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Billy the Kid

American outlaw and gunfighter (1859-1881) · United States · Died at 21

Billy the Kid is read about 5,271 times a day, in 62 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 27 October 2026

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An orphaned teenager who killed his way into the mythology of the American West before he turned twenty-one. The nine murders - four his alone - and a jailbreak that left two deputies dead made him a newspaper sensation from New Mexico to New York while he was still alive.

Business ProfessionalsOtherUnited StatesAmericas19th Century

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Billy the Kid correctedBilly the Kid correctedA Fuga de Billy e os Reguladores, pintura por Bob Boze BellA Fuga de Billy e os Reguladores, pintura por Bob Boze BellA Grande Matança atrás da casa de McSweenA Grande Matança atrás da casa de McSweenA Letter Dated March 1879, Written by Governor Lew Wallace to Billy the KidA Letter Dated March 1879, Written by Governor Lew Wallace to Billy the KidAn alleged photograph of 18-year-old Billy the KidAn alleged photograph of 18-year-old Billy the KidAn alleged photograph showing Billy the Kid (right) with his brother Joseph AntrimAn alleged photograph showing Billy the Kid (right) with his brother Joseph AntrimBilly le Kid, Doc Holliday, Jesse James et Charlie Bowdre, à Las Vegas en 1879Billy le Kid, Doc Holliday, Jesse James et Charlie Bowdre, à Las Vegas en 1879Billy pulando sobre o corpo de Harvey Morris, durante a fuga da casa de McSween; pintura por Bob Boze BellBilly pulando sobre o corpo de Harvey Morris, durante a fuga da casa de McSween; pintura por Bob Boze Bell

In their own words 2

,
Billy the Kid
,
2 statements, newest first

  1. I don’t blame you for writing of me as you have. You had to believe other stories, but then I don’t know if any one would believe anything good of me anyway.

    Dec 1880, Billy the Kid's comment to a Las Vegas Gazette reporter (December, 1880), Own words

  2. People thought me bad before, but if ever I should get free, I'll let them know what bad means.

    in an interview with a reporter from the Daily New Mexican after his capture at Stinking Springs., Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

About this person

Henry McCarty was fifteen when his parents died. At sixteen he stole food, then robbed a laundry, then fled across territorial lines into Arizona. After killing a blacksmith in an altercation in August 1877, he started calling himself William H. Bonney and drifted back into New Mexico with a gang of cattle rustlers. The Lincoln County War of 1878 pulled him in deeper - riding with the Regulators, he was charged with three killings including Sheriff William J. Brady. Sheriff Pat Garrett caught him in December 1880, and by April 1881 Bonney stood trial, was convicted of Brady's murder, and sentenced to hang. On April 28 he shot his way out of jail, killing two deputies. Garrett found him in Fort Sumner ten weeks later and put a bullet in him. He was twenty-one, and already the subject of dozens of newspaper stories that turned a short brutal run into a legend that never quit.

Country
United States
Type
Other
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1859 to 1881 · aged 21

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