On November 23, 1859, Billy the Kid was born in New York City but moved west with his family when he was very young. He took his stepfather's name, Antrim, and was reportedly known as "Kid Antrim" before he changed his name to William H. Bonney. His mother married William Antrim in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1873; Catherine McCarty would die in Silver City, New Mexico in 1874 from tuberculosis. William Antrim would then leave New Mexico and abandon Henry McCarty in Silver City; leaving 15-year old Henry "Kid" Antrim with no family or friends (and forced to learn how to survive in what was considered to be the most isolated and most dangerous section of the United States territories at that time). There are very few facts about Bonney's career that can be verified. His problems with the law began at age fifteen, when he was thrown in jail for laundry theft and theft of a firearm in Silver City, New Mexico. After escaping jail, he fled to Arizona across desert and harsh conditions (mostly on foot). He learned how to gamble, and was reportedly good at it (especially 3-Card Monty). Known as "The Kid," he reportedly shot and killed an older man ("Windy" Cahill) who had bullied him in a bar and reportedly forced him into a bar fight. Fearing arrest for murder, Kid Antrim then fled back to New Mexico.

Reputation grows

Back in New Mexico, Kid Antrim changed his name to William H. Bonney. He rode with the Jesse Evans gang (a.k.a. "The Boys"), and learned how to steal cattle and horses. He was caught stealing horses from British rancher John Tunstall in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Instead of prosecution, John Tunstall offered Bonney a job as a ranch hand. Bonney accepted Tunstall's offer and was on the right side of the law for a while, but this didn't last long. Bonney would find himself involved in a conflict between Tunstall's ranching enterprise and the huge New Mexico ranching enterprise of Jimmy Dolan. Dolan was an Irish immigrant who settled in New Mexico before British immigrant John Tunstall established his competing business there, and reportedly ruled over Lincoln County businesses like a "thief-dom," getting a piece of every dollar spent in Lincoln County. The conflict between Tunstall and Dolan would become known as the Lincoln County War (1878–79), and it would lead to a very violent struggle between Dolan's employees and Tunstall's emplyees (i.e. two armed rival groups of cattle ranchers and also merchants associated with both sides). Bonney proved to be a fearless fighter and an excellent shot; he reportedly could shoot cowbirds off of cattle at a distance (and without hurting the cows). However, the conflict became very violent and highly political, and Bonney and others were involved in killing Lincoln County Sheriff James Brady (who was also an Irish immigrant. It was suspected that Brady had John Tunstall murdered via the hiring of known criminals. Sheriff Brady also reportedly owed $6000 to fellow Irishman Jimmy Dolan, the Lincoln County War rival of British immigrant John Tunstall).  As a result, Bonney and his fellow Tunstall ranch hands involved in Brady's killing were wanted for murder of a sheriff. A hostile New Mexico press (mostly owned by friends of Jimmy Dolan) did not help with public relations with Bonney or the others who killed Sheriff Brady. After the killing of Sheriff Brady, there was scarcely a theft or murder in New Mexico that was not blamed on William Bonney or his fellow ranch hands with this New Mexico press (who blatantly leaned in the direction of Jimmy Dolan during and after the Lincoln County War).  

During a truce with the Lincoln County War, Bonney struck a deal with a newly arrived territory governor, New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace. Bonney agreed to testify against Jimmy Dolan and other murderers in return for a pardon and having the murder charges against him dropped. Bonney reportedly fingered over 100 people for murder, including Jimmy Dolan. However, when it came time to delivering the pardon, Santa Fe Judge William Bristol (who was reportedly close to Jimmy Dolan) refused to allow Bonney to be pardoned. Murder charges against Jimmy Dolan were also dropped, and Bonney promptly escaped from jail before he could be sentenced for murdering Sheriff Brady. Bonney then returned to his criminal ways in New Mexico, telling his fellow wanted ranch hands he was going to "steal himself a living" (while many of the former Tunstall ranch hands fled to Colorado or Texas). Bonney would lead several other men with stealing cattle and horses from New Mexico ranchers close to or who assisted Dolan during the Lincoln County War, and becoming a real thorn in the side to the powers in New Mexico. Thereafter, a Las Vegas, New Mexico newspaper would print out and give Bonney his most famous alias: "Billy The Kid." In a twist of fate (and failing to fulfill a promise to Bonney), Governor Wallace then ordered Billy The Kid to be arrested for the murder of Sheriff Brady. Lincoln County's new sheriff Pat Garrett soon took the Kid into custody. A Santa Fe judge and jury sentenced Billy, saying "you are sentenced to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead!" Billy the Kid's reply was "you can go to hell, hell, hell!"

An incredible jail escape and a violent end

Billy the Kid would earn his place among wild west legends with his famous escape from Lincoln County jail. He was somehow able to overpower and shoot two of Sheriff Pat Garretts' deputies: one deputy got his handgun grabbed away from a shackled and hand-cuffed Billy (while the other deputy was across the street eating lunch). Billy the Kid then shot this deputy in the back with his own handgun grabbed from him, and then Billy ran upstairs to where the jail cell was. He then grabbed a shotgun, went to an open window near the jail cell, and shot and killed the other deputy who was running back to the jail (after hearing the first shot kill his fellow deputy). Billy The Kid reportedly gave a short speech to a gathering of citizens outside the jail, stole a horse, and then escaped. Newspapers all over the U.S. turned this incredible escape into big headlines, angering the powers in New Mexico to new heights. Governor Lew Wallace then placed a staggering reward of $5000 on Billy The Kid, dead or alive. This time the lawmen would take no chances. On July 14, 1881, Sheriff Garrett and his posse tracked Billy to a house in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He was reportedly involved in a love relationship with Paulita Maxwell (who was reportedly pregnant with his child); Paulita was the sister of rancher Pete Maxwell. Garrett ambushed Billy the Kid in a dark room in Pete Maxwell's house and shot him to death. The next day Billy The Kid was buried in a borrowed white shirt that was too large for his slim body. A candle-light vigil was done the night before his burial by local Mexican workers who respected William H. Bonney. It was reported that the Jimmy Dolan faction that Billy the Kid was fighting and stealing from were also responsible for stealing the lands of Mexican sheep-herders via a crooked court system in Santa Fe (who were reportedly close to Jimmy Dolan). Admirers of Billy the Kid reportedly scraped together $208 for a gravestone, which would get broken off into small pieces and stolen by souvenir hunters. Billy had lived exactly twenty-one years, seven months, and twenty-one days. His death and burial was verified by Jesus Silva, a ranch hand of Pete Maxwell and friend of Billy. He stated that anyone else claiming to be Billy The Kid (who "escaped from the shooting") was lying. Below is the grave of Billy The Kid, with fellow Lincoln County War fighters Charlie Bowdre and Tom O'Folliard (who were both ambushed and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett for assisting William Bonney while he was wanted for murder). A cage surrounds the grave to prevent souvenir hunters from chipping away the tombstone. Finally, a cage that Billy The Kid couldn't escape from. 

Up to their deaths, Pete and Paulita Maxwell refused to say how Pat Garrett killed Billy The Kid. Pat Garrett claims he shot Billy in Pete Maxwell's bedroom while Billy entered the room and was asking Pete who the men were outside the house (the posse). Other sources claim Billy was ambushed and shot in Paulita's bedroom (with Paulita stowed away or bound and tied up). I tend to believe the latter account; Pat Garrett was reportedly a "bushwacker" who took no chances and ambushed men or prey he intended to kill. This was certainly the case with Billy's "pals" Charlie Bowdre and Tom O'Folliard. Also note that in Garrett's book "The Authentic Life of Billy The Kid," Pat Garrett reportedly told many lies and half-truths about Billy The Kid and Pete Maxwell. These lies were verified and proven according to historians at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque (i.e. Garrett claimed that Billy the Kid was a psychopath and that Pete Maxwell spoke Spanish with him. Pete Maxwell spoke Spanish with his Mexican workers; English was his reported language of choice when engaged in business).