All About Billy the Kid and Other Famous Criminals of the Wild West

Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty, was an American outlaw and Old West legend known for his exploits of stealing and killing while traveling with a gang in the new Western territories. He gained notoriety through the larger-than-life legends that accrued both during his lifetime and after his demise as whispers grew over the decades that he survived. He’s become a popular figure in Old West stories and history and pops up often in American pop culture.

Late 1859

Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty born from Irish immigrant, Catherine McCarty. Little is known of his father and it is suggested that he and his mother lived alone in the New York City slums before moving to Indianapolis.

March 1, 1873

Catherine McCarty moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to marry William Antrim. The family settled in Silver City in the hopes of benefiting from the local mining industry and a better climate to help Catherine as she had developed tuberculosis.

September 16, 1874

Catherine McCarty Antrim succumbs to tuberculosis and William Antrim shows no interest in raising a teenage boy. After his mother’s death, Henry moved into a local boardinghouse.

September 23, 1875

Henry took part in theft with another resident of the boardinghouse, George Schaefer. Legend suggests that as Schaefer robbed a laundry operator, Henry acted as the lookout and ended up being charged with larceny.

September 25, 1875

Henry escapes from the local jail and headed to Chloride Flats, where he began his life as an outlaw when he was 15 years old. The following day, Henry’s escape was reported on in the Silver City Herald, marking it the first-ever story published about him.

April 19, 1876

Henry arrives in the Arizona territory and takes on ranch jobs in the area. He earned the label “Kid”, which was a common nickname for delinquents. He quickly lived up to the name with frequent gambling and joining a gang led by the criminal John R. Mackie.

March 25, 1877

The Kid and Mackie are arrested and charged for stealing three horses from soldiers. The Kid manages to escape, despite being shackled, while the guards are attending a dance.

August 17, 1877

The Kid reportedly got into an altercation with a blacksmith by the name of Francis “Windy” Cahill that ended with the Kid fatally shooting Cahill and fleeing the Arizona territory for the New Mexico territory. The Kid linked up with a group of thieves known as “the boys,” in the new territory to be part of an organized crime ring.

Late 1877

The Kid adopts the alias, William H. Bonney. He is arrested during this time in Lincoln County for possessing stolen horses and upon his release he is hired by the man whose horses were stolen, John Tunstall, to be a cowboy and gunman on his ranch.

February 18, 1878

John Tunstall is killed by a gang while transporting nine horses to Lincoln. This event instigates the legendary Lincoln County War.

Early March 1878

Tunstall’s foreman, Dick Brewer, is appointed as a “special constable”, which gives him the authority to make arrests. He formed the Regulators, a lawful posse with permission to take vengeance for the murder of Tunstall and included Billy the Kid. They are paid $4/day and they waste little time in capturing three members of the posse that killed Tunstall.

April 1, 1878

The Kid and the other Regulators kill Sheriff Brady as he’s walking down the street in retaliation for Tunstall’s death. The Kid is shot in the thigh, but escapes. Over the next three months, violence worsens on both sides, leading to more deaths, but only Regulators are indicted by the law.

July 15, 1878

The fighting in Lincoln County peaks with the Five-Day Battle. 60 regulators fight a gun battle against the Sheriff and 40 of their men.

July 19, 1878

After five days of fighting, the Army cavalry arrives and while they claim to be neutral they are only aiming their cannon at the Regulators. Between Regulators fleeing and the many deaths, their ranks are diminished to 13 despite the Kid’s attempt to flee and cause a diversion.

September 30, 1878

President Rutherford B. Hayes appoints Lew Wallace to restore order to the New Mexico territory. Governor Wallace issues a proclamation of amnesty for anybody involved in the Lincoln County War with the exception of those under indictment like the Kid currently was. This prevents him from receiving a pardon.

February 18, 1879

The Kid and four others meet with several of the men involved in Tunstall’s murder on the one-year anniversary. While the meeting initially seems to be turning violent, both sides meet and sign an agreement to stop testifying against and killing one another.

March 13, 1879

The Kid sends Governor Wallace the first of several letters asking for amnesty. Wallace responds by asking him to appear at Squire Wilson’s house on a specific day and time.

  • Billy the Kid and Lew Wallace: This page includes excerpts of letters written by Billy the Kid to Governor Lew Wallace.

  • Billy the Kid Mystery Solved: This article discusses the correspondence between Billy the Kid and Governor Wallace and how dating those letters helped historians learn more about the Kid.

April 1879

The Kid appears in a court of law before a grand jury and testifies against the murderers who killed Chapman. Over 200 indictments are made against 50 men but despite this, a lawyer could not bring all of these indictments to trial.

Summer 1879

The Kid arrives in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and dines with the notorious Jesse James.

Early 1880

The Kid poses for his first and only photo ever taken of him. Paulita Maxwell, Billy the Kid’s ex-lover, claimed that the photo isn’t very good and doesn’t capture his likeness well enough.

January 10, 1880

The Kid shoots and kills a local drunk during a disagreement at a saloon in Fort Sumner.

November 27, 1880

The Kid and his gang are tracked back to a ranch between Vegas and White Oaks and a gun battle erupts. After the blacksmith is shot and killed trying to discuss terms of surrender, both sides blame the other for his death.

December 3, 1880

J.H. Koogler from the Las Vegas Gazette refers to the Kid for the first time as “Billy the Kid.” Koogler continues to write articles that exaggerate his exploits helping to solidify the Kid’s reputation as an outlaw.

  • Claiming Billy the Kid: This newspaper clip shows J.H. Koogler’s iconic article where Billy the Kid is used for the first time.

December 12, 1880

Billy the Kid writes to Governor Wallace to deny he or his men shot at the blacksmith. Despite this, Wallace publishes a notice in New Mexico newspapers for a “$500 Reward” for anybody that captures the Kid.

Five days later, a sheriff ambushes him and his men after luring them into town with lies and fake information, but they are able to escape to their hideout without heavy casualties.

December 23, 1880

The Sheriff tracks down Billy the Kid’s hideout and surrounds them. After a day of back and forth, he surrenders after allegedly being drawn out by the scent of bacon and beans from the Sheriff and his men. He is brought to Las Vegas where he’s the talk of the town.

December 28, 1880

The Kid is quoted in the Las Vegas Gazette during a jailhouse interview saying “What’s the use of looking on the gloomy side of everything? The laugh’s on me this time.”

April 8, 1881

The murder trial for the previous Sheriff begins in Santa Fe. Billy the Kid is represented by the lawyer Albert Jennings Fountain who had previously penned scathing editorials on the Regulators. After two days in court, the case is put to rest with a guilty verdict of first-degree murder. Billy the Kid was the only person convicted for crimes in the Lincoln County War and was slated to die on May 13.

April 28, 1881

The Kid asks a guard in a Lincoln jail to help take him to the toilet. During the trip to the toilet, Billy the Kid gets a hold of the guard’s gun and kills him and a second guard who is crossing the street. He knocks the shackles off his legs with a pickax and escapes. By the following day, word of his escape hits the news.

  • Today in History: Billy the Kid’s Last Jailbreak: The New Mexico History Museum wrote a blog post about Billy the Kid’s jailbreak while he was on death row.

  • Billy the Kid Escaped from Jail: This short update from America’s Story talks about Billy the Kid’s escape from the Lincoln jailhouse and even includes a photo of what his cell may have looked like.

July 14, 1881

The sheriff and two of his deputies slip into Fort Sumner in early evening, after hearing a rumor that the Kid’s former lover, Paulita Maxwell, was pregnant with his child. They sneak into the house and the sheriff fires his gun twice at Billy the Kid, killing him.

Other Famous Country Outlaws

  • Henry Newton Brown (1857-1884): Henry Newton Brown was a gunman in the American Old West who was both a lawman and an outlaw at various points in his life.

  • Sam Bass (1851-1878): Sam Bass was a Texas outlaw and train robber who was part of a gang that robbed a train of thousands of dollars.

  • Felipe Espinosa (1836-1863): Felipe Espinosa was a Mexican-American murderer in the Colorado Territory who led a gang called the “Bloody Espinosas” and killed an estimated 32 people.

  • Belle Starr (1848-1889): Belle Starr was also known as the Bandit Queen, an outlaw who associated with a variety of different gangs. She achieved notoriety after her brutal unsolved murder.

  • Hoodoo Brown (1856-?): Hyman G. Neill, known as Hoodoo Brown, was the leader of a gang in Las Vegas, New Mexico called the Dodge City Gang in 1879 and 1880.

  • Doc Holiday (1851-1887): John Henry “Doc” Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist who was a friend of the lawman, Wyatt Earp. He is best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

  • Jim Miller (1866-1909): Jim Miller was also known as “Killin’ Jim,” “Killer Miller,” and “Deacon Jim.” He was a professional killer who may have killed up to 12 people in gunfights.

  • Bonnie and Clyde (1910, 1909-1934): Bonnie and Clyde were an American criminal couple during the Great Depression. They’re known for their bank robberies and the murder of multiple people during their exploits.

  • Butch Cassidy (1866-1908) and the Sundance Kid (1867-1908): Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were part of a loosely organized gang of outlaws known as Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch in Wyoming.

  • Jesse James (1847-1882): Jesse James was an American outlaw, bank robber, train robber, and the leader of the James Younger Gang stationed in Missouri.