William H. Bonney Western outlaw

Transcription

1 William H. Bonney Western outlaw Born: November 23, 1859; New York, New York Died: July 14, 1881; Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory Also known as: Henry McCarty (birth name); Billy the Kid; Billy Antrim; Kid Antrim; Billy Bonney Major offenses: Murder and cattle theft Active: Locale: New Mexico Territory Sentence: Death; escaped prison while awaiting execution and was shot to death three months later Early Life William H. Bonney (BAW-nee) was born Henry McCarty in 1859 to Irish immigrants in New York City s slums. Not much is known about his early childhood. Sources suggest that young Henry lived with his widowed mother, Catherine, and his younger brother, Joe, in Indianapolis, Indiana, during the Civil War. In 1870 the family, along with Catherine s future husband, William Antrim, relocated to Wichita, Kansas, where Catherine operated a laundry. Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1871, Catherine again moved her family, eventually landing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she married Antrim on March 1, The Antrims settled in Silver City, a mining community in the southwestern part of the territory. Henry, now known as Henry Antrim, attended school and reportedly was an ordinary teenager. When his mother died in September, 1874, however, the future outlaw s life changed direction. Criminal Career Now lacking parental guidance, Henry began associating with rough characters. Just a year after Catherine s death, he found himself facing theft charges after stealing a bundle of clothing from a Chinese laundry. Not wanting to stand trial, Henry escaped through the local jail s chimney and made his way into Arizona. Now nicknamed The Kid because of his youth and diminutive size, Henry worked as a teamster and cowboy around Camp Grant. During his two years in Arizona, Henry honed his skills as a gunman and horseman. 60

2 While historians often describe the gunfighter as a cheerful and well-liked young man, nobody disagreed that he had a short and violent temper. That temper exploded on August 17, 1877, when seventeen-year-old Henry shot and killed Frank Windy Cahill, a much older and stronger man who had made a habit of verbally and physically abusing the teenager. Now wanted for murder in Arizona, Henry escaped to New Mexico under the alias William Billy Bonney. Billy ended up in Lincoln County, New Mexico, where he worked as a cowboy for Englishman John Tunstall. In 1878, the county was dominated by the mercantile monopoly of Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan. Challenging the Murphy-Dolan alliance were Tunstall and a Scotsman named Alexander McSween, who sought to outbid their rivals for government contracts. Billy soon became involved in the Lincoln County War ( ), in which Tunstall was killed by assassins from the Murphy-Dolan faction. During the war Billy rode with the Regulators, a group of Tunstall employees who sought to avenge the William H. Bonney. (Library of Congress) 61

3 A Man More Sinned Against I don t blame you for writing of me as you have. You had to believe other stories, but then I don t know if any one would believe anything good of me anyway, Billy the Kid told a Las Vegas (New Mexico) Gazette reporter in The rumors, exaggerations, and lies about him had already spread. He knew the score. Still, the newspaper gave him a friendly description in 1881: He is about five feet eight or nine inches tall, slightly built and lithe, weighing about 140; a frank, open countenance, looking like a school boy, with the traditional silky fuzz on his upper lip; clear blue eyes, with a roguish snap about them; light hair and complexion. He is, in all, quite a handsome looking fellow, the only imperfection being two prominent front teeth slightly protruding like squirrel s teeth, and he has agreeable and winning ways. In fact, far from the fiery-tempered sociopath that some accounts made him, Billy the Kid was widely liked, even by his foes in the Lincoln County War. He was said to be easygoing, cool under stress, and regularly cheerful. The historian- politician Miguel Antonio Otero, Jr. ( ) wrote in his biography The Real Billy the Kid (Houston: Arte Público Press, 1998), I have been told that Billy had an ungovernable temper; however, I never saw evidences of it. He was always in a pleasant humor when I saw him laughing, sprightly, and good natured. As a young man, Otero was on the train that took Billy the Kid to jail. They talked at length. Otero admitted: I liked the Kid very much... and long before we reached Santa Fe, nothing would have pleased me more than to witness his escape. He had his share of good qualities and was very pleasant. He had a reputation for being considerate of the old, the young, and the poor; he was loyal to his friends and above all, loved his mother devotedly. He was unfortunate in starting life, and became a victim of circumstances. In looking back to my first meeting with Billy the Kid, my impressions were most favorable and I can honestly say that he was a man more sinned against than sinning. death of their employer. For the following year, the two sides engaged in deadly retaliatory warfare. Billy s skills with a gun and his reckless bravado served the Tunstall-McSween faction well during the conflict. On March 9, 1878, the Regulators captured and killed Frank Baker and William Morton, both suspects in Tunstall s murder. On April 1, 1878, Billy and several Regulators ambushed and killed Sheriff William Brady, an ally of the Murphy-Dolan faction. Just three days later, the Regulators battled Buckshot Roberts, a bounty hunter hired by the opposition, at Blazer s Saw Mill, about forty miles outside Lincoln. After a fierce battle, Dick Brewer, the leader of the Regulators, and Roberts lay dead or dying. The Lincoln County War climaxed in a five-day battle (July 62

4 15-19, 1878) in which McSween and several Regulators were also killed. On the final day of the battle, Billy led a gallant escape from a burning building under heavy gunfire. Legal Action and Outcome In the years after the Lincoln County War, Billy teetered back and forth between ranching and rustling cattle. While the territorial governor pardoned most of the participants in the conflict, Billy was indicted for killing Sheriff Brady. He was arrested by the new sheriff, Pat Garrett, in December, After a questionable trial, the Kid was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Just as he had several times before, Billy cheated his sentence before it could be carried out. On April 28, 1881, he killed two guards and escaped. The Kid s days were still numbered, as lawmen relentlessly hunted him. Finally, on July 14, 1881, Garrett tracked Billy to Fort Sumner, where he surprised the twenty-one-year-old outlaw under the cover of darkness. Quién es? Quién es? (Who is it?) Billy asked as he heard someone enter the room where he slept. Without answering, Garrett fired two shots, killing Billy the Kid instantly. Impact Within months of William H. Bonney s death, books and serialized stories began creating the Billy the Kid legend. During the twentieth century, Hollywood movies solidified his status as an American icon. Some described him as a swaggering, homicidal maniac. Others portrayed him as an American Robin Hood who became an outlaw to protect the innocent and the helpless. Somewhere in between these extremes is the historic Billy the Kid. He came of age in a rough frontier world where violence was commonplace. He killed when he thought necessary but not nearly as often as stories suggest. Legend credits Billy the Kid with twenty-one killings. History, however, can confirm only four killings by the Kid s own hand and five or six in which he participated as a member of the Regulators. Further Reading Burns, Walter Noble. The Saga of Billy the Kid. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, A vivid and romanticized biography that helped create the image of Billy the Kid as an American Robin Hood. O Neal, Bill. Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters. Norman: University of 63

5 Booth, John Wilkes Oklahoma Press, This valuable collection of 587 gunfighter biographies provides a biography of Billy the Kid along with short descriptions of his criminal exploits and gunfights. Tuska, Jon. Billy the Kid: His Life and Legend Reprint. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, A thoroughly researched book that examines fallacies and inaccuracies in previous books, novels, and movies. Utley, Robert. Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, An authoritative and objective account of Billy the Kid, written by an eminent Western historian. Mark R. Ellis See also: Apache Kid; Tom Bell; Curly Bill Brocius; Butch Cassidy; Bob Dalton; Emmett Dalton; Bill Doolin; John Wesley Hardin; Doc Holliday; Jesse James; Tom Ketchum; Harry Longabaugh; Bill Longley; Joaquín Murieta; Johnny Ringo; Belle Starr; Henry Starr; Hank Vaughan; Cole Younger. John Wilkes Booth Assassin of President Abraham Lincoln Born: May 10, 1838; near Bel Air, Maryland Died: April 26, 1865; near Bowling Green, Virginia Cause of notoriety: Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln soon after the end of the Civil War. Active: 1865 Locale: Washington, D.C. Early Life John Wilkes Booth (jahn wihlks bewth) was one of ten children of the noted tragic actor Junius Brutus Booth. The younger Booth made his first theatrical appearance at seventeen and soon had established a solid reputation as an interpreter of many leading roles in the plays of William Shakespeare, particularly that of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595). Muscular, darkhaired, and handsome, Booth was perfect for the part. Although he seldom prepared well for his roles, his innate ability and re- 64