Billy The Kid

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 simple question - "Who is it?" - was a single gunshot.

Moments later, a bullet fired by Lincoln County Sheriff Patrick F. Garrett from a .44 Colt revolver ended the life of Billy the Kid, born William Henry McCarty.

Yet Billy's death was not the end of his story. It was the beginning of one of the greatest legends of the American West.

More than 140 years later, questions about Billy the Kid - and especially his grave - continue to fascinate historians and visitors alike.

These questions - and many more - are answered through extensive research based on eyewitness accounts, contemporary newspapers, official documents, and rare historical sources.

The book is divided into three parts.

Part One reconstructs the dramatic events that led from Billy's conviction for murder to his escape, recapture, and death, relying whenever possible on the actual words of witnesses and contemporaries.

Part Two traces the remarkable history of Billy's burial and the many mysteries, controversies, and legends surrounding his grave, including attempts to relocate it, disputes over its authenticity, and the evolution of its famous memorials.

Part Three provides biographies of the 111 men and women known to be buried in the Fort Sumner cemetery alongside Billy the Kid. Sixteen of them had direct personal connections with the outlaw himself.

The appendices include Charles W. Dudrow's correspondence concerning the rediscovery of Fort Sumner's military cemetery and the only newspaper interview Sheriff Patrick F. Garrett ever gave about killing Billy the Kid.

Illustrated with 65 rare photographs, maps, and historical illustrations, the book features every known memorial that has marked Billy's grave, the previously unknown second grave marker, the men who relocated the grave in 1931, photographs of Billy's probable sweetheart Paulita Maxwell and her family, and the rare 1906 map showing the original layout of the Fort Sumner cemetery.

Whether you are a lifelong student of Billy the Kid, a fan of the Old West, or simply fascinated by historical mysteries, this book offers the most complete account ever assembled of the history behind the West's most famous grave.

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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