125 Years Later, Billy The Kid Legend Lives On

By Mark Hoerrner

More than a century past this month, Sheriff Pat Garrett gunned down William H. Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid, in a fierce gun battle at the home of Peter Maxwell. The legend of the baby-faced killer is one of the most storied tales of the old West.

Born in New York City in 1859, little is known about the famous outlaw's life prior to his arrival in Lincoln County in New Mexico in 1877 at the tender age of 17. At that time, Lincoln was on the brink of an internal war for control by cattle barons who were seeking to rule over the area. John Tunstall, one of the faction leaders, took Bonney in and befriended him. It was the Tunstall's murder by a Sheriff's posse that set Bonney on his path of lawlessness.

Called "Billy the Kid" as a popular nickname, the Kid took revenge on Tunstall's killers, a sheriff and deputy, during a daylight ambush in the middle of town. He remained on the run for two years before being captured, tried, and sentenced to death by hanging. The Kid escaped the jail in Lincoln and headed for the abandoned military post of Fort Sumner. From there, the Kid decided that John Chisum, a compatriot of the Kid's former employer, Tunstall, owed the Kid and his associates back pay for their work with Tunstall and in hunting down his killers.

Chisum, naturally, refused to pay and the Kid began rustling Chisum's cattle and selling them off to earn a living, usually for $5 a head.

In 1881, the Kid had the misfortune of calling on Peter Maxwell, son of New Mexico's largest landowner Lucien Maxwell, for assistance and a place to hide out. On the same night, Sheriff Pat Garrett, who had pursued the Kid and killed several of his gang, also arrived at the Maxwell homestead. When the two met, it was Garrett who shot first and killed "Billy the Kid," ending young outlaw's four-year crime spree.

During his heyday, Billy the Kid was said to have spent a great deal of time in the mining town of White Oak where he gambled, sold stolen cattle and romanced local women. He was tried and sentenced several times, though no jail was ever able to hold the person or legend of the Kid. More than 20 murders are attributed to Billy the Kid, though the evidence for most of these deaths has not been well-preserved over the years.

Various organizations now seek to preserve the legend, cataloging personal and historical accounts of the activities of both the Kid and Garrett. One such organization, the Billy the Kid Outlaw Gang, boasts members from 43 states and 7 countries.

The town of Lincoln, New Mexico, still holds an annual reenactment of the Kid's escape from the jail there, the highlight of "Old Lincoln Days," a remembrance of life in the old West. The festival will be held Aug. 4-6 and will also include the Billy the Kid Invitational Fast Draw Shooting Competition.