BILLY THE KID

WHAT HE WAS CALLED

• Original name was Henry McCarty and later changed it to William H. Bonney in 1877.
• Most popularly known as Billy the Kid.

EARLY LIFE

• Born in 1859 in New York City.
• Mother died at age 14.
• Moved around a lot. Lived in New York, Indiana, Kansas, etc.

EARLY ARRESTS

• His first arrest was for stealing food in 1875. Within just a couple of months he was arrested for stealing clothes and firearms.
• Two days later he escaped jail (as he ends up doing many times throughout his life) and fled to the Arizona Territory.

FIRST BLOOD

• In 1877 Billy was in a saloon when he got into an argument with a blacksmith, Francis "Windy" Cahill. Francis had bullied Billy on many occasions calling him a “pimp” and Billy responded by calling him a not so nice name. This caused them to brawl and they fought for Billy’s revolver, but Billy got to it first and severely wounded Francis so bad to where he died the following day.

KILLS

• Billy claims to have killed 21 men. One for every year he lived, but experts believe it was anywhere from 4 to 9 on his own and 5 with help from others.

WHAT HE LOOKED AND ACTED LIKE

• Billy was said to of had a slim physique, sandy blond hair and blue eyes, and wore a signature sugar-loaf sombrero hat with a wide decorative band.
• He was said to be polite and charming one moment and outraged and violent the next.

WAR

• Billy fought in the Lincoln County War. He fought with John Tunstall as one of the "Regulators."
• Killed Sheriff Brady during the war.

THE END OF BILLY THE KID

• He was finally arrested in 1880 for the killing of Sheriff Brady. After being sentenced to death, he killed his two guards and escaped in 1881. He was hunted down, shot, and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

BECOMING A LEGEND

• Not too long after Garrett killed Billy, he wrote a biography about the young outlaw, titled “The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid.” The book was the first of many and many people loved it.

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