Billy The Kid: One of The Most Famous Outlaws of The Old American West

After The United States of America’s Civil War, crime began escalating at an astounding rate. Outlaws began frequenting the new states in the West, such as New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Texas. Towns in these states held many outlaws because the states had recently been created and law enforcement was relatively weak. One of the greatest and most remembered outlaws of the time was William Henry McArty, better known as Billy the Kid or William H. Bonney. McArty’s daring life of crime made him a legend in his time east and west of the Rio Grande.

            Not much is known about McArty’s background. His accepted birth information is November 23, 1859, in New York, but there is still much speculation on this information. 1859 seems to be an illogical choice for the year because McArty’s childhood friends say he was twelve years old in 1873, and his friends George and Frank Coe said he was seventeen at the start of the Lincoln County War in 1878. This would place 1860-1861 as a better range of years for his birth. However, New York fits because McArty’s mother was an immigrant from Ireland. McArty left very little information about himself up until 1870, when he and his family, including his widow mother’s boyfriend William Antrim, moved out to Kansas. Unfortunately, they had to move again because a doctor advised moving to a warmer, drier climate for Catherine McArty’s health. They moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Catherine married Antrim, and then moved again to Silver City. There they set up a good life with Antrim working hard doing general jobs and prospecting and Catherine taking in boarders and selling pastries. McArty spent his childhood making harmless childhood mischief with the other village kids.  Things couldn’t be better. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse. On September 16, 1874, Catherine died of tuberculosis. Antrim took the boys to live with their neighbors, but he isolated himself from them and eventually moved to Arizona, removing himself of responsibility entirely. Left to fend for himself, McArty turned to a life of crime (Brothers).

            Teenage McArty enjoyed all the freedoms of no parents in 1874; however, he had no money. In order to acquire some, he began to steal. His first crime was to steal several pounds of butter from a rancher and to sell it. The county sheriff, Harvey H. Whitehill, caught him though; but, since he was a child and it was his first offense, Whitehill let him off with a warning and a lecture on how it is wrong to steal. McArty failed to heed that warning and soon met up with George Schaeffer, also known as Sombrero Jack. Schaeffer was a thief, a drunk, and a gambler who made his living stealing items. Schaeffer stole some laundry, and noticing a quick way out of his offense, he offered the laundry to McArty who, having no clothes at the time, accepted it thankfully. McArty was caught and thrown in jail; the sheriff was sympathetic though and gave him free run of the corridor. McArty used this freedom to escape through the fireplace and flee to one of his former foster families. They sent him to find his stepfather in Arizona, who shunned him after hearing that McArty was a “bad seed.” Alone in the Arizonian desert, McArty met John Mackie, who was another influential thief. They began a partnership of stealing horses and saddles (Brothers). They were caught eventually and thrown in jail. McArty escaped again on March 17th and fled, with his shackles still on, but he returned a little while later (“Shadows”). Around this time, McArty got his nickname “The Kid.” According to Marcelle Brothers, “It wasn’t only because he was one, but he certainly looked it.” Because of his childish look, a local blacksmith, Frank “Windy” Cahill, took a liking to harassing McArty every chance he got. He would wrestle McArty to the ground and debase him in front of all the men in the saloon. McArty took as much of it as he could, but finally, he could take no more.