American Wild West Figure. He gained notoriety by being a part of the American Wild West era, and he had legends, myths, and lies told about his short lifetime. Born into a poor Irish Catholic household in the slums of New York City as Henry McCarty, he became famous as the gunslinger "Billy, the Kid" or simply "the Kid." His mother's name was Catherine McCarty. Not very much information is known about his father, Patrick McCarty, except that he died when the Kid was young. Eventually, he moved with his mother and his brother Joseph to Wichita, Kansas. After his first brush with the law and his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis, the family decided to move to New Mexico, where his mother remarried a long-time friend, William Antrin, in 1873, yet his mother died in 1874. His brother took his stepfather's surname. When he was arrested for theft of a laundry, he escaped from jail and left town, fearing his stepfather's reaction. He worked in Arizona doing odd jobs until 1877 when he killed his first man. This occurred when an ongoing feud with a blacksmith named Frank P. Cahill fatally ended when he shot the much larger antagonist. He was arrested and broke out of jail and fled to Mesilla, New Mexico and began to use the alias "William H. Bonney." After riding with the Jesse Evans gang, he eventually drifted to Lincoln, where he became associated with a wealthy cattle baron, John Chisum, who was challenging the New Mexico government beef contracts. His association with Chisum led him to become employed by Chisum associate, an English-born gentleman rancher, John Tunstall. When rivals, including Lincoln Sheriff William J. Brady, killed Tunstall, he and several associates formed a vigilante posse, the Regulators, and were responsible for tracking down and killing those responsible for Tunstall's death including Sheriff Brady. These activities were part of what eventually became known as "The Lincoln County War." When Chisum refused to pay him for service in the Regulators, he decided to steal some of Chisum's livestock. He had been rustling cattle for an income for years. After the Regulators shot dead Lincoln Sheriff Brady, who was a respected United States veteran of two wars, a politician, and a sheriff, authorities worked to eliminate the Regulators. Brady's body had at least a dozen bullet wounds, making it impossible to delegate the killing shot. After the "Five Day War," the Regulators were eliminated on July 19, 1878. In 1879, he agreed to surrender to law enforcement when New Mexico Territory Governor Lew Wallace promised a full pardon in exchange for testimony in several murder cases. He fulfilled the part of the agreement but a local district attorney reneged on the promise, holding him until he escaped jail in June of 1879. On November 27, 1880 a blacksmith, Jim Carlyle was shot and killed, and although he denied the killing, he was blamed for the blacksmith's death and $500 reward was placed on his head. After being on the run from enforcement for nearly two years, he was eventually captured, tried and sentenced to hang for the death of Sheriff Brady on May 13, 1881 and scheduled to hang on the evening of April 28, 1881, but made a daring jailbreak. After a long manhunt, on July 14, 1881, Lincoln Sheriff Pat Garrett found him in a hideout and with both the men's guns drawn, he was shot to death. His death was ruled as justifiable homicide and he was buried that afternoon. Depending on the source, he was credited with allegedly nine to 21 murders by age 21 but was tried and found guilty of first-degree murder of only one: Lincoln Sheriff Bill Brady. Rumors have circulated that he was not killed on July 14, 1881 but for whatever reason, escaped and lived for years, becoming an elderly man using another name, yet with an intense investigation, no solid evidence can verify this. His DNA is not available for forensic testing.