BILLY THE KID

This is the chronology of the famous Billy The Kid:

1859-1861  Month and Date unknown- William Henry Bonney/McCarty is born.

1868, June 18- The census in Anderson, Indiana, show the names of Catherine McCarty and her sons, William Henry and Joseph. While living in Indiana, Mrs. McCarty meets William Antrim and a relationship is formed.

1870, August 10- Catherine McCarty and William Antrim relocate and buy a lot near Wichita, Kansas.

1871, August- One year later, after being diagnosed with consumption, Catherine McCarty sells the lot and leaves Kansas with Antrim to seek a warmer and drier climate for her health.

1872, October- Catherine McCarty, her sons, and William Antrim are living in Denver, Colorado.

1873, March 1- After a couple of years of courtship, Catherine McCarty and William Antrim are married at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

1873, March-April- The Antrim family moves to Silver City, New Mexico.

1874, September 16- Catherine Antrim dies from consumption. The Kid and his brother Joseph begin their life of  moving  in and out of foster families. William Antrim moves to Clifton, Arizona, leaving his step-sons behind.

1875,  September 23- The Kid is arrested for stealing laundry.

1875, September 25- The Kid escapes jail and runs away. Shortly after, he turns up in Clifton, Arizona, to find his step-father. Antrim doesn't take the boy in and the Kid is now on his own.

1876, April- The Kid works for a short time as a cook at the Hotel de Luna. Later on he'll meet a horse thief named John Mackie, who shows him there's an easier way to make a living.

1877, March 25- After months of stealing horses, the Kid and John Mackie are arrested and confined at Fort Grant . The Kid escapes later that evening.

1877, August  18- In Fort Grant, the Kid kills his first man, Frank "Windy" Cahill, a bully who attacked the Kid during an argument. The Kid then leaves Arizona and heads back to New Mexico.

1877, September- The Kid joins Jesse Evans, the leader of  "The Boys," a gang of rustlers and killers.

1877, October- The Boys ride into Lincoln County.

1877, November- The Kid has a falling out with the gang and is hired by John Tunstall, just in time to fight for the Englishman in a feud against the Dolan Company.

1878, February 18- The Kid rides along with Tunstall and his men, herding horses to Lincoln. The group is ambushed by Dolan and Sheriff Brady's men and Tunstall is killed. The Kid and the others escape.

1878, February 19- The Kid, Fred Waite and Constable Atanacio Martinez attempt to serve warrants for the men who murdered Tunstall, but they are disarmed and taken prisoner by Sheriff Brady. Martinez would be allowed to leave, but the Kid and Waite are kept prisoner. They would miss Tunstall's funeral.

1878, February 23- The Kid and Fred Waite are released from jail.

1878, March 1- Dick Brewer, Tunstall's foreman, is appointed constable to bring in Tunstall's murderers. The Kid and several others are deputized. They called themselves "The Regulators."

1878, March 6- The Regulators arrest Bill Morton and Frank Baker.

1878, March 9- The Regulators rightfully believed their prisoners would be released as soon as they are turned over to Sheriff Brady, and decided to take matters in their own hands; Morton, Baker and William McCloskey, a Regulator who was believed to be a traitor, are killed.

1878, April 1- Members of the Regulators: Frank MacNab, Jim French, Fred Waite, John Middleton, Henry Brown, and Billy Bonney ambush the Sheriff and his deputies. Sheriff William Brady and Deputy George Hindman are killed.

1878, April 4- The Regulators kill Buckshot Roberts at Blazer's Mill. Frank Coe and John Middleton are wounded  and Dick Brewer is killed in the gunfight.

1878, April 18- The Kid, Middleton, and Brown are indicted for the murder of Sheriff Brady.

1878, July 4- The Regulators hide out at Chisum's Ranch.

1878, July 15 thru 19- The Five day battle at McSween's home in Lincoln. On the 19th, while trying to escape, Alex McSween, Francisco Zamora, and Harvey Morris are killed; on the Dolan side Robert Beckwith is killed. The Kid and the Regulators escape.

1878, August 5- Morris Bernstein is killed. Although Atanacio Martinez said he acted in self-defense when Berstein fired on him and he shot back, it would be the Kid who is blamed.

1878, September 4- Governor Axtell is removed from office and replaced by Lew Wallace.

1878, September 26 thru 30-  A ruthless gang called "The Rustlers," led by John Selman, raise hell throughout Lincoln County by stealing livestock, robbery, killing any man or boy who gets in their way and raping women.

1878, October- The Kid and his gang are in Texas to sell horses they had stolen from the Fritz ranch in Lincoln. In Tascosa, Texas, the Kid meets and becomes good friends with a young doctor named Henry Hoyt. The Kid would give him a fine sorrel horse once belonging to Sheriff Brady, and in return, Hoyt gave Billy the Kid a watch.

1878, November 13- Governor Wallace issues a proclamation of amnesty for parties involved in the Lincoln County War.

1878, November/December- The Kid returns to Lincoln County and is tired of running, so he offers a parley with his enemies for peace.

1879, February 18- The Kid meets up with Evans in Lincoln to propose a truce. A peace treaty is formed and both sides forget their differences. Later that evening, the party of men come across Susan McSween's attorney, Huston Chapman. While the Kid stood by watching uneasily, Evans and his men harass and then shoot the attorney.

1879, March 13- The Kid writes a letter to Governor Lew Wallace, he states he's willing to surrender and testify against Chapman's killers for a pardon. By doing this he breaks the treaty with Evans and Dolan, which is punishable by death.

1879, March 15- The governor writes to the Kid telling him that he would meet with him to discuss the terms. In closing he writes, "If you can trust Jesse Evans, you can trust me."

1879, March 17- The Kid and the governor meet and an arrangement is made. If the Kid submits to a fake arrest and testifies in court against Dolan, Evans, and Colonel Dudley, he would be pardoned.

1879, March 21- The Kid and Tom O'Folliard are arrested and brought to Lincoln.

1879, April 14- The Kid testifies in court against Chapman's murderers.

1879, May 28- The Kid testifies against Colonel Dudley for his involvement in the siege at McSween's home.

1879, June 17- After three months of jail, the Kid had enough. He kept his end of the bargain and there was no pardon for him, and now he was scheduled for trial. Feeling betrayed, he simply walked out of jail and rode off.

1879, October-  The Kid goes back to rustling.

1880, January 10- A drunk in Fort Sumner named Joe Grant challenges the Kid. His gun goes "click" and the Kid's goes "BANG BANG."

1880, June- In Fort Sumner, the Kid has some fun with a census taker; he gives his age as twenty-five and he was born in Missouri, as well as both his parents, and listed his occupation as: "working in cattle."

1880, October 6- Once again, the Kid is tried of dodging the law and he writes to Ira Leonard saying that he wants to try straightening things out again with Governor Wallace. Leonard agrees to meet in him in White Oaks within the week. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the Kid comes six weeks later, so by then the deal is off.

1880, November 2- Pat Garrett is elected sheriff of Lincoln County.

1880, November 27- The White Oaks posse surrounds the Kid and his gang at the Greathouse Ranch. During a standoff Deputy James Carlyle is accidentally killed by his own men. Afterwards the posse leaves the ranch and the outlaws escape. The Kid is accused of the deputy's death, but as he would say "There's more about that killing then people known."

1880, December 12- The Kid writes to Governor Wallace pleading his innocence concerning the Deputy Carlyle killing and rustling actives in the territory.

1880, December 14- Sheriff Garrett and his posse begin the hunt for Billy the Kid.

1880, December 15- The governor puts outs a $500 reward for the Kid's capture.

1880, December 19- In Fort Sumner, Garrett and his posse ambush the Kid and his gang. Tom O'Folliard is killed, but the Kid and the others escape.

1880, December 23- The Sheriff tracks the Kid and his gang to a rock house in  Stinking Springs. When Charlie Bowdre appears in the door, they think it's the Kid and open fire, Bowdre is killed and there's a standoff.  After a couple of hours, the Kid and his men surrender.

1880, December 24- The lawmen bring their prisoners back to Fort Sumner. Charlie Bowdre's body is delivered to his wife, and the Kid and Rudabaugh are shackled together. The posse then load up the prisoners in a wagon and head for Las Vegas.

1880, December 25- The posse and their prisoners have Christmas dinner at Padre Polaco's store in Puerto de Luna. Later that evening they head out and travel all night to Las Vegas.

1880, December 26- Garrett's posse and the prisoners arrive in Las Vegas. The town is curious about Billy the Kid, but hostile towards Dave Rudabaugh -several months earlier Rudabaugh had killed one of their deputies.

1880, December 27- The next morning Sheriff Garrett and his men take the prisoners to the depo, where they are met by a mob who are after Rudabaugh. The lawmen hold the mob back until the train leaves. They then arrive in Santa Fe where the prisoners are placed in jail.

1881, January 1- The Kid writes to Governor Wallace to come down to the jail to see him.  The governor at the time is out of town.

1881, February 28- The Kid and his cohorts try to dig their way out of jail, but they are caught. The prisoners are separated and the Kid is chained to the floor in a dark solitary cell.

1881,  March 2- Getting impatient, the Kid writes another note to the governor, but there is no reply.

1881, March 4- The Kid writes another letter, this one with a hint of frustration by threatening to make public the letters they had exchanged back in March of 1879, showing how the governor was in cahoots with him. It was probably an empty threat, because the Kid never did so.

1881, March 27- Time's running short and the Kid writes his last note to the governor, but like all the rest, it was ignored.

1881, March 28- The Kid is taken to the depot to be transported to La Mesilla for trial.

1881, March 30- The Kid's first trial for the killing of Buckshot Roberts commences.

1881, April 6- The Buckshot Roberts case is dismissed due to a technicality.

1881, April 8- The Kid's second trial commences for the killing of Sheriff Brady.

1881, April 9- The Kid is found guilty of first-degree murder and faces the death penalty. Out of all the men who killed during the Lincoln County War, the Kid was the only one to ever be convicted and punished. The few that were tried in court were all acquitted or pardoned.

1881, April 13 -The Kid is sentenced to hang on May 13th between the hours of 9am and 3pm.

1881, April 15- In the morning the Kid writes a letter to attorney Edgar Caypless, concerning the suit for his mare that was confiscated from him when he was arrested by Sheriff Garrett. His attorney Albert Fountain is willing to carry the case further if the Kid could come up with money to pay him, so the Kid is depending on reclaiming his horse to sell her for attorney fees. There is no response from Caypless. Later at 10pm, the Kid is loaded up in an coach and heads out to Lincoln where he is to be hanged.

1881, April 21- The Kid arrives in Lincoln and is jailed in the courthouse.

1881, April 28- In the afternoon the Kid makes his great escape from confinement by killing both his guards and rides out of Lincoln for the last time.

1881, July 14-  Late at night in Fort Sumner, the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Garrett at Pete Maxwell's house. The Kid was only nineteen or twenty years old.

1881, July 15- Milnor Rudolph organized a coroner's jury and makes out a verdict, stating the death of Billy the Kid was justifiable homicide. In the afternoon, the Kid's body is laid to rest next to his friends, Charlie Bowdre and Tom O'Folliard.

1882, February or March- Pat Garrett's book The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid is published. Although the book is more myth than fact, it immortalized Billy the Kid in legend.