1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,800
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how

2
00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,920
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello and welcome to the podcast.

3
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,480
Speaker 1: I'm editor Kendis Keener, joined by fellow editor Kaye Lambert

4
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,599
Speaker 1: Candie Katie. When you think of the American wild West

5
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,160
Speaker 1: and all the outlaws of fame and legend and laure

6
00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:29,360
Speaker 1: who comes to mind, well, butch Cassidy for one, and

7
00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:33,479
Speaker 1: Billy the Kid were too. Billy the Kid actually had

8
00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,080
Speaker 1: a whole lot of names, or a lot of aliases,

9
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,720
Speaker 1: I should say. Who was born Henry McCarty, but he

10
00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:44,320
Speaker 1: also went by Henry Antrim, William H. Bonnie, And of

11
00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,120
Speaker 1: course the kid as he was I was somewhat affectionately known,

12
00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,440
Speaker 1: and he's sort of a folkish figure. And there's not

13
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,400
Speaker 1: a whole lot of of records that exist to show

14
00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,080
Speaker 1: precise details of his life as then when he was born.

15
00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,400
Speaker 1: We know when he died. But because his birthdate is

16
00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,440
Speaker 1: a little bit suspect, people suspect that perhaps some people

17
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,679
Speaker 1: said he was born in eighteen fifty nine and died

18
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:11,880
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty one, which would have made him twenty

19
00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,040
Speaker 1: one years old, So it wouldn't have made the sheriff

20
00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,160
Speaker 1: who killed him look so bad for killing a minor,

21
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:18,480
Speaker 1: and we don't know very much about his early life.

22
00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:20,319
Speaker 1: We do know that he was born in New York

23
00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,840
Speaker 1: City and that his mother died of tuberculosis when he

24
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,679
Speaker 1: was fairly young, and some historians and chroniclers of Billy

25
00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:29,920
Speaker 1: the Kid's life would say that his mother's early death

26
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,480
Speaker 1: is what catapulted him into a lifetime of mischief making,

27
00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,280
Speaker 1: because some eyewitness accounts from his childhood say that he was,

28
00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,800
Speaker 1: you know, as much a little boy as anyone else,

29
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:45,399
Speaker 1: just running around town causing mild mischief, nothing extreme, and

30
00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,120
Speaker 1: his stepfather was in the picture for a little while,

31
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 1: but after his mother's death he was pretty much out

32
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,200
Speaker 1: of the picture thanks and exactly Billy was forced to

33
00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,200
Speaker 1: do for himself and bounced around two different foster homes,

34
00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:03,560
Speaker 1: and the detail els of his young life sort of

35
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,600
Speaker 1: paling comparison to the trouble he got into later. And

36
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,800
Speaker 1: he didn't become the kind of cult hero that we

37
00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,280
Speaker 1: think of him as today until the sheriff who killed him.

38
00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,680
Speaker 1: Pat Garrett and m. A. Ash Upson wrote The Authentic

39
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,360
Speaker 1: Life of Billy the Kid, a sensationalistic tale of his

40
00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,799
Speaker 1: life exactly, and I haven't read the book. Katie has

41
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,280
Speaker 1: read it twelve times and four different land counting and counting.

42
00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,040
Speaker 1: But if any of you have read it, I'm a

43
00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,320
Speaker 1: little bit curious about how Billy the Kid is portrayed,

44
00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,960
Speaker 1: because to read some accounts of him, it's almost like

45
00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,720
Speaker 1: he was the troubled teen who was reconciled to a

46
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,840
Speaker 1: lifetime of crime, cold blooded killer, right. But I'm wondering

47
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,000
Speaker 1: if if Garrett makes him out to be just a

48
00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,120
Speaker 1: ruthless monster, because other accounts just say he started getting

49
00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:53,720
Speaker 1: in a little bit of trouble in his teens, but

50
00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,800
Speaker 1: nothing too big. I mean, he didn't have much money anyways,

51
00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,880
Speaker 1: so he was maybe picking things up that weren't quite his,

52
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,519
Speaker 1: like the butter. Do you remember the butter? A little

53
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,200
Speaker 1: a little butter theft, A little butter theft. He stole

54
00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,960
Speaker 1: it from a rancher. The kid had no money, so

55
00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,280
Speaker 1: he filched some butter and sold it to a shopkeeper.

56
00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,840
Speaker 1: And he got caught, obviously, but he only got a um,

57
00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 1: a finger shaken in his staces at that point, not

58
00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,920
Speaker 1: that we condone butterft, not at all. And he was

59
00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,639
Speaker 1: kind of skinny and had what some people described as

60
00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,960
Speaker 1: ladies hands, so he was passed over for many types

61
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,400
Speaker 1: of employment opportunities that went to heartier fellows, uh, such

62
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,080
Speaker 1: as ranch hands, for instance. So he started working at

63
00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 1: Star Hotel, washing dishes, waiting on tables, and that's when

64
00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: he met up with Sombrero Jack. Sombrero Jack was the first,

65
00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,320
Speaker 1: I suppose one could say bad character the Billy the

66
00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,320
Speaker 1: Kid crossed paths with. And he noticed that Billy the

67
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,040
Speaker 1: Kid didn't have any real clothes to speak of. So

68
00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,320
Speaker 1: he stole some laundry from a laundromat and able to

69
00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:02,480
Speaker 1: Billy the Kid to wear, and he's like, but if

70
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,680
Speaker 1: you put this on, you know you're you're risking your

71
00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,160
Speaker 1: own hide because these are all stolen. And Billy the

72
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,280
Speaker 1: Kid was obviously caught when he donned these stolen threads

73
00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,840
Speaker 1: and put in prison, but he escaped, and this would become,

74
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,680
Speaker 1: as Katie is winking at me right now, a hallmark

75
00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,480
Speaker 1: of his later life. So he got some money from

76
00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,200
Speaker 1: one of the foster families he'd been a part of,

77
00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:28,800
Speaker 1: and he had a toward Arizona to see if his

78
00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:31,760
Speaker 1: stepfather could give him a hand with his troubles, and

79
00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:36,880
Speaker 1: his stepfather absolutely refused. Real class act that stepfather right,

80
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,760
Speaker 1: So here's Billy the Kid. He really is just a kid.

81
00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,719
Speaker 1: He's skinny, he's fragile, he's got no work, no chance, really,

82
00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:47,960
Speaker 1: and he's adrift in the desert. And it was while

83
00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,400
Speaker 1: he was in Arizona but he met another outlaw named

84
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,680
Speaker 1: John Mackie, with whom he dabbled in horse thievery for

85
00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,960
Speaker 1: a while, and soon after he would engage in his

86
00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,680
Speaker 1: very first the act of manslaughter, and some people say

87
00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,360
Speaker 1: it was self defense while others say it was just

88
00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,320
Speaker 1: an act of cold blooded killing. Um. But he got

89
00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 1: into an altercation with Wendy K. Hill, who was teasing

90
00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,160
Speaker 1: him about his size, right yes, and ended up shooting him.

91
00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,360
Speaker 1: And some people say again that he attacked Henry McCarty

92
00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,680
Speaker 1: Billy the Kid, who was much smaller and Billy didn't

93
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,359
Speaker 1: really have a chance and shot him in self defense,

94
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,160
Speaker 1: while others say that it was just a little bit

95
00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,880
Speaker 1: of sport on Billy the Kid's side. Well, no matter

96
00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,320
Speaker 1: what actually happened, Billie the Kid was pretty scared and

97
00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,599
Speaker 1: so he got out of Dodge and soon after in

98
00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:43,680
Speaker 1: New Mexico, he met up with Jesse Evans and his

99
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:48,960
Speaker 1: gang termed very innovatively the Boys. No one saw that

100
00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,880
Speaker 1: one coming, so he became incorporated into this little coterie

101
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,960
Speaker 1: of gunslingers. And even though the kid wasn't too fond

102
00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,000
Speaker 1: of the idea of associating himself without laws, he realized

103
00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,680
Speaker 1: is that if you're going to get by in the

104
00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:06,560
Speaker 1: American West, which was largely lawless at this time, you

105
00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,720
Speaker 1: had to have some sort of protection. And the problem

106
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,000
Speaker 1: with the boys, the Jesse Evans Gangs, they were involved

107
00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,240
Speaker 1: in the Lincoln County War, and basically this is in

108
00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,320
Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies in New Mexico and a guy named

109
00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:23,000
Speaker 1: John Tunstall had moved there and realized that the entire

110
00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,960
Speaker 1: place was run by Lawrence Murphy and John Dolan. They

111
00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,119
Speaker 1: owned the only store in the entire county and thanks

112
00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,279
Speaker 1: to an army contract, had a beef monopoly as well,

113
00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,159
Speaker 1: and he decided that wasn't fair and wanted to set

114
00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,640
Speaker 1: up shop against them, and it just started this battle

115
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:45,200
Speaker 1: that went on for years um starting in eighteen seventy

116
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,920
Speaker 1: eight when Murphy and Dolan tried to take Tunstall's horses

117
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,840
Speaker 1: for a quote unquote outstanding debt that may or may

118
00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:55,200
Speaker 1: not have existed, probably didn't. And that's where the gangs

119
00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,359
Speaker 1: come in and The kid actually turned on his gang

120
00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,640
Speaker 1: when Tunstall offered him a job in exchange for his

121
00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,520
Speaker 1: testimony against Dolan and Company. And so the kid thought

122
00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,400
Speaker 1: this was a pretty good offer. He wanted to do

123
00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,200
Speaker 1: something a little more righteous than what he had been

124
00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 1: involved with, so he agreed and he took on the

125
00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,360
Speaker 1: new alias William H. Bonnie. This was an act of

126
00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:22,119
Speaker 1: reinventing himself in a way, and became part of the Regulators,

127
00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,240
Speaker 1: the name of the gang that was going to avenge

128
00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,840
Speaker 1: the death of Tonstall, who was shot and killed by

129
00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,440
Speaker 1: Sheriff William Brady and his posse, which included Jesse Evans

130
00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:36,360
Speaker 1: Is gang. The Regulators were semi lawful until they killed

131
00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:40,320
Speaker 1: three men, Bill Morton, Frank Banker, and William McCloskey, and

132
00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,040
Speaker 1: they also set up a trap for Sheriff Brady. They'd

133
00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,600
Speaker 1: been trying to do things by the book, trying to

134
00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,120
Speaker 1: file complaints and and act in a in a proper

135
00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,680
Speaker 1: paperwork sort of way, but in the American West, that

136
00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,160
Speaker 1: doesn't get you very far. They were almost forced into

137
00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,160
Speaker 1: being outlaws. They were doing their best, but when the government,

138
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,240
Speaker 1: the local government, is corrupt, that doesn't leave you with

139
00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:04,680
Speaker 1: a lot of options and so it's Billy, the kids,

140
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:09,840
Speaker 1: Mexican cowboys and American cowboys, and they finally took up

141
00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,120
Speaker 1: their guns and started the gun fights for the next

142
00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,360
Speaker 1: couple of years. And the regulators had a pretty good

143
00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,040
Speaker 1: reputation until then, and then they became known as these

144
00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:23,120
Speaker 1: awful outlaws. These gun fights were pretty violent. Sheriff Brady

145
00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:25,360
Speaker 1: was killed in April of eighteen seventy eight and was

146
00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,680
Speaker 1: riddled with bullet holes. It just wasn't one shot that

147
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,760
Speaker 1: happened to get him. They made sure that he was dead,

148
00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:34,000
Speaker 1: and the same with the deputy. They made a whiffleball

149
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:38,520
Speaker 1: out of him. It's uncut. I'm sorry I shouldn't speak

150
00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:43,160
Speaker 1: so reverently of the past. Eventually, all of these separate

151
00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:48,520
Speaker 1: skirmishes culminated in a final event at Alex mcsween's house.

152
00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,800
Speaker 1: And McSween, as you may recall, had been associated with Tunstall,

153
00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:55,960
Speaker 1: the British businessman. He had been his partner as well

154
00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,160
Speaker 1: as his attorney. So the regulators are held up mc

155
00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,439
Speaker 1: sween's house and they're surrounded by Darlin's gang, and then

156
00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 1: you Sheriff, and they're panicking, and so finally the kid

157
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,520
Speaker 1: is the only one trying to keep his wits about

158
00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,400
Speaker 1: him and devises a plan where half the gang will

159
00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:16,360
Speaker 1: go out one side of the house and the other

160
00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,520
Speaker 1: will escape out the opposite so as to distract the

161
00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:23,400
Speaker 1: gun flingers out front. And it works, except that, you know,

162
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,760
Speaker 1: half of the outlaws got shot and killed, and Billy

163
00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,560
Speaker 1: the kid and his cohorts made off off the other side.

164
00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,040
Speaker 1: So the escape plan wasn't the best, but it did

165
00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,520
Speaker 1: save the kids hide, which was you know, what counted

166
00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,720
Speaker 1: to him, and he ran. He was an outlaw again

167
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,880
Speaker 1: for what is this? What third fourth time I've lost

168
00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,400
Speaker 1: count Um. You know, he is famous for supposedly having

169
00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:51,360
Speaker 1: committed as many murders as there were years of his life, right,

170
00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,319
Speaker 1: we don't know if if that's actually true, if it

171
00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:57,880
Speaker 1: was more like nine nine. But he was good at

172
00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,360
Speaker 1: getting himself off the hook. But when he he got

173
00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,320
Speaker 1: word that there was a new governor in Lincoln named

174
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:06,960
Speaker 1: lou Wallace, he offered to surrender and come back to

175
00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:11,160
Speaker 1: Lincoln and give a testimony in exchange for getting the

176
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,360
Speaker 1: new governor's good graces. He said he was tired of

177
00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:16,320
Speaker 1: being an outlaw and wanted to do the right thing,

178
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,800
Speaker 1: and kept writing him letter upon letter you know, offering

179
00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,920
Speaker 1: to give himself up in exchange for some kind of amnesty,

180
00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:26,120
Speaker 1: and Lou Wallace I believe, at one point did agree

181
00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,640
Speaker 1: to it, or made some sort of promise to him

182
00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:31,840
Speaker 1: that maybe that was something they could do, which he

183
00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:35,839
Speaker 1: later recanted. Wallace was still not fully aware of the

184
00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,520
Speaker 1: kind of power and cloud that Dolan and his gang had,

185
00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,600
Speaker 1: so even if he had wanted to give the kids

186
00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,599
Speaker 1: some sort of asylum and some sort of pardon, he

187
00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,760
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to because his hands were tied.

188
00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,120
Speaker 1: Any sense of court system or legality there was in

189
00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 1: Lincoln was overruled by Dolan and Billy the Kid at

190
00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,280
Speaker 1: this time was so notorious from the Lincoln County War,

191
00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,240
Speaker 1: the up shot of which no one won and they

192
00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,920
Speaker 1: just large gun battles every couple of days, that it

193
00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,880
Speaker 1: wasn't possible for him, I mean politically, and not to

194
00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,160
Speaker 1: mention that at this time the newspapers are really getting

195
00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,320
Speaker 1: hold of his name and splashing it everywhere. And maybe

196
00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,400
Speaker 1: people had had some semblance of sympathy for him in

197
00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:23,640
Speaker 1: the past, but now now that he shoots people and

198
00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:26,600
Speaker 1: then leaves and gives lots of interviews about it. While

199
00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:30,319
Speaker 1: he didn't jail people are, you know, they're they're thinking

200
00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,480
Speaker 1: he's traveled. No one wants him in town um, so

201
00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,559
Speaker 1: he goes off to Fort Sumner. So it goes off

202
00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:40,959
Speaker 1: to Fort Sumner and there he gets embroiled and more

203
00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:45,280
Speaker 1: gang conflict, surprise, surprise, and then the opposition posse of

204
00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:49,640
Speaker 1: his kills a deputy named James Carlyle, and the kid

205
00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,640
Speaker 1: gets blamed, even though it supposedly friendly fire that killed

206
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:57,400
Speaker 1: the deputy. He's so notorious at this point. Anywhere he goes,

207
00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,480
Speaker 1: he's like a little black rain cloud on the west.

208
00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,640
Speaker 1: Trouble just follows him and it's so easy to scapegoat

209
00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,079
Speaker 1: him well, and at this point I believe he has

210
00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:07,959
Speaker 1: a bounty on his head and they are after him.

211
00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,880
Speaker 1: That's one too many people, and it's about time the

212
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,480
Speaker 1: law catches up with Billy the Kid, and the law

213
00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,720
Speaker 1: came in the form of Pat Garrett. He was an

214
00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,000
Speaker 1: appointed U s Marshal on the hunt, and on December

215
00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:25,679
Speaker 1: eighty he trapped him and got him to surrender, threw

216
00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:29,520
Speaker 1: him in prison, and he was convicted of murdering Sheriff

217
00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:35,319
Speaker 1: Brady and sentenced to hang to hang. So it's April

218
00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:39,680
Speaker 1: eighty one, he's in prison, he's supposed to hang and

219
00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:42,640
Speaker 1: being Billy the Kid, he murders his guards and escapes.

220
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,920
Speaker 1: Good job, they kid. This one's on us. So where

221
00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:49,240
Speaker 1: does he go? Well, back to Sumner because he feels

222
00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:51,240
Speaker 1: somewhat safe there. It's a place where he feels that

223
00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,920
Speaker 1: he somewhat belongs. But Garrett is not going to let

224
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,960
Speaker 1: him get away with us. So he gets words supposedly

225
00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:01,960
Speaker 1: through this guy mac Swell, who he knows that the

226
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,800
Speaker 1: kid is in town. And Maxwell is somewhat friendly with

227
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:08,720
Speaker 1: the kid, or at least the kid thinks that he is,

228
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,280
Speaker 1: And on the night of July four one, he came

229
00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,560
Speaker 1: sniffing around for dinner. And the events of the evening

230
00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,120
Speaker 1: of July four eighty one are a bit murky, but

231
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,319
Speaker 1: how most people interpret the story is this, Billy the

232
00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,120
Speaker 1: Kid knocks on Maxwell's door, hoping that he can get

233
00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,800
Speaker 1: his dinner, and he enters the house and it's pretty dark,

234
00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,280
Speaker 1: and he's a little bit uncertain of what's going on

235
00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:33,680
Speaker 1: because he sees two strange men on the front porch,

236
00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,280
Speaker 1: and men were actually Garrett's to deputies. Well, Billy the

237
00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,280
Speaker 1: Kid proceeds inside the house and he can make out

238
00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,320
Speaker 1: a shadowy form in Maxwell's room, and he calls out

239
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,760
Speaker 1: asking about the two men, gets no answer, so he

240
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,000
Speaker 1: calls out again, but this time asks the question in Spanish,

241
00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,680
Speaker 1: and at this point Garrett is pretty sure that's Billy

242
00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:55,520
Speaker 1: the Kid, so he and his gun and shoots, and

243
00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,520
Speaker 1: then Maxwell and Garrett slip outside and they come back

244
00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:00,960
Speaker 1: in and they asked certain that yes, indeed, that was

245
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,480
Speaker 1: Billy the Kid, and now he is dead on Maxwell's floor.

246
00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,040
Speaker 1: Although some people refused to believe that Billy the Kid

247
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,720
Speaker 1: died at all, and there were several people who for

248
00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,240
Speaker 1: years pretended that they were him and he had escaped

249
00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:17,720
Speaker 1: that evening in a staged death, it's pretty believable given

250
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,440
Speaker 1: all of his stunts prior to his supposed death. But

251
00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:26,320
Speaker 1: for people who really get into American West lore and

252
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,440
Speaker 1: sorts of legendary figures like Billy the Kid, it's rather

253
00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,720
Speaker 1: anticlimactic to think that Billy the Kid died after an ambush.

254
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:35,440
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the sort of trap that he's been

255
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,400
Speaker 1: springing his whole life for other people, but alas it

256
00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:42,720
Speaker 1: got him in the end. But today, the state of

257
00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,120
Speaker 1: New Mexico really does have to believe the kid to

258
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:50,040
Speaker 1: thank for bringing a thriving tourism industry to its fair

259
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,680
Speaker 1: borders where people can see different spots where Billy the

260
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:57,120
Speaker 1: Kid engaged in gun slinging and all sorts of pranks

261
00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,760
Speaker 1: harmless and not so. If you want to go see

262
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,000
Speaker 1: these dumping grounds of Billy the Kid, that's where you

263
00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,640
Speaker 1: should go. And if you want more information on the

264
00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,760
Speaker 1: wild West and guns and guns flingers, be sure to

265
00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,760
Speaker 1: check out the website at how stuff works dot com.

266
00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,360
Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics. Visit

267
00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,640
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think,

268
00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,360
Speaker 1: Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com,

269
00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:23,120
Speaker 1: and be sure to check out the stuff you missed

270
00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:25,400
Speaker 1: in History Class blog on the how stuff works dot

271
00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,680
Speaker 1: com home page