BILLY THE KID Biography - Crimes, Laws and people

 
 

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BILLY THE KID

Billy the Kid.                                                                       
Born November 23, 1859                                                               
New York City, United States                                                         
Died July 14, 1881 (aged 21)                                                         
Fort Sumner, New Mexico, U.S.                                                         
Occupation Outlaw                                                                     
                                                                                     
William Henry McCarty (November 23, 1859 - July 14, 1881), better known as           
Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases William Antrim and William Harrison     
Bonney, was a famous 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who was a       
participant in the Lincoln County War. According to legend he killed 21 men, one     
for each year of his life, but more likely he participated in the killing of         
less than half that number.                                                           
                                                                                     
McCarty (or Bonney, the name he used at the height of his notoriety) was 5'8-5'9     
with blue eyes, smooth cheeks, and prominent front teeth. He was said to be           
friendly and personable at times, but he could also be short-tempered and             
determined. This made him a very dangerous outlaw, when combined with his             
shooting skills and cunning. He was also famous for (apparently) always wearing       
a sugarloaf sombrero hat with a wide green decorative band. He was little known       
in his own lifetime but was catapulted into legend in the year after his death       
when his killer, Sheriff Patrick Garrett, published a wildly sensationalistic         
biography of him called The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid. Beginning with         
Garrett's account, Billy the Kid grew into a symbolic figure of the American Old     
West.