Billy the Kid - 1859-1881 - a.k.a. Henry McCarty,
William H. Bonney, William Antrim, Henry Antrim and Kid Antrim
By most accounts, Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty in New York
City, NY November 23, 1859, his parents being Catherine and Patrick
McCarty, although it is not known for sure. Another view is that
he was born William H. Bonney to Catherine and William McCarty Bonney.
Billy did sign letters as William H. Bonney, but this was after he fled
the Arizona territory, wanted for murder, so many assume that William H.
Bonney was just an alias to hide from the law and that's why he used it
signing letters. Another story has it as Billy being born as Henry
McCarty to a Joseph McCarty of Cass County, IN. However, in the
1880 census of Lincoln County, NM, the Kid listed his name as William H.
Bonney and his state of birth as New York.
One
account of the family is that Billy's mother, Catherine, moved west with
her two boys Henry (Billy) and Joseph and William Antrim, settling in
Wichita, KS. in 1870. There Catherine ran a laundry business and
invested in real estate. After Wichita, the family moved to
Coffeyville, KS. for a short time which is where Billy got into his
first trouble with the law, arrested for stealing items from a local
store. Catherine then decided to move to the southwest with
William Antrim and her boys, supposedly because she had tuberculosis and
needed the drier climate. She married William Antrim in Santa
Fe, NM March 1, 1873, with her two boys present.
The family
then moved to Silver City, NM where Antrim worked as a miner and
Catherine ran a boarding house. Catherine had many health problems
and on September 16, 1874 she died, leaving her two sons to live with
their stepfather, William Antrim. At the time Billy was 15 and had
gotten into trouble in Silver City with the law, nothing major, petty
theft and whatnot, but he and his stepfather never got along, Antrim
thinking Billy was a troublemaker. Billy did attend school and
worked at odd jobs. Billy and a friend, George "Sombrero
Jack" Shaffer, as a prank, stole some clothes from a local laundry
and were arrested. Billy, not wanting to face his stern stepfather
for this offense, left town and ventured to the Arizona territory and
worked at odd jobs on ranches and in towns.
During
this period, not much is "recorded" of the Kid, although this
is the time when Billy killed his first man. This was 1877, when
Billy was first called "Kid". On August 17, 1877, a
blacksmith, Frank P. Cahill, an Irishman, was in George Adkins' Saloon
in Camp Grant, AZ. Cahill was a huge man and had been drinking, he
and Billy argued. He called Billy a pimp and slapped him upside
the head, which through Billy to the floor. Billy, realizing that
he was no match for Cahill, drew his gun and shot Cahill in the stomach,
Cahill died the next day. Billy was thrown into the camp
guardhouse, but escaped and that's when he began running.
The Kid
then drifted back to the New Mexico territory, to Lincoln County, taking
on the name William H. Bonney, this was late 1877.
He found work
as a hired hand for L.G. Murphy and J.J. Dolan, who owned huge cattle
ranches in Lincoln County and had a monopoly on the cattle and merchant
trade. The Murphy-Dolan faction, also known as "The
House", had one main competitor, Alexander McSween, a Lincoln
attorney, and John Tunstall, a wealthy Englishman who were backed by the
days biggest cattle baron, John Chisum. This became known as the
Lincoln County War. Murphy-Dolan didn't particularly care for
competition and were willing to do whatever they had to do to stop
it. There were also investors in Murphy-Dolan from Santa Fe,
called the Sante Fe ring, which included, among others, the attorney
general.
The Kid spent most of his days rustling cattle for Murphy-Dolan
from
Chisum's Jinglebob Ranch. Murphy-Dolan would then sell the cattle
to Mexican and Indian buyers, who didn't really care who's brand was on
them as long as the price was right. By chance, the Kid met John
Tunstall, the Murphy-Dolan chief rival, and they immediately hit it
off. Tunstall would become the father figure Billy never had, for
a while anyway. The Kid idolized Tunstall and left the
Murphy-Dolan ranch and went to work for him. The Kid emulated
Tunstall in many ways, and Tunstall was quite impressed with Billy and
was quoted as saying of the Kid "That's the finest lad I ever
met. He's a revelation to me everyday and would do anything to
please me. I'm going to make a man out of that boy yet".
Tunstall's plans for the Kid were never realized. On February 18,
1878, Tunstall was killed in cold blood by men deputized by Sheriff
William Brady, who was appointed to his position by Murphy-Dolan.
These men, including Frank Baker, Jesse Evans, Jim McDaniel and Billy
Morton, among others, who were at one time friends of the Kid's when he
worked for Murphy-Dolan, stopped Tunstall on a road and informed him
that they were taking part of his cattle herd, stating that the cattle
belonged to Murphy-Dolan. Tunstall of course spoke out, saying
that the cattle were his and to look at the brands to see he was telling
the truth. The men drew their guns, ordering Tunstall to
surrender. Tunstall climbed out of his buckboard and handed over
his gun, stating "I don't want any bloodshed". As
Tunstall was handing over his gun to Jesse Evans, Evans shot the unarmed
man and he fell to the ground. Billy Morton then fired a second
round, into Tunstall's head, killing him instantly.
When the Kid got word of the killing of Tunstall, he said "He was
the only man that ever treated me kindly, like I was free born and
white". Billy then said in a rage "I'll get every son of
a bitch who helped kill John if it's the last thing I ever
do". Word got to the Murphy-Dolan boys of the Kid's vendetta,
which left them very apprehensive, given the fact that they knew Billy
as a single minded man that would ride out of his way to confront his
enemies. They also know Billy was quick at the draw and an expert
marksman. The Kid wasn't that impressive to look at, reports show
his height between 5'8" and 5'10", he had a receding chin and
large teeth, some said he was bucktooth, but he just had a pronounced
overbite. His eyes were like blue ice and some said he could look
right through you. Make no doubt about it, the Kid was clever and
proved to be an unconventional adversary.
The Kid heard that Richard M. "Dick" Brewer was sworn in as a
special constable to arrest the killers of Tunstall and quickly joined
the group, known as "The Regulators", and was sworn in as a
deputy. On March 6, 1878, after several days of searching,
Brewer's posse came across a group of riders about 6 miles from the Rio
Pecos. The group of riders rode off, breaking up into small groups
and Brewer's posse was in pursuit. The Kid went after Billy Morton
and Frank Baker, firing at them with his pistol and rifle as he
rode. Billy caught up with the pair after their horses went down
and took them prisoner, but vowed he would kill them both. The
posse took Morton and Baker to the Chisum ranch. On March 9, 1878,
The Regulators, including the Kid, were moving the two prisoners to
Lincoln, but stopped in Roswell first so Morton could mail a
letter. M.A. Upson, the postmaster, said that Morton told him to
let his family know if anything happened to him, when Upson asked Morton
if he thought harm would come to him at the hands of the posse, Morton
replied that the posse had given John Chisum their word that the
prisoners would be delivered safely to Lincoln and he trusted their
word. William McCloskey, a former hand with Murphy-Dolan, now a
Regulator, overheard Upson and Morton talking and said "Billy, if
harm comes to you two, they will have to kill me first".
The posse, with prisoners in tow, rode off to Lincoln. The Kid and
Charlie Bowdre leading, some distance from the posse, on the lookout for
Murphy-Dolan men who might try to free Morton and Baker. Then
there was Morton and Baker with William McCloskey and John Middleton
behind them. Following them were Dick Brewer, Frank McNab, J.G.
"Doc" Skurlock, Henry Brown, Fred Wayt, Jim French and Sam Smith. The
party would never make it to Lincoln.
On March 11, 1878, McNab rode into Roswell and reported that Morton and
Baker had tried to escape and killed McCloskey in the process, and in
turn, were killed themselves by the posse. This was later proven
to be a lie. The posse, not including McCloskey, had decided to
kill the two prisoners before they reached Lincoln. It is not
known if the Kid and Bowdre knew of their plans, since they were riding
out front, and the posse decided this as they rode in the rear.
After leaving Roswell, near Black Water Holes, also called Steel
Springs, McNab put a six-gun to the head of McCloskey and said "You
are the son of a bitch who's got to die before harm can come to these
fellows, are you?" McNab fired, blowing McCloskey's brains
out and McCloskey fell from his horse. Seeing this, Morton and
Baker fled, knowing they would be next. The Kid turned, seeing
them flee and took out after them, overtook them and fired two shots,
killing them both. The posse left their bodies where they fell,
including McCloskey, whom they believed to be in cahoots with the
prisoners, they were buried by Mexican sheepherders.
The posse split up and McNab returned to the Chisum ranch, where he
worked and the rest of the posse went off to other destinations.
The Kid went to Lincoln to work for McSween. The Kid heard that
Andrew L. "Buckshot" Roberts, who was working for
Murphy-Dolan, was hunting him and the others for the killing of Morton
and Baker. In April of 1878, Brewer and the Regulators, including
the Kid, went after Roberts, tracking him down to Blazer's Saw Mill,
which was about 40 miles south of Lincoln. As the Regulators rode
into the area, Roberts saw them and charged them on his horse and guns
blazing. Roberts was one tough character, a veteran of the war
(although, it has been reported that he may have been a deserter) and of
many gunfights and he didn't scare off easy. One of the bullets
Roberts fired from his Winchester came close to the Kid's head, Billy
jumped from his horse and fired at Roberts, hitting him in the abdomen,
but the rough old gunfighter climbed down from his horse, with guns in
hand, took refuge in an outhouse. The Regulators sprayed the
outhouse with dozens of shots and it appeared that they got their
adversary. Brewer stood up and walked towards the outhouse,
Roberts was laying in wait, he stuck his Winchester through a hole in
the outhouse and blew the top of Brewer's head off. Roberts's
Winchester fired again, this time seriously wounding Charley Bowdre in
the side, but luckily for Bowdre, his cartridge belt deflected the shot
and saved his life. The Regulators again fired on the outhouse in
a flurry of shots, hitting Roberts several times. Roberts was
dead, with his Winchester in hand.
With Dick Brewer dead, the Kid vowed to continue the pursuit of those
responsible for John Tunstall's death. Billy and the Regulators
went after Sheriff William Brady and deputies J.B. Matthews and George
Hindman. Billy and J.B. Matthews had had a run in before, on the
streets of Lincoln, but to avoid a gunfight with the Kid, Matthews
slipped away and hid in a building. On April 1, 1878, the Kid and
5 others quietly rode into Lincoln, unseen. They hid behind an
adobe wall and made holes to put their guns through and waited.
Sheriff Brady, Matthews and Hindman came walking down the street, guns
in hand. As soon as they were in firing range, the Kid and his
companions opened fire, Brady was shot several times and fell dead, next
to him Hindman fell, mortally wounded, Matthews was able to get away and
hid in a building. The Kid then went to the body of Sheriff Brady,
to take his guns. When he picked up the rifle, it was shot out of
his hands my Matthews, the Kid ran back to the wall and he and the group
mounted their horses and rode out of town. The Kid lost support
from some of the town because of the brutal ambush of Brady, saying
it was a cowardly act, but some say Brady and Hindman got their just
reward for the cold blooded killing of the helpless and unarmed John
Tunstall.
Depending on whose count you listened to, some say the dead left in
Billy's wake after Brady and Hindman, was at 17, although some say 3 at
that point.
After Brady's murder, George "Dad" Peppin became the new
Sheriff of Lincoln county, another Muphy-Dolan man. Peppin put a
large force together to bring the Kid in, and the Kid being the Kid,
made it easy for him. Billy, and 14 of his companions, visited
Alexander McSween at his mansion in Lincoln and barricaded themselves
inside, the mansion was immediately surrounded by Peppin's posse, about
40 strong of the roughest gunfighters in the territory. A Roswell
merchant, by the name of Marion Turner, who was once on the side of
McSween-Tunstall, was now with the Murphy-Dolan faction and had control
of the Peppin posse and ordered them to open fire on the McSween
mansion, this was on July 15, 1878. The battle raged for 5 days
solid before a truce was finally called.
Marion Turner called out to the Kid and told him he had warrants for him
and his men for the murders of Brady and Hindman. It was silent
for a moment, then the Kid shouted back, saying "We too, have
warrants for you and all your gang which we will serve on you hot from
the muzzle of our guns!" The firing again commenced.
The posse outside was aided by a company of U.S. Infantry troops
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley. The
mansion was a shambles, riddled with bullets, but the men inside kept up
their fire, wounding many a men outside, many were wounded inside
too. Colonel Dudley threatened the men in the house that if they
didn't surrender, he would open fire with his two cannons, reducing the
house to rubble and them along with it.
One
of the men inside the McSween house, who worked for McSween, had had
enough of this battle. He called out to the posse outside and said
that they had enough, they will surrender. Hearing this, the Kid
ran to this man, knocking him out with his gun. Outside, this call
was heard. Robert Beckwith and John Jones approached the house,
the back of the house at the kitchen door. Beckwith stood in the
doorway and called out to McSween, the Kid immediately put a bullet into
Beckwith's head, killing him and wounding Jones. The Kid then
yelled "come on" to the others, with guns blazing, the Kid and
his men jumped over Beckwith's body in a mass escape from the bullet
riddled mansion. Somehow, through the hundreds of bullets being
fired, the Kid made it to the river behind the house, crossed it and
disappeared in the high reeds on the other side. His men followed,
many being wounded. McSween refused to run from his own
house. He stepped out in the yard, unarmed, and was quickly shot
to death, being hit 9 times.
The Lincoln County War had gained national attention and was an embarrassment
for President Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes replaced the New Mexico
Territorial Governor Axtell with Lew Wallace. Wallace was bound
and determined to put an end to the war, whatever it would take to do
it. He figured the best way to go about this was to offer an
amnesty to all involved in the war if they lay down their guns, unless
they were charged with murder, as Billy was. Billy heard of the
offering, but also knew there was a warrant for his arrest for the
murder of Sheriff Brady and Deputy Hindman. The Kid witnessed the murder of Huston Chapman, who had been
an attorney of McSween. Chapman was murdered in cold blood by
William Campbell, James Dolan and William Matthews, the Kid saw them
kill Chapman, but didn't pull his gun. His idea was to testify
against the killers in exchange for a full pardon.
A meeting was set between the Kid and Gov. Wallace and took place on
March 17, 1879 in the home of a John Wilson. Billy showed up with
his Winchester and six shooter and asked if Wallace was there.
Wallace immediately stood up and was surprised that Billy was the
Billy that everyone feared, given the Kid's appearance. Wallace
proposed to Billy that if he surrendered and testified against the
killers of the attorney Chapman, he would grant him a full pardon.
Although, Billy had a problem with the word "surrender", he
thought it would make him sound weak. So Wallace proposed that
Billy be "captured" instead, and the Kid agreed.
Part of the deal with Wallace was that the Kid would stand trial for the
murder of Brady and Hindman, but Wallace promised Billy that he would do
no time. As Billy was waiting for the court date, he grew
impatient and decided to escape from his loosely guarded cell in the
back of a store and took off for Fort Sumner. There the Kid ran
into a Texan by the name of Joe Grant. Grant was boasting how he
would be famous by being the man who shot down Billy the Kid, the Kid
had heard about this before. Billy asked Grant to see his fine six
gun, and Grant handed it to him. While the Kid had it and out of
Grant's view, he pulled out 3 bullets and set the hammer on an empty
chamber. The Kid handed Grant back his pistol. Billy
informed Grant as to who he was and they squared off, both pulling their
weapons, but of course Grant's didn't fire and Billy killed him on the
spot.
Some
time later, a posse was on the trail of the Kid and his gang and had
them surrounded in a ranch house close to Fort Sumner. The Kid
asked for a truce, a man by the name of Jimmy Carlyle stepped out to
talk, but the Kid shot him where he stood and killed him. The rest
of the posse fled.
In 1880, Pat Garrett was made sheriff of Lincoln County. Some say
that Pat and the Kid were close friends, working together on the Maxwell
ranch and drinking together. Others say they barely knew each
other. Anyway, with Gov. Wallace putting a $500 reward on Billy's
head, for breaking his promise to him for not standing trial on murder
charges, Garrett wasted no time in forming a posse. On December
18, 1880, Garrett got a tip that the Kid and his gang would be riding
into Fort Sumner. Garrett waited with a posse of 12 men.
Garrett and his men saw Tom O'Folliard riding towards him, O'Folliard
was riding point for the gang. Garrett's posse opened fire,
striking O'Folliard in the chest. O'Folliard then rode towards
Garrett and said "don't shoot again, I'm killed".
Garrett ordered him off of his horse, but O'Folliard said he couldn't
get down on his own. O'Folliard died a short time later and the
Kid and his gang fled.
The Kid and his gang were on the run again and Garrett pursued them like
there was no tomorrow. On December 21, 1880, Garrett had the gang
cornered in an abandoned house near Stinking Springs. Inside the
house were the Kid, Charlie Bowdre, Tom Pickett, Billy Wilson and Dave
Rudabaugh, Billy's closest friends. Garrett called for the gang to
surrender, but was answered with only gunfire from the gang, which was
answered back by Garrett and his 20 men. I've seen several
accounts as to how Charlie Bowdre was shot. One is that he was
outside tending the horses when the posse rode up, saw him and shot him
in the chest. The other is, when the initial shots were exchanged
after Garrett ordered the gang's surrender, Bowdre was shot while
crossing in front of a window. I've also seen an account that the
one room building they were in had no windows, but one way or the other,
Bowdre was shot in the chest. I believe he was shot while in the
room, because the story goes that after he was shot, he said to Billy:
"I'm killed Billy, they killed me". Then Billy stood
Bowdre up and pushed him to the door, telling him: "They have
murdered you Charlie, but you can get revenge. Go out there and
kill some of them sonsabitches before you go". Billy shoved
Bowdre out of the door, but Bowdre didn't even have the strength to hold
up his six gun and was shot several more times and fell face down.
His body lay rotting for the two days the standoff lasted. With no
food or water and out of ammo, the Kid and his gang finally
surrendered. Garrett and his posse took them to Santa Fe.
This is where the Kid wrote a letter to Gov. Wallace, reminding him of
his promised pardon. Wallace refused to answer the Kid, saying he
reneged on his promise to stand trial and that there would be no pardon.
There are a couple, if not more, of versions as to what happened next,
this is the one I think happened. The Kid was taken to Mesilla, NM
to stand trial for the murder of Andrew "Buckshot"
Roberts. He was found guilty and Judge Bristol sentenced Billy to
death, telling the Kid that he would hang "until you are dead,
dead, dead!" They say the Kid laughingly said back to the
stern judge that "you can go to hell, hell, hell!" While
waiting for his execution date, Billy gave interviews to eager newsman,
telling them "I expect to be lynched. It's wrong that I
should be the only one to suffer the extreme penalties of
law". The story goes that he also told the reporters that he
was being singled out for punishment even though there were many many
other more deserving of the hangman's noose. He was moved to
Lincoln County to await execution by two of Garrett's deputies, Bob
Ollinger and J.W. Bell. Ollinger, was at one time a gun for the
Murphy-Dolan faction and hated the Kid with a passion. Once the
Kid was locked up in the jail, Ollinger harass the kid, poking him with
the butt of his shotgun, daring the kid to escape so he could shoot him
in the back "just like you did Brady". Billy did nothing
and kept his temper in check, for now. On many occasions, Bell
urged Ollinger to stop tormenting the Kid, as Bell was known to be a
kind man.
On April 28, 1881, Ollinger left the jail to have a bite to eat, leaving
Bell to guard the Kid. There are more than a couple versions
as
to what happened next. One is that Billy told Bell he
needed to
use the outhouse and at the top of the stairs, Billy used his
shoulder
to know Bell down the stairs, then ran into Garrett's gun room
and
grabbed a pistol and shot Bell dead, who was at the bottom of
the
stairs. Another version is that after asking Bell to take
him to
the latrine, that someone had left a pistol there for Billy, and
after
returning to the courthouse, shot Bell, either way, Bell was
dead.
After shooting Bell, Billy went upstairs and waited by the
window, with the same shotgun that Ollinger was poking him with, the Kid
knew that Ollinger would come running after hearing the
shot. As
Ollinger was running across the street, the Kid said "Hello,
Bob", and fired both barrels, nearly blowing Ollinger's head
off. Billy ran outside, supposedly to a blacksmith and had
the leg
irons removed. He grabbed a couple of pistols and
Winchester's
from the jail and someone's horse and rode down the street,
stopping at
Ollinger's lifeless body. Some say he then took off his
hat,
waving it and said "Adios, Amigos", and rode off.
During all of this, Garrett was in White Oaks on business. When he
heard about the escape and the deaths of his deputies, he vowed to get
Billy and spent the next three months chasing him around New
Mexico. On the night of July 14, 1881, Garrett rode to the Maxwell
ranch,
where he and the Kid supposedly worked together before. It's a
little unclear as to why Garrett went there, some say Maxwell set Billy
up, others say is was by pure chance. The Kid was there, visiting
a young Mexican woman who he spent much time with, Deluvina Maxwell, who
worked for Maxwell. Garrett went inside, as his posse waited
outside. Garrett was waiting in Maxwell's bedroom. Now
either Billy was staying in the main house or he went there to get some
fresh beef to take back to the house he was staying in, but Billy was
outside walking towards the main house. When he got to the
doorway, he heard the sound of horse hooves and called out several times
in spanish "Quien es? Quien es?" (Who is it?) Not
getting an answer, Billy stepped inside the open door of the house and
went to Maxwell's bedroom to ask Maxwell who was there. In the
dark, two shots were fired, Garrett shot Billy where he stood, in
stocking feet, killing him instantly, according to some, a shot right
through the heart, the second shot going wild. Billy supposedly
had his six gun in his right hand and a knife in his left. In
Garrett's report, he stated that "He came there armed with a pistol
and a knife expressly to kill me if he could. I had no alternative
but to kill him or suffer death at his hands".
The posse waiting outside didn't know what to think, until Garrett ran
out of the house, yelling "I killed the Kid, I killed the
Kid!". He stayed outside for some time, trembling and saying
nothing. He then went back into the house, where he saw Deluvina
Maxwell cradling the Kid's head in her arms, crying. She accused
Garrett of shooting Billy in the back, adding "You didn't have the
nerve to kill him face to face". Like most everything else
about the Kid, his death was also a controversy. Did Garrett shoot
the Kid in the back? Did Garrett shoot the Kid at all? For
the most part, Garrett was praised for his act, but murder charges were
also filed, although an inquest proved it was justifiable homicide.
The local Mexican's, after hearing what happened, ran to the Maxwell
house, Billy was their friend. They demanded they be allowed to
prepare his body for burial. They then moved his body to a
carpenter's shed and lay him on a bench, where they set candles all
around him and cleaned him, dressing him in clean clothes. The
next day he was buried on the Maxwell property. Deluvina Maxwell
put a white cross on his grave that said "Duerme bien, Querido"
(Sleep well, beloved).
Souvenir
hunters began arriving, despoiling his grave at the Maxwell ranch.
Eventually Billy's body was moved to Fort Sumner and he was buried with
two of his best friends, Charlie Bowdre and Tom O'Folliard. The
inscription at the top of the tombstone says "Pals", which the
boys always told each other, pals to the end, and that they were.
Garrett wanted, but did not receive, the notoriety that Billy had,
although he did receive some fame. He even wrote a book about
Billy, although some say it was only Garrett's name on the book, which
was actually written by Ash Upton. On February 28, 1908,
Garrett was killed by an angry tenant rancher that accused Garrett of
cheating him out of his wages.
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