Way Out In New Mexico, Long, Long Ago

Born in New York City as Henry McCarty, Billy The Kid moved to New Mexico with his family as the climate was better suited for his mother's tuberculosis.

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Billy's mother died in 1874, within a few years of arriving in New Mexico. Billy was but 13 years old.

Now on his own, Billy was forced to fend for himself, washing dishes and busing tables all the while continuing to attend school where he was said to have been a good student, artistic and an excellent reader as well as polite and well-mannered.

Billy’s legendary life of crime had the humblest of beginnings. In part of his struggle to make a living in his young teens, he stole several pounds of butter, which he sold to a local merchant. He was caught, but the town's sheriff let the him off with a warning.

His next offense involved hiding a bag of stolen laundry for a local, petty theif called "Sombrero Jack."

This time the judge decided to make an example out of Billy and decided to try him as an adult, though he was barely 15. However, the sheriff protested and instead held Billy in jail for a couple of days to give him a good scare.

Billy was too restless for any sort of confinement, and being small, was able to climb up a fireplace chimney and escape.

Now a fugitive, Billy spent the next few years working odd jobs, learning how to gamble and stealing horses.

It was during this time that he encountered Frank "Windy" Cahill. Cahill found enjoyment in harassing and bullying Billy and would eventually earn the distinction as the first man to be killed by Billy The Kid.

From here Billy would join gangs of bandits using the alias "William H. Bonney," but was commonly known as "Kid."

In 1877, Billy went to work for a rancher, John Tunstall, after Billy stole some of his horses and Tunstall agreed not to press charges if Billy would come to work for him. Tunstall was brutally killed by an opposing party in a property dispute, which has become known as the "Lincoln County War."

Though he continued to lead a life of crime, on many instances Billy attempted to rectify his situation and go straight. However, he was repeatedly double-crossed in his attempts to do so.

When Pat Garret, a former buffalo hunter, was elected sheriff of Lincoln County, he turned his focus to bringing in Billy The Kid.

Garrett did capture Billy and transported him back to Las Vegas and even kept him from being lynched.

Again, Billy managed to escape.

On July 14, 1881, Sheriff Pat Garrett caught up with Billy The Kid in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where Billy was killed in a final gunfight. He was 21.