Billy The Kid
Who was Billy the Kid? Was he Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim or William H. Bonny? Was he a Robin Hood or a cold-blooded outlaw? History says he was a little of both but in this book Donald Cline exposes Billy the Kid as a cowardly crook who did not hesitate to kill for money. Cline explodes all the popular myths and misrepresentations to bring us an authentic Billy the Kid, a cattle rustler, horse thief and murderer. Illustrated with historical photographs, "Booklist" has said that "...Cline's book nicely balances the legend for both scholars and lay readers." This book is based on solid research and depicts the man behind the legend.
Of all firsthand accounts of lawlessness in the old Southwest, none is more fascinating than Pat F. Garrett's The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid. First published in 1882, a year after Sheriff Garrett killed the Kid, "the bravest and most feared' gunman of the Lincoln County, New Mexico, cattle war, it is at once the most authoritative biography of William H. Bonney and the foundation of the Billy the Kid legend.
Many stories have been written about the exploits of Billy the Kid, the charismatic outlaw of the Old West. Some have been pure fiction, designed to entertain and excite. Purple prose writers began chronicling the exploits of Billy as early as the late 1870s. Others have been biographical, researched by historians or recorded by those who knew him, including his murderer, Sheriff Pat Garrett.
But there was once a different side to the famous gunfighter, a softer more artistic side that seems at odds with Billy's reputation for shooting, killing, and robbing. Born Henry McCarty, he was also known by the names Henry Antrim, Kid Antrim, and William H. Bonney. He didn't shoot twenty-one men, as has been claimed. Four is a more likely number, three in self-defense. In Before Billy the Kid, author Melody Groves explores the early life of the infamous outlaw, the teenage boy who loved to sing and dance. The young man who was polite, educated, and popular. A boy who had the bad luck to be orphaned at fifteen and left with no one to guide him through life. How different history might have been if Billy had pursued his love of music instead of a life of crime.
"Quien es?"
The answer to this incautious question - "Who is it?" - was a bullet to the heart.
That bullet -- fired by Lincoln County Sheriff Patrick F. Garrett from a .40-44 caliber single action Colt pistol -- ended the life of Billy the Kid, real name William Henry McCarty.
But death - ordinarily so final - only fueled the public's fascination with Billy the Kid.
These questions -- and many others - are answered in this book.
Over 60 photos, including many historical photos never previously published.
Do you want to know more about the Old West's most legendary outlaw? Then keep reading...
Billy the Kid once said that he killed twenty-one men-one for each year that he lived. While it's more likely that he only killed eight or nine, this young outlaw was clearly deadly. But his brief and brutal life reveals how his tragic existence led him into a life of crime.
After growing up in poverty as an Irish immigrant in New York City and losing his father at a young age, Billy the Kid had to endure losing his mother when he was only fifteen. His stepfather walked out on him, and he was left with absolutely nothing. He turned to stealing, which started him out on a slippery slope that led him to murder after murder.
Billy the Kid has been lauded time and time again as a folk hero, even though he was a murderer. Yet, it's easy to empathize with this young outlaw with a baby face and big blue eyes. His story is filled with jailbreaks, treachery, gangs, and bloodthirsty Old West feuds. He was vulnerable, naive, murderous, bloodthirsty, loyal, and charming, and all this made Billy the Kid the stuff of legend. But his story is entirely true...
In this book, you'll learn more about the Kid's escapades, including:
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Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award in Western Nonfiction, 2023
New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards Winner, 2023
Best First Book selected by True West Magazine in annual "Best of the West" feature, 2022
James B. Mills has left no stone unturned in his twenty-year quest to tell the complete story of Billy the Kid. He explores the Kid's disputable origins, his family's migration from New York into the Southwest, and how he became an orphan, as well as his involvement in the Lincoln County War, his outlaw exploits, and his dealings with Governor Lew Wallace. Mills illuminates the Kid's relationships with his enemies, lovers, and numerous friends to contextualize the man's character beyond his death and legacy. Most importantly, Mills is the first historian to fully detail the Kid's relations with New Mexicans of Spanish descent.
So, the question remains, who really was the person the world knows as Billy the Kid? Was he more than a young reprobate committed to a life of crime, who relished becoming the famous outlaw and cold-blooded, self-absorbed "sociopath" or "thug" that some still prefer him--need him--to be? Or was he in fact the generally good-hearted, generous, courteous, young vigilante that so many remembered with considerable fondness, who ultimately preferred the company of the more peaceable Hispanic population than his own Anglo people? In this groundbreaking biography, Mills takes the reader closer to the flesh-and-blood human being named Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, than ever before.