Billy The Kid

Billy The Kid

Father: unknown—possibly Patrick Henry McCarty, Michael McCarty, or William Bonney
Stepfather: William Antrim
Mother: Catherine McCarty/Katherine McCarty Bonney

Half-brother: Joseph Antrim

William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. c. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881), better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier outlaw in the American Old West. According to legend, he killed 21 men, but it is generally believed that he killed between four and nine. He killed his first man at 18.

McCarty (or Bonney, the name he used at the height of his notoriety) was 5'8" (173 cm) tall with blue eyes, a smooth complexion, and prominent front teeth. He was said to be friendly and personable at times, and it's been said that he was as lithe as a cat. Contemporaries described him as a "neat" dresser who favored an "unadorned Mexican sombrero". These qualities, along with his cunning and celebrated skill with firearms, contributed to his paradoxical image as both a notorious outlaw and beloved folk hero.

Relatively unknown during most of his lifetime, Billy was catapulted into legend in 1881 when New Mexico's governor, Lew Wallace, placed a price on his head. In addition, the Las Vegas Gazette (Las Vegas, New Mexico) and the New York Sun carried stories about his exploits. Other newspapers followed suit. After his death, several biographies were written that portrayed the Kid in varying lights.

Read more about Billy The Kid:  Early Life, Lincoln County War, Lew Wallace and Amnesty, Pat Garrett, Escape From Lincoln, Death, Notoriety, Firsthand Accounts of Character, Ferrotype, Left-handed or Right-handed?, People Who Claimed To Be Billy The Kid, Posthumous Pardon Considered, Grave Marker Theft and Locations

Famous quotes containing the words billy and/or kid:

    ““Oh, where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy?
    Oh, where have you been, charming Billy?”
    “I’ve been to seek a wife,
    She’s the joy of my life,
    She’s a young thing, and cannot leave her mother.””
    —Unknown. Billy Boy (l. 1–5)

    “When that kid looks into your eyes and you know it’s yours, you know what it means to be alive.”
    —Anonymous Father. Quoted in When Men are Pregnant, by Jerrold Lee Shapiro, ch. 15 (1987)