Director Sam Peckinpah Writer Thinking fast, Billy told Grant that he admired his revolver and asked if he could look at it. A Strong-willed Texan Scout Joined the Confederacy at 15. But then they took him to the jail house Where they try to turn a man into a mouse. While in prison, the Kid escaped againthis time killing two guards in the process. Updates? A judge apparently ruled against the efforts, but that hasnt stopped present Governor Richardsons interest in the case. We unsaddled here, got some coffee, and, on foot, entered an orchard which runs from this point down to a row of old buildings, some of them occupied by Mexicans, not more than sixty yards from Maxwells house. Historians say that this photo shows outlaw Billy the Kid, circled second from left, and Pat Garrett, circled far right, taken in 1880. He tried to work straight jobs (hotel worker, ranch hand) but quickly found himself on the wrong side of the law. Nine years older than Billy, he'd been a buffalo hunter, hired gun, and cowboy before he ran for sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, on a law-and-order platform. He and an accomplice named John Mackie began swiping horses from a nearby Army fort and then selling them. While trying to verify the photo, Abrams approached Robert Stahl, a retired professor emeritus at Arizona State University who is no stranger to the history of Billy the Kid. In New Mexico, Garrett worked as a cowboy for Pedro Pete Maxwell but quit to open a saloon. Despite his young age, Kid was said to have killed anywhere between 9 and 21 men. Garrett decided to seek out Peter Maxwell, an old friend who lived in the area, in the hope that he could receive some details about the fugitives whereabouts. Those who oppose the pardon argue that there is no proof that Governor Wallace ever offered one; he may have simply tricked Kid in to offering up information. And yet with the good cheer came a surprising ruthlessness. The Kid was catapulted into legend due to the $500 bounty - then a staggering amount - on his head. One particular misstep in the Kids life was his affiliation with the Lincoln County War. Billy the Kid, that heasked Sheriff Kimball to appoint him deputy sheriff until his term officiallybegan in January of 1881. Though quick with a joke, he did not hesitate before pulling the trigger. They fired at the men from behind a wall, and Brady died after being shot at least a dozen times. It was a good racket, but he couldnt stay out of trouble long enough to enjoy it. Mysteries of the Old West: Did Pat Garrett Kill Billy the Kid? Free shipping for many products! Billy the Kid, byname of William H. Bonney, Jr., original name Henry McCarty?, (born November 23, 1859?, New York, New York, U.S.died July 14, 1881, Fort Sumner, New Mexico), American outlaw who was one of the most notorious gunfighters of the American West. Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, declined to pardon Western outlaw Billy the Kid during his last hours in office. On December 19, 1880, Bonney, Billy Wilson, Charlie Bowdre, Tom Pickett, and Tom OFolliard rode into Fort Sumner. Garretts body was left on the side of the road. Now, the stories of what actually happened next seem to clash, so suffice it to say that the Kid ended up in custody. After seeing a TV program in 2015 about the discovery of a photo of the outlaw playing croquet, Abrams was inspired to research him further. Another chance at a famous crime solving came after Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain and his eight-year-old son Henry vanished at White Sands, New Mexico, in 1896. Garrett is the man who eventually killed Billy the Kid, born as Henry McCarty. The photo of the Kid discovered in 2015 has since been estimated to be worth $5 million. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In July 1881 he tracked down and shot the escaped murderer Billy the Kid. Wikimedia CommonsThe disputed photo bought by Randy Guijarro, allegedly showing Billy the Kid (center). According to legend, the judge shouted at the 21-year-old Kid that he was to hang by the neck until he was dead, dead, dead! Also according to legend, Billys last words on the record were to tell the judge he could go to hell, hell, hell!. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billy-the-Kid-American-outlaw, American Heritage - Billy the Kid: From Outlaw to Legend, PBS - American Experience - The Life and Legend of Billy the Kid, Billy the Kid - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). In July, Garrett rode to Fort Sumner and learned the Kid was staying with the same Pedro Maxwell who had employed Garrett when he first arrived in New Mexico. At this point also calling himself William Bonney, he took up honest work as a cowboy for a rancher in Lincoln County named John Tunstall. The report said: We, the jury, find that Billy the Kid (met) his death by a bullet which was fired from a gun in the hands of Pat F. Garrett . Garrett apparently lost the verdict by the next morning. However, there is no other evidence of this; we are relying on Anayas word alone for the entire existence of the jury and its verdict. Richardson told the Associated Press on Wednesday, I dont know where Ill end up. Garrett succeeded in capturing Billy the Kid and a few other outlaws at Stinking Springs on December 23, 1880. They made it safely, however, and Garrett collected the $500 state bounty on Billys head. Garrett was so impatient to capture the outlawWilliam Bonney, a.k.a. Lew Wallaces descendant William Wallace argues that pardoning Billy the Kid would, declare Lew Wallace to have been a dishonorable liar. His end wasn't particularly glamorous. They were acquitted of the Fountain killings, and the charges for killing the deputy were dismissed. Before he reached the bed, I whispered: Who is it, Pete? but received no reply for a moment. However, he was unable to remember important events in Billys life such as the Lincoln prison escape, he didnt really look like the outlaw, he was illiterate while the Kid wasnt and finally, his birth date was recorded in his family Bible as 1879. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Garrett and his men had received information that the outlaws were coming and set up an ambush. In November 1880, he and three of his gang were captured, and the Kid was tried and convicted for the murder of Brady. He murdered two deputies, James Bell and Bob Olinger, during the escape. Each landowner was supported by their own gang. In 1878, to settle a dispute over a large debt owed by Tunstalls business partner to a rival cohort of local businessmen, Sheriff William Brady and his posse attempted to seize around $40,000 worth of Tunstalls cattle. Soldier in range wars, cattle rustler, horse thief, but also universally described as charming, funny, a good singer and good dancer, at least bilingual, and an avid reader. Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. For deaths, sure. Historians say that this photo shows outlaw Billy the Kid, circled second from left, and Pat Garrett, circled far right, taken in 1880. McNew and Carr were the first to be arrested. It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way Up to some paradise Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice And ride a horse along a trail. In the dark, Billy had gone to cut a slice of meat. The defining issue revolves around the belief that Wallace promised this pardon in exchange for Kids knowledge in a murder case involving three men. The extended dance of Whos that?) All this occurred in a moment. He was appointed deputy sheriff for the last two months of 1880 before taking office January 1, 1881. "I knew the desperate character of the man," Garrett would later write in his own biography of Billy, "that he was daring and unscrupulous, and that he would sacrifice the lives of a hundred men who stood between him and liberty." There were various men in the American Southwest who went by the moniker "Billy the Kid." US Marshal Service How Much Did It Cost to Find Billy the Kid? He wore a broad-brimmed hat, a dark vest and pants, and was in his shirtsleeves. Exactly what happened after that has been the subject of speculation ever since, but everyone agrees on one fact: On the night of July 14, Billy the Kid was shot to death in Maxwells home. The full-length version of the sole completely authenticated photo of Billy the Kid. But he came up with a plan to get himself off by providing Governor Lew Wallace with information about the murder of a prominent lawyer that hed witnessed recently. Billy lights out for old Fort Sumner on the Pecos River, some 150 miles northeast of Lincoln. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the worlds hidden wonders. Ethan Hawke and Dane DeHaan ride tall in Vincent DOnofrios fresh take on the saga of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, has mere hours left to decide whether or not to pardon Billy the Kid in the killing of a sheriff. At some point, due to the debate, there had been a movement to have the supposed bodies of the Kid and his mother exhumed for DNA testing. This is a terrible place to put a fellow in.". Whether it was time with the infamous Regulators and his exploits during the Lincoln County War, or his dramatic escapes from custody culminating in his death at the hands of Pat Garrett in 1881, Billy the Kid is one of the most mythologized figures in American history. What is far more relevant to the case is the issue of discrepancy in the testimonies of Garrett, Poe, the coroner and several other people. I've always been somebody who's interested in history and background.'. El Paso Times 1934: Pistol That Killed Billy the Kid Will Be Returned to Garretts Widow. As Currys inauguration was not for a few months, Garrett returned to El Paso to look for work. 'One day it may end up at an auction house somewhere. In 2010, many petitioned the New Mexico governors office to grant Billy the pardon they say Lew Wallace had promised him 130 years before, but it never came to pass. I now believe without a doubt that Billy the Kid was not killed by Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner. Wallace reneged on his promise., Copyright 2022 Crime Museum, LLC - All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy |. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. And this was before McDonald's. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. A suspicion lingered that Brazel or someone else conspired to execute Garrett, a lawman with many enemies. Thereafter, Garrett was a rancher near Roswell, N.M. (188296), deputy sheriff and then sheriff of Dona Ana County, N.M. (18961902), and collector of customs at El Paso, Texas (190206). But That Was Just the Beginning. So, why is the notorious Billy the Kid up for this pardon, you ask? Once more, Sheriff Garrett was sent after the Kid. During the Kids time as an outlaw, Pat Garrett was elected Sheriff and sent after him. He contacted the governor to exchange a witness statement for a pardon. found himself on the wrong side of the law, The authenticity of the photo has since been disputed, Bass Reeves, the bullet-dodging black lone ranger. Richard Stockton is a freelance science and technology writer from Sacramento, California. It is believed to benow worth millions of dollars. He escaped jail on April 28, however, killing two deputies, and remained at large until tracked down and ambushed by Garrett, who shot him dead on the evening of July 14 at the ranch home of Pete Maxwell. There are also suggestions that Billy and Garrett were friends and planned the whole incident so the fugitive could escape. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life at the best online prices at eBay! A quick online search reveals more than 50 films in which Billy the Kid is either the main character or a secondary one. The comments below have not been moderated. Thats him! Simultaneously the Kid must have seen, or felt, the presence of a third person at the head of the bed. Billy's arrest found him in Garrett's custody. On ABCs, Good Morning America Friday, Richardson explained that the evidence of the case simply did not warrant a pardon. Circa 1879-1880. before being shot dead. He is either a folk hero that single-handedly stood up against a corrupt government system, or he is a ruthless outlaw and cop killer that left a wake of terror in his path.. Bonney and the others escaped. For those of you scratching your heads wondering who Billy the Kid is; he is the western outlaw also known as William Bonney. Detail from a larger photo alleged to show Bonney (left) playing croquet in New Mexico in 1878. The Kid's freedom was short lived however, when Garrett set down to find him on July 14, 1881. Garrett became involved again when he heard a tip that the Kid was hiding out in the Fort. It is believed to be now worth millions of dollars, According to popular legend, Billy the Kid (left) and Garrett were friends before he became known an outlaw, but there is no historical evidence to support the theory. Garrett tried to break the lease when he learned his creditor, W.W. Bill Cox, was financing Brazel. He was buried, it is said, in Fort Sumner Cemetery, with his associates Tom OFolliard and Charlie Bowdre, and the epitaph Palsthough none of them are likely directly under the tombstone there today. Garrett then supposedly shot McCarty dead. One of his first acts was to capture Billy the Kid, sending him to trial for the murder of the Lincoln sheriff and his deputy. In December 1880 he was captured by Garrett and stood trial for murder in Mesilla, New Mexico, in April 1881; he was found guilty and was sentenced to hang. Analysis: Did Pat Garrett Really Kill Outlaw Billy the Kid? Since that time, debates have raged over Robertss claims, and whether he was truly one of the Wests most notorious gunmen or just an old man looking for attention. On the evening of April 28, 1881, Billy was left under the supervision of a single guard in the jailhouse while the rest of the staff hit the saloon across the street. Brushy Bill was very well known around these parts, says Jane Klein, historian at the Billy the Kid Museum. The man, local blacksmith Frank Cahill, called Billy a pimp. Instead, he briefly moved to Texas to serve asa Lieutenant in the Texas Rangers before returning to his ranch in New Mexico. A handwriting expert in Texas compared a signature from Garrett on the photo with ten documents with his known handwriting. See. ), correspondent Darren Gross has come across a watchable web encoding of a Peckinpah TV drama that seems to be more or less lost. Good star performances (Jean Simmons, Bradford At some point, someone shot and killed Garrett, but exactly who did it has been a subject of debate. He was reportedly killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett, who later burnished the legend of the Wild West outlaw. He managed to locate his stepfathers place in New Mexico, where he holed up for a few weeks. At midnight, Garrett moved silently towards the Maxwell houses southeast corner, just outside Maxwells bedroom. As he descended into criminality and fled from town to town to evade the law, he regularly changed his name, eventually becoming known as Billy the Kid. He got in trouble for petty thefts of things like food and clothing, but things got worse when stole some pistols from a Chinese laundry in 1875 and was sent to jail. He would tell people around here, You know, I have a secret and one of these days youre going to find out what it is. He didnt want to tell his story at first. People thought me bad before, but if ever I should get free, he said after finally being captured, Ill let them know what bad means., The following spring after a trial that had more to do with putting on a good show for the papers than searching for the truth of what happened in the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid was found guilty and sentenced to hang. One of the residents of Fort Sumner, Paco Anaya, wrote that after the shooting, Garrett handed a piece of paper to Alejandro Segura, the Justice of the Peace. In 1882, Garrett and his ghost writer, Marshall Upson, published The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). History Channel 9 Things You May Not Know About Billy the Kid, History Channel Billy the Kid Convicted of Murder, History Collection Billy the Kid Is Arrested for the First Time (1875). Lets get the issue of imposters out of the way quickly. After a week or two, he made a connection with some local cattle rustlers who made a living out of stealing cattle from a businessman named John Chisum in Lincoln County, New Mexico. On July 14, 1881, Sheriff Garrett, under the cover of shadows, shot Billy the Kid dead in a residence in Fort Sumner. Though some say hed previously killed several members of the Apache tribe, the first kill (out of 20 or more total) widely attributed to Billy the Kid came in 1876. I might not pardon him. But his parents did not long survive the Civil War that devastated the South, leaving the children heavily in debt. Before I made the discoveries I made in my book, I did not have an opinion on Brushy Bill, says Edwards. Brazels trial for the murder of Garrett lasted only one day, on May 4, 1909. Before the sun came up, the Kid was underground with nothing but a wooden marker for his grave. Does Billy the Kid Deserve the Pardon He was Promised? The one that counted the one who still counts was variously known as Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, Kid Antrim, William H. Bonney, Billy Bonney, and sometimes just The Kid. A stranger named Joe Grant came into the saloon and sidled up to near the spot where Billy was drinking. Born in Alabama and reared in Louisiana, Garrett left home at about the age of 17 and headed for Texas and the life of a cowboy and buffalo hunter. Tim Sweet, owner of the Billy the Kid museum, previously said that he was 95 per cent sure that Garrett is in the photo. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Ukraine soldiers shoot down enemy drones with drones of their own, Dozens stuck in car park as staff refuses to open gate for woman, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts, MCCARTY, HENRY | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), Do not sell or share my personal information. It is only the fourth known photograph of Billy the Kid and is thought to be a trophy shot taken by Garrett and his posse after they arrested him for murdering a sheriff. It was at this point that many sources say the Kid began his life of crimestarting with stealing and progressing to murder. A little over a year later, the New Mexico territorial legislature voted to give Garrett the $500 he was owed. We had ridden to within a short distance of Maxwells grounds when we found a man in camp and stopped. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Marshals Posse. He also obtained a deputy U.S. Marshals commission to have jurisdiction in other counties. Its an area tailor-made for rustlers, and Billy knows it well. WebFind helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Young Guns 2 at Amazon.com. A witness agreed, and Brazel went free. This man was Billy; he was lounging around the orchard at the same time the lawmen entered. Garrett, who had been tracking the Kid for The two men knew each other and had socialized with one another; it might be a stretch to call them friends. Billy the Kid was also still stealing. Billy had numerous friends and people sympathetic to his plight at the Fort, so the lawmen found it difficult to extract any information. Garrett and his men laid siege to the Dedrick ranch at Bosque Grande on November 30th, expecting to find Billy the Kid. I asked him as to the whereabouts of the Kid. Garrett invited Tom Powers to go along and introduced Powers to the President as a prominent Texas cattleman; they sat for photographs with Roosevelt. New Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett and his posse captured Billy the Kid at a place called Stinking Springs on December 23, 1880. Garrett was well aware that Billy was a cockeyed optimist when it came to hopes for escape. There is no doubt there that Billy the Kid is one of their own, and theyre happy to tell the world. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. This story originally ran in 2017; it has been updated for 2022. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. He talked the guard into letting him out to use the outhouse and then on the way back in he slipped his chains and beat the guard to the ground. Following Billy the Kids death, the media turned him into a folk hero and made Garrett out to be the bad guy. Richardsons deputy chief of staff Eric Witt wants to clarify that they are not offering a general pardon for all of Kids crimes, but rather a pardon for the individual case of killing a sheriff. It is only the fourth known photograph of Billy the Kid and is thought to be a trophy shot taken by Garrett and his posse after they arrested him. McCartys family life was total chaos from the start. As one of the few Regulators whod made it out of the Battle of Lincoln, Billy the Kid Was now a prime target for local law enforcement. Garrett rode to Maxwells house late that night and hid in Maxwells kitchen. Carl Adamson took Garrett to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and was soon joined by Brazel on horseback. The Kid was known to be friendly and personable and a smart dresser, often wearing a Mexican sombrero. Amid controversy, Garrett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 2, 1902. According to Robert M. Utley's definitive Billy the Kid, by the time his life ended on July 14, 1881, at age 21, McCarty/Antrim/Bonney had killed four men for certain, one perhaps, and participated in killing perhaps five more. He is thought to have been 17 when he killed his first man in 1877 - although some historians say he could have been as young as 15 as the true year of his birth is not known. Webliverpool v nottingham forest 1989 team line ups; best crews to join in gta 5. jay chaudhry house; bimbo bakeries buying back routes; pauline taylor seeley cause of death