Who was the authentic Billy the Kid? Nobody knows. Some say, anyone you want him to be.
Historians make the case that on the eve of the American Civil War he was born Henry McCarty in the Irish ghettos of New York, the son of a Catherine McCarty, who was widowed. Catherine McCarty later moved to Indiana where she married William Antrim, which would explain why Billy was later called William Antrim or “Kid” Antrim.
Others suggest his origins were in Missouri, the grandson of a James Bonney who took a Hispanic wife and had some descendants settle in New Mexico. This would explain
why he called himself William
H. Bonney, how he came to speak the fluent Spanish that made him a hero of the oppressed Hispanic underclass in New Mexico and Arizona,
and why he remained there when others wanted by the law fled to Texas and California.
Some say he was born in 1859, others say 1861. It is generally accepted, however, that he didn’t answer to Billy the Kid. That nickname was first bestowed by a newspaper reporter around the time he
was killed.
Letters to Lew Wallace, the former Union Army general brought in to clean up corruption in New Mexico and who wrote the best-selling novel, Ben Hur, display fine penmanship and an uncharacteristic eloquence for the average cowhand.
A contemporary newspaper, writing shortly after Billy the Kid was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett, described him as being of slight build with blue eyes and a schoolboy’s countenance, right down to the peach fuzz
of a boy not yet shaving.
It described him as being handsome, but for slightly protruding front teeth.
About one thing everyone seems to be agreed: Billy the Kid’s life was dramatic, violent and short.
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