Research topic: Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid 1859-81, American outlaw, b. New York City. His real name was probably Henry McCarty; he was known as William H. Bonney. His family moved to Kansas and then to New Mexico when he was a child. He frequented saloons and gambling halls and killed several men during his teens. In 1878 he led a gang in the Lincoln co. cattle war, killed two deputies, and engaged in large-scale cattle rustling. John S. Chisum and other cattlemen secured (1880) the election of a new sheriff sworn to rid the country of the cattle thieves. Billy the Kid was captured, tried, and sentenced to death. He escaped... Read more