DESPITE WHAT YOU MIGHT have heard (or read or watched), Billy the Kid wasn’t a wild gunslinger with a taste for murder. He was an orphan who excelled at escaping from jail and fought in the Lincoln County War, says Las Cruces historian George R. Matthews, whose book Billy the Kid: The Life Behind the Legend (McFarland) debuted in February. Matthews can recite chapter and verse on the outlaw/villain/folk hero (depending on your perspective), who was born Henry McCarty in Indiana, in 1860, and died in his stocking feet in New Mexico, in 1881. While hundreds of books and articles (including many in this magazine) have been published about Billy, Matthews sorts through the myths to get at the truth, beginning when the Kid was … just a kid. “Billy went to public school in Indiana until the fourth grade and did a year of high school in New Mexico,” Matthews says, noting that Billy was neither illiterate nor destitute. “His mother owned her own laundry business.”
Truth can be hard to come by. The sheriff who shot and killed him in Fort Sumner, Pat Garrett, published The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid in 1882, which creates almost all the myths we hear. In 1925, Walter Noble Burns published The Saga of Billy the Kid. He makes up all kinds of stuff.
One of the most outrageous lies is that during the last battle of the Lincoln County War, Billy comes running out of a house on fire, guns blazing, and escapes into the darkness. He escaped, but he didn’t shoot anyone.
Another big myth is that he was a bloodthirsty killer. He was involved in the Lincoln County War, and he killed two other individuals in self-defense—six men in total. Billy Joel’s song The Ballad of Billy the Kid says he killed 21 men. That comes from newspaper accounts in the 19th century planted by the Santa Fe Ring. Billy fought against them in the Lincoln County War.
I think people are fascinated because they see him being wronged by the corrupt judicial system and by the betrayal of Governor Lew Wallace. He said he would pardon Billy, but he didn’t. That betrayal, and Billy’s subsequent escape, makes him a martyr for personal freedom.
Interested in New Mexico mysteries on screen? Check out our roundup of New Mexico-based shows and documentaries you can stream now.
LEARN MORE ABOUT BILLY THE KID AT THESE HISTORIC SITES
Old Lincoln County Courthouse. Billy escaped from jail here after killing two guards in 1881. Now part of the Lincoln Historic Site, the museum includes exhibitions recounting details of the Lincoln County War.
Billy the Kid’s grave site. Billy was buried in Fort Sumner’s former military cemetery. Because the tombstone has been stolen and recovered multiple times, the site is now protected by a steel cage.
John Henry Tunstall murder site. The English rancher and merchant who employed Billy the Kid for a time was shot by a sheriff’s posse in 1878, after refusing to surrender his horses. His death, which was rumored to be a hit by business rivals, sparked the Lincoln County War.
FACT-CHECK
Why are 48 dogs buried at the School for Advanced Research?
The pet cemetery belonged to Amelia Elizabeth and Martha White, who donated their Santa Fe estate to SAR in the 1970s. “The sisters bred Irish wolfhounds and Afghan hounds,” says Kat Bernhardt, SAR advancement ambassador. “The sisters also helped train dogs during World War II as part of the national Dogs for Defense program.” —Molly Boyle