort Sumner almost three months after his escape, Sheriff Garrett and two deputies set out on July 14, 1881, to question one of the town's residents, a friend of McCarty's named Pete Maxwell (son of land baron Lucien Maxwell). Footnote 8: Its of great speculation whether or not the Kid was armed with a gun. History first traces the Kid as a youngster in Indiana in the late 1860s and then in Wichita, Kansas in 1870. Billy the Kid tries to live in peace, under a new name and in a frontier town, but is approached by a preacher who asks for his help in freeing the town from a ruthless man and his gunman. The outlaw was found guilty of the murder of Sheriff William Brady and confined to the Lincoln courthouse. [101] The details of the escape are unclear. Billy was never in any trouble at all. [70] On April 29, 1878, a posse including the Jessie Evans Gang and the Seven Rivers Warriors, under the direction of former Brady deputy George W. Peppin, engaged Regulators Frank McNab, Ab Saunders and Frank Coe in a shootout at the Fritz Ranch. Late Queen's dresser has 'unequalled' knowledge of the royal household [67] During the gun battle that ensued, Roberts shot and killed the Regulators' leader, Dick Brewer. While the evidence shows that Billy lived on, it does not appear that Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the Kid. During this time, his notoriety with newspapers increased, and they dubbed him "Billy the Kid," and the most important outlaw of New Mexico. 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. Born on New York Citys East Side, Billy as a child migrated with his parents to Kansas; his father died there, and the mother and her two boys moved to Colorado, where she remarried. 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. [19] Although she was fondly remembered by onetime boarders and neighbors as "a jolly Irish lady, full of life and mischief",[20] she was already in the final stages of tuberculosis when the family reached Silver City. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, 1989 time travel time travel movie featuring Dan Shor as Billy the Kid. [34] Years later, Louis Abraham, who had known McCarty in Silver City but was not a witness, denied that anyone was killed in this altercation. Husband of Abrana Garcia, alleged wife of BTK and Juana Montoya "La Tullida" Patron, alleged girlfriend of BTK On March 1, 1873 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Catherine McCarty married a man named William Antrim. But it wasn't the end, Billy the Kid lives on in history and legend. [54][57][58] On the very day that McCloskey, Morton, and Baker were slain, Governor Samuel Beach Axtell arrived in Lincoln County to investigate the ongoing violence. 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]. His real name and date of birth are disputed. [112] A number of the Regulators faded away or secured amnesty, but McCarty was in no position to accomplish either. But in 1950, a Texas man named "Brushy Bill" Roberts claimed that he was the real Billy the Kid and that someone else had been shot in his place. [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". Willie Nelson's 90th birthday celebration looked like a hell of a time. Another theory holds that McCarty slipped off his manacles at the top of the stairs, struck Bell[102] over the head with them, grabbed Bell's own gun, and shot him with it. McCarty drew his pistol and backed away, asking "Quin es? [2] Some historians speculate that his image was created deliberately to distract the public's attention from the nefarious activities of the Dolan faction and their influential supporters in Santa Fe, notably regional political leader Thomas Benton Catron. A more likely explanation, however, was his slender physique, "which placed him in precarious situations with bigger and stronger boys".[24]. At first the deputized Regulators tried to do things legally by serving warrants, but with the prejudice Sheriff Brady and the bias court system, they couldnt count on justice being served. Footnote 4: James Dolan was the protg of LG Murphy and when Murphy became ill of cancer and hospitalized in Santa Fe, Dolan stepped up to take his place. [27] In 1876, he settled in the vicinity of Fort Grant Army Post in Arizona, where he worked local ranches and tested his skills at local gaming houses. One of the most famous questions about Billy the Kid is whether or not he had any children. [75], The Regulators' position worsened when the governor, in a quasi-legal move, removed Copeland and appointed George Peppin (an ally of the Murphy-Dolan faction) as sheriff. On September 16, 1875, McCarty was caught stealing food. She resided at 199 North East Street and it was there she met and began a long term relationship with a man named William Antrim, a twenty-three year old labor and teamster who lived a few blocks away. He was an outlaw, of course he lied! He was raised in Tarpon Springs, where he also picked up the piano in the local church. [29] The two men supposedly became involved in the risky, but profitable, enterprise of horse thievery; and McCarty, who targeted local soldiers, became known by the sobriquet of "Kid Antrim". The bullet pierced the Kid's heart and he fell to the floor. Another hypothesis is that Billy the Kid was in fact Ollie L. (Brushy Bill) Roberts, who escaped, lived in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, rode in Wild West shows, and died in 1950 in Hico, Texas. Billy the Kids real name was William Henry McCarty (1), when and where he was born, or who or what happened to his father is not known. When Grant fired, nothing happened, and McCarty then shot him. The Kid decided to laid low long enough until the law would give up hunting him and he could rustle up some money and leave the territory. [24] In April, 1875, McCarty was arrested by Grant County Sheriff Harvey Whitehill, after McCarty stole some cheese. A tribute to the 1973 album Shotgun Willie. Despite lack of information on these three, here are short biographies on Catherine, Joseph, and William Antrim. During a trip to the outhouse, the Kid slipped out of his handcuffs, ambushed a guard and shot the man to death with his own pistol. Watch Billy Strings Tear Up Willie Nelson's "Whiskey River" For 90th Catherine was suffering from consumption and her health began to deteriorate rapidly. He was born Henry . [57] With this move, the McSween faction disillusioned many former supporters, who came to view both sides as "equally nefarious and bloodthirsty". After his sentence was passed, the Kid was taken to Lincoln to await his hanging. Garrett may have deliberately been waiting in the dark to shoot the Kid. [110], Like many gunfighters of the "Old West", Billy the Kid enjoyed a reputation built partly on exaggerated accounts of his exploits. Lucky Billy: a novel about Billy the Kid is a 2008 novel by John Vernon, a professor at Binghamton University. He was born on December 21, 1925, and he passed away on April 25, 2023. On the contrary, the evidence (from viewing his photo correctly) is that he was right-handed: he wears his pistol on his right hip with the butt pointing backwards in a conventional right-handed draw position. Billy the Kid first earned his reputation as a gunslinger in 1878, when he participated in a bloody frontier war in Lincoln County, New Mexico. The Kid divided the men into two groups, he lead his party out the door first and ran in one direction so as to draw the line of fire towards them so McSweens party could make a run in another direction and get away. The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid is a science fiction novel by Rebecca Ore, published in 1991. Did Billy the Kid Cheat Death and Live on as 'Brushy Bill'? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Billy the Kid was born in 1859, most likely in New York City. It is said that they were very much an item and even had a child together, a boy called Jose Patrocinio Garcia in 1875 which would make Billy only fifteen at the time of the birth. We strive for accuracy and fairness. [111], The undeserved notoriety that McCarty gained during the Lincoln County War effectively doomed his appeals for amnesty. Footnote 2: Its my guess that Billy the Kids stepfather never legally adopted his stepsons, since the Kid would also be referred to by his last name McCarty in Silver City. There's also something fishy about this whole incident and there may have been more foul play then we're led to believe. 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). From that point on, McCarty was more or less a fugitive. 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". With appearances from Billy Strings, Charley Crockett, Chris . Its estimated that he was born around 1860-61 possibly in New York. Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney (reportedly November 23, 1859 July 14, 1881), was a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War. After taking several days to consider Wallace's offer, McCarty agreed to testify in return for amnesty.[83]. Billy "The Kid" Emerson was a songwriter, singer, producer, and afterward, a Rev. a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War. Director: Oliver Drake | Stars: Anthony Dexter, Sonny Tufts, Marie Windsor, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers Votes: 147 15. [22] One of McCarty's school teachers later recalled that the young orphan was "no more of a problem than any other boy, always quite willing to help with chores around the schoolhouse". Later that evening, Grant pulled the same pistol on the Kid and tried to shoot him in the back. Updated: April 8, 2020 | Original: July 14, 2016. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Although he did participate in killings, the men he fought against were much worse than he ever was. He never pushed in his advice or opinions, but he had a wonderful presence of mind. Partner of Paulita Jaramillo, alleged girlfriend of Billy the Kid; Celsa Gutierrez; Maria Manuelita Martinez Herrera, alleged girlfriend of BTK and Nasaria Yerby, alleged girlfriend of BTK Pat Garrett became an Old West legend for killing Billy the Kid, yet as the years passed, rumors circulated that the Sheriff had either shot the wrong man or helped fake the outlaws death. I went in and was the first to discover that they had killed my little boy. On the fifth day of the siege the Dolan side was getting impatient, so they set the house on fire. If it werent for our attraction to Billy the Kid, the history of the Lincoln County War and its participants would've been long forgotten. Billy The Kid - Living Along The Ancient Way The Regulators revenge only made things worse. During this time, McCarty became acquainted with John R. Mackie, a Scottish-born ex-cavalry private with a criminal bent. [8], Little is known about McCarty's origins, but many reputable scholars of western history "contend that he was born on the eve of the Civil War in the bowels of an Irish neighborhood in New York City (70 Allen Street). When McCarty arrived, Garrett was waiting behind Paulita's bed and shot the Kid. By the Fall of 1880, Billy was still trying to convince the governor of a pardon, although continuing his outlaw activities. The journey begins with Billy's mother Catherine McCarty Catherine Bonney arrived in New York City by way of Devonshire, England in 1846. and killed him. [52] After being deputized by rancher Richard "Dick" Brewer, Tunstall's foreman, who had been appointed a special constable and given the warrant to arrest Tunstall's killers, they proceeded to the Murphy-Dolan store. [109] A markedly different theory, in which Garrett and his posse set a trap for McCarty, has also been suggested. Here are five facts to prove it. [46] After murdering Tunstall, the gunmen shot down his prized bay horse. Though he was serious in emergencies, his humor was often apparent even in such situations. [49] Tunstall's murder enraged McCarty and the other ranch hands. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. He was said to be friendly and personable at times, and many recalled that he was as "lithe as a cat". And also because he never committed most of the crimes we associate with most Wild West bad guys: He never robbed a bank or a train or held up a stagecoach. [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. By nightfall, the house was completely ablaze and heat from the flames were overwhelming. The Green Mile, Wild Bill has a tattoo of Billy the Kid in the 1999 film. [2][104] The Kid's escape was delayed for an hour while he worked free of his leg irons[105] with a pickax and then the young outlaw mounted a horse and rode out of town, reportedly singing. [18], Faced with a husband who was frequently absent, McCarty's mother reportedly washed clothes, baked pies, and took in boarders in order to provide for her sons. At about age 21, Billy the Kid was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett. The war was over; the Regulators disbanded and the Kid was now a fugitive. 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.
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