The Early Life of Billy the Kid

William Bonny's Childhood Through to the Lincoln County War

Sep 9, 2009

Billy the Kid was born 150 years ago. A gun fighter, yes undoubtedly, but the Kid was not the cold blooded killer his legendary reputation leads us to believe.

Much of the early life of Henry McCarty, or Billy the Kid as he was later known is hearsay or assumption. He is believed to have been born on November 23rd 1859 but there is no evidential proof of this. Both September 17th and November 20th are also dates that have been linked as potential dates of birth for this gunslinger. As with his birthday, there are a number of areas claiming to be the Kid's place of birth, namely New York City, Indiana and Missouri.

Billy moved with his family and stepfather, William Antrim to Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico in order that his mother, who was suffering from tuberculosis, could benefit from the dryer and hotter climate. Unfortunately the move came too late for her family to notice any improvement in her condition. Billy's mother, Catherine died on September 16th 1874.

Billy the Kid's First Taste of Jail

Single again, Antrim didn't want to be held back by his step children so he placed, Billy and his younger brother, Joseph in separate foster homes. More or less left to his own devices, Billy found work wherever he could, washing up, waiting on tables etc, but unfortunately, like so many young men, he fell in with the 'wrong crowd'. One of Billy's new friends stole some clothes from a Chinese laundry and told Billy to hide them. Caught with the stolen property in his possession, Billy was arrested. The sheriff knew the lad wasn't a hardened criminal and thought a short, sharp shock would do the trick so instead of sending him for trial he decided to lock the lad up for a few days. However, Billy had other plans. He escaped by climbing up the chimney out of the jail.

The Kid's First Killing

In 1877, Billy was involved in an argument with an Irish bully by the name of Frank Cahill. Billy' had already had a number of run-ins with the thug before as Cahill seemed to enjoy picking on the Kid; his slight build made him an easy target. On August 18th 1877, while at Fort Grant, Cahill started a fight with Billy. He threw him to the ground and lunged on top of him, pinning the lad down before continuing to beat him. Barely able to move, Billy managed to grab Cahill's gun and shoot the Irishman in the gut before pushing him off him and fleeing the scene. Although Cahill's death was recorded as murder, eye witnesses later claimed the Kid had acted in self defence.

With no where to go, Billy joined a gang known as 'the Boys' who targeted the cattle herds of John Chisum, (August 15th 1824- December 20th 1884), a rancher who's name was immortalised in the 1970 John Wayne film entitled 'Chisum'.

The Boys made their way to Lincoln County where they joined forces with James Dolan. Dolan had the support of the Sante Fe ring, a group of powerful land speculators and attorney's who had became rich making corrupt land deals and by obtaining Government contracts to supply beef to the Native Americans living on reservations making their money by supplying fewer animals than contracted or by supplying poor quality meat. Perhaps the nearest modern day comparison would be the Mafia. The members of the Santa Fe ring were secure in the knowledge that they had the backing of the State governor, politicians and attorneys.

Billy the Kid Joins Forces with John Tunstall and John Chisum

Dolan had become engaged in a feud with John Tunstall (March 6th 1853 – February 18th 1878). Tunstall was born in Dalston, England but immigrated to America where he established himself as a cattle rancher, banker and merchant with his partner Alex McSween, an attorney. The Boys started to target Tunstall's animals and eventually William Bonney, as Billy the Kid was now known, was arrested for cattle rustling. Tunstall met Bonney in prison where he took a liking to the slightly built young man. He convinced Billy to testify against his co-conspirators and in return he'd give the lad a job. For Billy it was an offer he found hard to refuse and went to work for Tunstall.

With no end to the feud in sight, Tunstall, along with Alexander McSween and John Riley established a bank and mercantile store, with the financial backing of John Chisum in direct competition to the store run by James Dolan and Lawrence Murphy. Their business, J.H. Tunstall & Co quickly became very popular, much to the anger of their competitors. John Tunstall had tried to fight his enemies using the legal route but due to the bias of Judge Bristol and Governor Sam Axtell, Tunstall found himself with no choice but to fight as dirty as his opponents. The Lincoln County War was about to break out.

The copyright of the article The Early Life of Billy the Kid in Criminals/Outlaws is owned by Lynda Osborne. Permission to republish The Early Life of Billy the Kid in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.