Billy The Kid Essay, Research Paper
The Territory of New Mexico, in the mid-1870-80s, experienced a moving ridge of rampant anarchy, unparalleled
in the history of the United States. One must walk a stat mi in their places before coming to decisions about the lives of work forces
and male childs in that epoch. Henry McCarty, alias Kid Antrim, alias William H. Bonney, alias Billy The Kid, born in the E, came to
New Mexico in the 1870 & # 8217 ; s and started out on his ain from Silver City. Travel where you will over the trails he rode, and you will
agree, he is alive today. In Lincoln, he became involved in the celebrated Lincoln County War. This was a clip of political discord
and fiscal power battles. In most instances, one must kill or be killed. Upon the decease of John Tunstall, Billy vowed
retribution on every adult male who participated in that cruel, wanton slaying. Subsequently, the Kid was involved in the decease of Morton,
Baker, McCloskey, Brady, Hindman and Beckwith. The blood feud led him through the bosom of New Mexico. At Blazer & # 8217 ; s Mill,
near Mescalero, Brewer and Buckshot Roberts met their fate. The Rio Ruidoso took them to Dowlin & # 8217 ; s Mill, the Hondo
Valley led to the Chisum South Springs Ranch near Roswell. The Pecos River trail winds up to Old Fort Sumner, where Joe
Grant caused his ain death. A subdued trail off E to Los Portales Springs hideaway. Seven Rivers traversing, near Carlsbad,
tallied 200,000 caput of cowss from Texas following the Goodnight-Loving, Chisum trail. The extremely publicised life of Bonnie
was the accelerator for many other criminals of his clip. Jesse James another criminal that roamed the same district at
about the same clip got many of his tactics and bizarre jokes from the? Billy? forepart. Jesse James, b. Clay one of
the most celebrated criminals of the American West, acquired a Robin Hood repute among the people of his part. At the
age of 15, during the Civil War, he joined a set of pro-Confederate guerillas led by William C. QUANTRILL. After the war
he formed a pack with his brother, Frank, and several other work forces. They held up Bankss, stagecoaches, and trains until 1876,
when the pack was decimated seeking to rob a bank in Northfield, Minn. The two brothers escaped and formed a new pack.
On Apr. 3, 1882, Jesse was shot and killed by a fellow pack member for a wages. Frank subsequently surrendered ; he was tried
and not guilty twice. Patrick Floyd Garrett, born in Alabama, led a successful life as a American bison huntsman in Texas, before floating
into New Mexico. His election as Sheriff of Lincoln County drew him into this fable. He was a good Sheriff at the clip New
Mexico needed such a adult male. The White Oaks brush on December 1, 1880 caused an inadvertent shot at the
Greathouse Stage Station, near Corona. The trail goes on to Anton Chico, Puerto de Luna, Sunnyside Spring and Old Fort
Sumner, where Tom O & # 8217 ; Folliard fell in an ambuscade. The connexions of Wilcox-Yerby spreads and Brazil Spring played a portion in
the resignation at Stinking Springs, and the terminal of CharlieBowdre. On to Las Vegas, by waggon, to Santa Fe by railway car, through
Albuquerque, on to Old Mesilla for test. Under heavy guard they trudged through La Luz, Alamogordo, and back to Lincoln,
where Billy performed his dare flight, after the decease of Bell and Olinger. Now, with a wanted posting for Billy The Kid, Pat
Garrett was hot on the trail back to Old Fort Sumner. There, on July 14, 1881, Pat Garrett, in the Maxwell house, killed the
celebrated Outlaw. In the old garrison cemetery a aimless air current whisks across the field, a bantam dust Satan will whirl for a minute
frantically, futility, and is swallowed up in the void. This was the life of the Kid, and surely, he is buried at that place, in Old
Fort Sumner. Garrett & # 8217 ; s trails continued to the Roswell country, where he made his place. He made trails to the gold and
turquoise mines in the Jicarilla Mountains, he followed the trails of Albert Fountain, seeking to work out his cryptic
disappearing. On the trail from Organ to Las Cruces, Pat Garrett met his decease, in 1908, and is buried in the Masonic
graveyard in Las Cruces. Garrett left his grade on New Mexico in many ways ; one of significance is, his girl Elizabeth
wrote O Fair New Mexico, the province vocal. So the Legends live on! For about a century, people have been chew overing what
truly happened the dark of July 14, 1881, in Pete Maxwell & # 8217 ; s place in Fort Sumner. Did Pat Garrett truly shoot and kill Billy
the Kid? Or did the Kid flight Garrett & # 8217 ; s gunshot and do a great
flight to Mexico? He could hold either lived out his
old ages in that state or made his manner back to the United States. A recent intelligence narrative from Las Cruces led me to bespeak a
transcript of a missive written by Pat Garrett in 1906. The missive was donated to the Historical Museum of Lawmen at the Dona
Ana County Sheriff & # 8217 ; s Department by two granddaughters of Pat Garrett. Lt. West Gilbreath, Lieutenant of Detectives,
gracefully sent me a transcript of the missive. Written on an El Paso whiskey seller & # 8217 ; s letterhead, the typewritten missive is dated
April 15, 1906, and really is an affidavit by Pat Garrett, signed P. L. Garrett, saying that a Colt 44 handgun, Consecutive No. 55093,
is the 1 he used to stop the life of William Bonney. But one or two lines in the missive are important: & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; it should be known
that the & # 8216 ; Kid & # 8217 ; was killed that dark and does non populate in Mexico, as some have stated. I used the Colt 44 to stop his
depredation in the County. & # 8221 ; Garrett states that the handgun and an 1873 Winchester, Serial No. 47629, were both taken from
the Kid & # 8217 ; s pack at the conflict of & # 8220 ; Stinking Springs, & # 8221 ; near Portales. & # 8220 ; It was a unusual bend of events that the really gun that was
taken from his pack was subsequently used to stop his life, Garrett wrote. & # 8220 ; Both guns were new and my place as Sheriff of Lincoln
County, allowed me to take and utilize any equipment that I so desired & # 8230 ; . These guns are of the same quality and were really
Handy, because merely one sort of ammo had to be carried. & # 8221 ; Despite Garrett & # 8217 ; s ain statements, there are many who
inquiry whether Garrett truly killed Billy the Kid. It & # 8217 ; s about go a portion of New Mexico folklore that Billy the Kid truly
escaped. Some in this country even suggest that Sallie Chisum Robert & # 8217 ; s trips to Mexico were furtive visits with Billy the
Kid. One adult male who lived in Hico, Texas, and went by the name of Oliver P. & # 8220 ; Ollie & # 8221 ; Roberts, aka & # 8220 ; Brushy Bill, & # 8221 ; claimed to be Billy
the Kid. His narrative has been told since 1955 in a assortment of books. Dr. C. L. Sonnichsen wrote & # 8220 ; Alias Billy the Kid & # 8221 ; from
stuffs furnished by William Morrison, who was Brushy Bill Roberts attorney in Brushy Bill & # 8217 ; s try to secure a forgiveness
for the offenses of Billy the Kid from Gov. Thomas Mabry in 1950. Roberts died shortly thenceforth, the forgiveness was non
granted. Later, William A. Tunstill of Roswell wrote & # 8220 ; Billy the Kid and Me Were the Same. & # 8221 ; Judge Bobby E. Hefner has
penned & # 8220 ; The Trial of Billy the Kid, & # 8221 ; a fictional test weighing the truth of grounds presented on behalf of Brushy Bill. Hefner, a
former municipal justice, comes down on the side of Brushy Bill, reasoning & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; Billy will populate everlastingly in our Black Marias and heads.
He died of old age. But he will everlastingly be Billy the Kid. & # 8221 ; It should be noted that Hefner owns the Billy the Kid Museum in Hico,
Texas. While life, Brushy Bill claimed he was born in 1859. The left-handed, right-handed statement consequences from
publication of a tintype of Billy the Kid, the lone known exposure of William Bonney, which is truly a mirror image. When
published right, Billy & # 8217 ; s handgun is on his right side. Besides talking fluid Spanish, Billy the Kid was literate and did compose in
rather easy-to-read script. He penned several letters to Gov. Lew Wallace, trying to win Wallace & # 8217 ; s good will and
possibly a forgiveness. Bowlin said local Fort Sumner occupants, who include a good figure of posterities of those who knew
Billy the Kid, by and large believe Garrett killed the Kid. One adult female recalls taking Deluvina Maxwell, a adult female who knew Billy the
Kid, to see Billy the Kid & # 8217 ; s grave. & # 8220 ; That & # 8217 ; s what convinced me, & # 8221 ; the adult female told Bowlin. & # 8220 ; If Billy the Kid wasn & # 8217 ; t truly buried at that place,
I don & # 8217 ; t believe she would hold been sing his grave. & # 8221 ; For those who still don & # 8217 ; t believe, ponder the winning prevarication in the one-year
Liar & # 8217 ; s Contest at the Billy the Kid Outlaw Gang & # 8217 ; s one-year meeting. The two sentence prevarication was told by Clovis historian Don
McAlavy, who beat out five other out-and-out prevaricators ( including Judge Hefner ) . It was this: & # 8220 ; Judge Hefner says Brushy Bill
Roberts was truly Billy the child. I believe he & # 8217 ; s stating the truth! & # 8221 ; REFERENCES Lincoln County War & # 8211 ; A Documentary History,
New York, N.Y. 1984-9885 pp. 145 Frederick Nolan Violence in Lincoln County & # 8211 ; William A. Keleher, New York, N.Y. 1986 pp.
123 The Saga of Billy The Kid & # 8211 ; Walter Noble Burns, Boston M.A. , 1990, pp. 189 Authentic Life of Billy The Kid & # 8211 ; Patrick Floyd
Garrett, New York, N.Y. 1967 pp. 123. Bradley, L. C. , Jesse James ( 1980 ) Ernst, John, Jesse James ( 1976 )