View source for Billy the Kid

{{infobox person
|name=Billy the Kid (Henry McCarty)
|image=Williambonney.jpg
|birth_date=September 17, 1859 or November 23, 1859
|birth_place=[[New York City]]
|death_date=July 14, 1881 
|death_place=Fort Sumner, [[New Mexico]]
}}
'''Billy the Kid''', (September/November 1859- July 14, [[1881]]), alias '''William Bonney''', was an infamous outlaw in Lincoln County, New Mexico. According to legend, he killed 21 men, one for each year of his life, though this is unlikely.<ref name="wallis244">Wallis (2007), p. 244.</ref> 

== Early years ==
Billy was born Henry McCarty in a New York City slum. After his father died, Billy and his mother moved to Silver City, [[New Mexico]], to look for a steady source of income.<ref name="eyewitness">[http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/billythekid.htm Eyewitness to History]</ref> Little is known about his four years there, but in 1877 Billy moved to the embattled Lincoln County. 

==Lincoln County War==
In the 1870s, Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan owned "Murphy & Dolan," the only general store in Lincoln County. Murphy & Dolan soon monopolized all [[Bank]]ing and local [[Police|law enforcement]]. However, small farmers became angry at the monopoly, named "The House", and helped Alexander McSween, John Tunstall, and Billy the Kid to set up a small rival business, H.H. Tunstall & Company.<ref name=legend>[http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NM-LincolnCountyWar.html Legends of America]</ref>

Frustrated, "The House" ordered Sheriff William Brady and Deputy William Morton to arrest Tunstall on questionable charges. Tunstall refused to leave his house and was killed. Angered, Billy the Kid formed a posse called the Regulators, and chased down and killed Deputy Morton. Fighting between the Regulators and The House continued throughout 1878, taking 19 lives. <br>When the fighting was over, Billy the Kid took to a life of crime, stealing cattle from the very ranchers he fought to protect. 0n July 14, 1881, new Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid in a gunfight.

Billy the Kid was portrayed by numerous [[actor]]s in film and [[television]]. In 1955, Jim Davis' anthology western series, ''[[Stories of the Century]],'' cast Richard Jaeckel (1926-1997) to portray the Kid.

Various persons have claimed that Billy the Kid was not the person Garrett killed: one person ("Brushy" Bill Roberts of Hico, Texas) actually claimed to be Billy the Kid (the town has capitalized a bit on his claims, though they were never proven).

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}
[[Category:Wild West]]
[[Category:Folk Heroes]]
[[Category:Criminals]]