Billy The Kid Hero

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Billy the Kid was undoubtedly one of, if not the, most infamous outlaws of his time. The Kid was charged for numerous murders and thefts, and succeeded in outrunning the law in more than one occasion, but he could not cheat death forever. However, he was not always a criminal, he was once just a normal boy who was dealt a bad hand. He did not have a father due to the fact that he left the family, and his mother died of Tuberculosis when he was just fifteen. Soon after that is when his life of crime began by a petty theft he and his brother committed. That was his first step onto a road paved of crime and apprehension. He began his life in New York City on November 23rd, 1859, but moved to Kansas when he was just a boy, and from there, he …show more content…

He along with his brother, were arrested for a minor theft. This put him on a stray path of what was going to be a very difficult life. However he did not stay in Jail very long; he escaped at the age of 17 and fled to Arizona in hopes of escaping the law. Soon after that, “on August 17, 1877, he shot, and killed Windy Cahill(Phillips), an older bully towards Billy”. Of course, this was not the best way to avoid the law. And to top it off, he ran right back to a southeastern corner of New Mexico, where he was initially wanted. To try and avoid the law as much as possible, he called himself “Billy Bonney.” “By then the Lincoln County war was in full swing”(“Billy The Kid” Gottesman), which lasted from 1878-1879. The Lincoln Country War began due to disagreements of parties because “the population of that section is divided into two parties, who have an intense desire to exterminate each other”(Gale American Eras). Although Billy had no part in …show more content…

It was a few months before Sheriff Garret acted on this bounty and rumors, and set out fort Fort Sumner in hopes of finding the Kid again. Sheriff Garret and two other deputies left Lincoln to question a resident of Fort Sumner. Garret “found the Kid at Pete Maxwell's ranch, an adobe house converted from the abandoned quarters of Fort Sumner”(“Pat Garret” Gotesman). Garret proposed that they “should go to the residence of Peter Maxwell” (Poe), a friend of one of the Kid. They stayed speaking with Maxwell for several hours trying to get any information possible that could lead to the arrest of The Kid once again. They stayed talking so long that the room was so dimly lit by the time they were wrapping things up with Maxwell. It was said that Billy entered the dim room and did not recognize Garret due to the poor lighting; because of that, he backed up, drew his revolver and said his famous query, “Quien es? Quien es?” which is Spanish for, “Who is it? Who is it?” The Sheriff recognized the Kid’s voice and shot twice, killing the Kid almost instantly. The first bullet struck Billy in the chest just above his heart, causing him to fall to the ground, gasp for a minute, and die. The Kid’s body was examined at night by candlelight and was stated to be William Henry Bonney’s body, and they buried him the next day July

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