Billy the Kid

Jan 07, 2007 01:01:13

Henry McCarty (November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881) better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William Harrison Bonney, was a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who was a participant in the Lincoln County War. He was reputed to have killed 21 men, one for each year of his life, but the actual total is probably closer to nine (four on his own and five with the help of others). He also may have been 21 at the time of his death. Short and lithe, McCarty had blue eyes, smooth cheeks and prominent front teeth. Many newspaper reporters said, "Billy is handsome and very easy going." He was also personable and quick to laugh, but these qualities masked a fierce temper and a single-minded resolve which, combined with superior shooting skills and an almost animal cunning, served to make him a dangerous outlaw. His most noticeable apparel was a sugar-loaf Sombrero hat with a wide green decorative band. Although little known in his own lifetime, McCarty was catapulted into legend in the year after his death when his killer, Sheriff Patrick Garrett, published a wildly sensationalistic biography of the outlaw called The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid. Beginning with Garrett's self-serving account, Billy the Kid would grow into perhaps the most famous and symbolic figure of the American Old West.