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| Billy was killed 135 years ago today. |
Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty; also
known as William H. Bonney (September 17, 1859 – July 14, 1881) was an American
Old West gunfighter who participated in New Mexico's Lincoln County War. He is
known to have killed eight men.
His first arrest was for stealing food in
late 1875, and five months later he was arrested for stealing clothing and
firearms. His escape from jail two days later and flight from New Mexico
Territory into Arizona Territory made him both an outlaw and a federal
fugitive. After murdering a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877,
Bonney became a wanted man in Arizona Territory and returned to New Mexico,
where he joined a group of cattle rustlers. He took part in the Lincoln County
War and joined the Regulators, making him a well-known outlaw in the region. In
April 1878, however, the Regulators killed three men, including Lincoln County
Sheriff William J. Brady and one of his deputies. Bonney and two other
Regulators were later charged with killing all three men.
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| Pat Garret. |
Bonney's notoriety grew in December 1880
when the Las Vegas Gazette in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and the New York Sun carried
stories about his crimes. He was captured by Sheriff Pat Garrett later that
same month, tried and convicted of the murder of Brady in April 1881, and was
sentenced to hang in May of that year. Bonney escaped from jail on April 28,
1881, killing two sheriff's deputies in the process, and evaded capture for
more than two months. Bonney was ultimately shot and killed by Garrett in Fort
Sumner on July 14, 1881. Over the next several decades, legends grew that
Bonney had not died that night, and a number of men claimed to be him.
