Billy the Kid: The Most Dangerous Outlaw of the West “I don’t blame you for writing of me as you have. You had to believe other stories, but then I don’t know if anyone would believe anything good of me anyway.” Billy the Kid. Even Billy acknowledges how mysterious his backstory was before becoming an infamous gunslinger, and how people had to get secondary information about him and what troubles he had been up to. Billy the Kid is one of the most mysterious outlaws to exist, not much is known about him until he started being an outlaw, though there is some information that has been compiled to help fill in the story of Billy the Kid and his early life. Billy the Kid was a notorious outlaw that had a criminal career spanning six years, racking up many charges from twenty one counts of murder and numerous charges for cattle rustling and stealing. Though he was not raised to be a criminal, he was forced into situations that forced him down that path. Furthermore, because of the path he chose, he became …show more content…
The Early life of Henry McCarthy Billy the kid or Henry McCarthy, which was his real name, is surrounded in mystery with little known of his childhood. Though it is speculated that he was born in New York City, New York on November 23, 1859 ( PBS KVIE, n.d.) to Catherine McCarty and an unknown father. Though the father was not known, he died when Henry was only three years old, leading Mrs. McCarthy to remarry some years later to William Henry in Santa Fe, New Mexico (Rennert, 1968, 60). Following the wedding, the family moved to Silver City, where they lived for a few years until Henry's mother passed from tuberculosis on September 16, 1874. At age sixteen Henry was struggling constantly moving from city to city trying to get a somewhat stable job but unable to