Further reading for Billy The Kid
Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life by Robert M. Utley
To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett by Mark Lee Gardner
Billy The Kid, aka William H Bonney, aka Henry McCarty (his actual birth name) was a vital piece of American folklore, a folk hero, outlaw, and gun fighter. Born during the latter part of the 19th century as east-coast modernity swept across the continent, putting the first shackles on to the nation which would ultimately tame “The Wild West”, Mr. The Kid was the served up a childhood familiar to most people who drifted into the outlaw lifestyle. His parents both died during his childhood and his mother’s second husband, feeling no particular responsibility for him cut Billy loose while living in New Mexico territory.
Billy eventually fell in with some low-level outlaw gangs whose specialty was stealing horses but the event which would brand his name into the American consciousness was his role in a dispute known to history as The Lincoln County War which began with local officials murdering a local rancher and his ranch-hands forming a posse called The Regulators (mount up!) and striking back. The war ended with The Regulators under siege in a burning house with the local authorities hosing the place down with a small cannon and a terrifying crank-operated machine gun called a Gattling Gun.
The few remaining years of Billy’s life were spent on the run from the McCarty-Dolan crew, the instigators of the Lincoln County War and a cadre of rich shit heads who could basically do anything they wanted due to their wealth and status around the county. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Billy’s life as a desperado kept him on the run until he caught the attention of law man, Pat Garret, who would eventually capture Billy twice and subject him to the law of the time, hanging for murder. ACAB.
Episodes: 462 – 465
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