A tiny stone cabbage has a big backstory stretching from Beijings Forbidden City to Taipei's National Palace Museum. In 1881, he was apprehended by Sheriff Pat Garrett and sentenced to death by hanging for murder. Billy the Kid was free for just three months before his final encounter with Pat Garrett. After the escape, Garrett set out to remove Billy from the landscape, one way or another. Although the book was not successful when it was released, an original edition became quite valuable over the years. Ethan Hawke and Dane DeHaan ride tall in Vincent DOnofrios fresh take on the saga of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Circa 1879-1880. Since that time, debates have raged over Robertss claims, and whether he was truly one of the Wests most notorious gunmen or just an old man looking for attention. His end wasn't particularly glamorous. Garrett then supposedly shot McCarty dead. before being shot dead. Does Billy the Kid Deserve the Pardon He was Promised? This story originally ran in 2017; it has been updated for 2022. Pat Garrett, byname of Patrick Floyd Garrett, (born June 5, 1850, Chambers County, Ala., U.S.died Feb. 29, 1908, near Las Cruces, N.M.), Western U.S. lawman He would tell people around here, You know, I have a secret and one of these days youre going to find out what it is. He didnt want to tell his story at first. He also wouldnt have backed into a darkened doorway where more danger possibly lurked. Billy the Kid has long been one of the many names associated with the Wild West, alongside the Bob Dalton Gang, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cole Younger, Jesse James, and more. Several said the tintype was likely taken between 1879 and 1880, which coincides with the August 2, 1880, date someone had written on the photo,Abrams said. These qualities contributed to his image as both a notorious outlaw and a folk hero. The Regulators were able to ambush and kill Brady, but that didnt put an end to things. I walked to the head of the bed and sat down on it, beside him, near the pillow. In 1882, Garrett and his ghost writer, Marshall Upson, published The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid. The Kid's freedom was short lived however, when Garrett set down to find him on July 14, 1881. Pat Garrett, the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, had been on the trail for months.In December 1880, he had brought in the infamous outlaw Billy the Now a fugitive, Henry McCarty had to lay low. Garrett would encounter him again in July 1881, apparently killing him in a nighttime shootout. Along with deputies Thomas McKinney and John Poe, Garrett reached the Fort on the night of July 14, 1881. However, the true figure is believed to be somewhere between four and nine. In Chisum (1970), Pat Garret was played by 36-year-old Glenn Corbett, and Billy the Kid was played by 26-year-old Geoffrey Deuel. Henry Woodson Strong scouted for famed Indian fighter Ranald S. Mackenzie. The Kid was known to be friendly and personable and a smart dresser, often wearing a Mexican sombrero. History tells us that the outlaw known as Billy the Kid (aka Henry McCarty, aka William Bonney) was gunned downat the ripe old age of 21by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. John Miller, an Arizona man, also claimed he was the outlaw. We learned, subsequently, that, when he left his companions that night, he went to the house of a Mexican friend, pulled off his hat and boots, threw himself on a bed, and commenced reading a newspaper. Garrett became involved again when he heard a tip that the Kid was hiding out in the Fort. He was to outlaws what Wyatt Earp was to lawmen, an iconic figure whose legacy persists on to this day. Pat Garrett eventually shot and murdered him in July 1881. He moved to Texas, where Governor John Ireland appointed him to the Texas Rangers. Hes since been romanticized in print, and on stage, television, and film as an emblem of the lawless West. In 1948, a paralegal named William V. Morrison was investigating a man named Joe Hines, a survivor of the Lincoln County War, the feud that helped make Billy the Kids name. I believe all communities are built on legends, and in Hamilton County Brushy Bills stories connect us to those wild days of the frontier.. The photo of the Kid discovered in 2015 has since been estimated to be worth $5 million. Interviewed later by a reporter, he took in his surroundings and asked, "Is the jail at Santa Fe any better than this? But how much of the myth is actually true? He was armed with a knife and a gun. In 1878, to settle a dispute over a large debt owed by Tunstalls business partner to a rival cohort of local businessmen, Sheriff William Brady and his posse attempted to seize around $40,000 worth of Tunstalls cattle. It is only the fourth known photograph of Billy the Kid and is thought to be a trophy shot taken by Garrett and his posse after they arrested him. McCarty, was a member of the Regulators gang. The victim, Patrick Floyd Jarvis Pat Garrett, was the former sheriff of Lincoln County best known for having killed outlaw Billy the Kid on July 14, 1881. Garrett served as sheriff of Doa Ana County from 1896 to 1900. He was murdered at about 10:30 on the morning of Feb. 29, 1908, some 5 miles east of Las Cruces. August 10th, 2010. The intruder came close to me, leaned both hands on the bed, his right hand almost touching my knee, and asked, in a low tone:Who are they Pete?at the same instant Maxwell whispered to me. Pats son Dudley arranged with Jesse Brazel for a five-year lease of the Garretts Bear Canyon Ranch. They all moved to Kansas together in 1870 and she married Antrim in 1873. Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. In the aftermath of the apparent shooting, numerous people claimed to have met the Kid. Wikimedia CommonsThe disputed photo bought by Randy Guijarro, allegedly showing Billy the Kid (center). Billy the Kid, byname of William H. Bonney, Jr., original name Henry McCarty?, (born November 23, 1859?, New York, New York, U.S.died July 14, 1881, Fort Sumner, New Mexico), American outlaw who was one of the most notorious gunfighters of the American West. Before I made the discoveries I made in my book, I did not have an opinion on Brushy Bill, says Edwards. They made it safely, however, and Garrett collected the $500 state bounty on Billys head. Amid controversy, Garrett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 2, 1902. The man, local blacksmith Frank Cahill, called Billy a pimp. In July, Garrett rode to Fort Sumner and learned the Kid was staying with the same Pedro Maxwell who had employed Garrett when he first arrived in New Mexico. History Channel 9 Things You May Not Know About Billy the Kid, History Channel Billy the Kid Convicted of Murder, History Collection Billy the Kid Is Arrested for the First Time (1875). One particular misstep in the Kids life was his affiliation with the Lincoln County War. As a result of one of the many ambushes that occurred, Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady and one of his deputies were found dead, having been shot by the Kid. Detail from a larger photo alleged to show Bonney (left) playing croquet in New Mexico in 1878. Billy the Kids grave is in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. When he was unable to make mortgage payments on his ranch, the county auctioned off his personal belongings, but that raised only $650. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. For instance, Poe does not remember the significant incident at the peach orchard. Some believe that the Kid lived on as Brushy Bill Roberts, but others believe that the Kid was in fact buried the next day in the Fort Sumner cemetery. Born Henry McCarty, he was the first of two boys raised by a small Irish Catholic family in New York City. For horse theft, of course. But it wasnt to be. He realized that the law had made its way to Fort Sumner, so he fled towards Maxwells compound. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. He and an accomplice named John Mackie began swiping horses from a nearby Army fort and then selling them. According to popular legend, Garrett and McCarty were friends before he became an outlaw, but there is no historical evidence to support the theory. Billy the Kidborn William Henry McCarty, but also known as William H. Bonneyoriginally came from New York. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. A suspicion lingered that Brazel or someone else conspired to execute Garrett, a lawman with many enemies. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. At this point also calling himself William Bonney, he took up honest work as a cowboy for a rancher in Lincoln County named John Tunstall. Nine years older than Billy, he'd been a buffalo hunter, hired gun, and cowboy before he ran for sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, on a law-and-order platform. Texas. Brushy Bill was very well known around these parts, says Jane Klein, historian at the Billy the Kid Museum. Lets get the issue of imposters out of the way quickly. Believing the photo to include Billy the Kid (which would make it just the second known photo of him), Guijarro eventually found an authentication firm that verified his claim with facial recognition analysis and valued it at $5 million. According to legend, the judge shouted at the 21-year-old Kid that he was to hang by the neck until he was dead, dead, dead! Also according to legend, Billys last words on the record were to tell the judge he could go to hell, hell, hell!. During a card game, Billy the Kid accused another player of cheating. The report said: We, the jury, find that Billy the Kid (met) his death by a bullet which was fired from a gun in the hands of Pat F. Garrett. Garrett apparently lost the verdict by the next morning. To Poes great surprise, he recognized in the camper an old friend and former partner, in Texas, named Jacobs. William Wallace agrees, also citing that McGinn has, meager qualifications. When we reached the porch in front of the building, I left Poe and McKinney at the end of the porch, about twenty feet from the door of Petes room, and went in. Here's how Sheriff Pat Garrett related his side of the story. In 2008, for instance, Bonham sold Billy's gun for $64,350. If not, did someone else shoot the outlaw? I wont put a price on it, quite frankly its priceless. Each landowner was supported by their own gang. Even by frontier standards, he was young. Adamson agreed to meet with Garrett and Brazel to iron out an agreement. At some point after these murders, Lew Wallace became governor of New Mexico. Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett (June 5, 1850 February 29, 1908) was an American Old West lawman, bartender and customs agent known for killing Billy the Kid. In researching his book, Edwards analyzed photographs of Billy the Kid and Roberts, and dug into the details of Robertss account of his life and compared them with known facts about Billy the Kid. McCartys family life was total chaos from the start. Billy's arrest found him in Garrett's custody. We'll see what happens,' Abrams said. Web2013-08-26 To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West ; 2013-08-24 To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West ; 2013-08-17 The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid ; 2012-03-25 Michael Flynn - The January Dancer In Naples, Praying With Skulls Is an Ancient Tradition, Show & Tell With the Staff of Chicagos Field Museum, A Visit to the Museum of Broken Relationships, A Journey Through Black History in Miniature, The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things, See the Mysterious Horned Helmet of Henry VIII, One Street: Chinatown-International District, Seattle, Hawaiis Native-Language Newspaper Archive, 'Discovering' Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Migration, The Real Story Behind George Washington's Dentures. He was a gambler and heavy drinker andoften deeply in debt. ', This undated file photo (left) is thought to be an image of famed gunslinger Billy the Kid near the age of 18. In December 1880 he was captured by Garrett and stood trial for murder in Mesilla, New Mexico, in April 1881; he was found guilty and was sentenced to hang. Garrett wouldn't find McCarty until two years later, a month after he was appointed sheriff. 'One day it may end up at an auction house somewhere. "I knew the desperate character of the man," Garrett would later write in his own biography of Billy, "that he was daring and unscrupulous, and that he would sacrifice the lives of a hundred men who stood between him and liberty." Soon after, the family moved farther west where Henry McCarty started getting into trouble. From his step I could perceive he was either barefooted or in his stocking-feet, and held a revolver in his right hand and a butcher knife in his left. The man who had leased the ranch, Wayne Brazel, alleged that Garrett had drawn a gun on him and that the killing was self-defense. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billy-the-Kid-American-outlaw, American Heritage - Billy the Kid: From Outlaw to Legend, PBS - American Experience - The Life and Legend of Billy the Kid, Billy the Kid - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pat-Garrett, HistoryNet - Pat Garrett Was the Last Great Frontier Lawman, Texas State Historical Association - The Handbook of Texas Online - Biography of Pat Garrett, Robert Garrett - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Roberts died a month later, and neither Billy the Kid nor Brushy Bill Roberts ever received a pardon. The Kid was convicted and sentenced to hang, but the following April, he made an audacious escape from prisonand killed deputies James Bell and Bob Olinger in the process. Its all just part of the areas mythology. In April 1878, the Regulators ambushed Brady and four of his deputies on a main street in Lincoln. Brazel surrendered to Deputy Sheriff Felipe Lucero in Las Cruces, shouting, Lock me up. Stahl said he thought it was a 'high probability' that it was Garrett in the photo, but he wasn't sure if another man was Billy the Kid. After seeing a TV program in 2015 about the discovery of a photo of the outlaw playing croquet, Abrams was inspired to research him further. These absences got longer and more common as McCartys mother got sick with tuberculosis and became more dependent on the men in her family to look after her.