Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life

Billy the Kid's legend is larger than his life. With humble beginnings under a different name and an end before he turned 22, Billy the Kid is a folk tale personified. Robert M. Utley painstakingly put the pieces back together to provide a timeline for The Kid's infamy and a background to the stories we've all heard. Though credited for everything from perpetrating the Lincoln County Wars to heartlessly murdering scores of people, the truth is much tamer than that (although his well-publicized escapes from various jails were quite real, and fraught with danger for all). The events for which The Kid is famous were a mere couple of years in his life; he had plenty of time for redemption before he headed down the path of no returns. Utley uncovers all of this, untangles the relationships he had, and reveals the potential reasons behind Billy the Kid's fatal choices. This is a detailed and well-researched account of the life of Henry McCarty, aka William H Bonney, aka Billy the Kid. It doesn't lend itself well to hero worship, but it does reveal a historical figure and legend as a human being, and provides a dynamic look at his life and the times in which he lived. The book is a bit dry at times, but it is thorough. This isn't a fast-paced action-laced book, but rather a thoughtful meandering through a couple of decades during which a kid from New York makes himself out to be the baddest man in the West. The author's formal approach means that sometimes slogging through the facts, and nothing but the facts, but the attention to detail is appreciated. Included are pictures of people, descriptions and drawings of weaponry, a chapter devoted to the legend that sprung up after The Kid was no longer, extensive footnotes and references, and a complete index to the book.

You have to wonder sometimes why some people become legends. What was it about the Kid that attracted so much attention, especially at the time of his death? A very short time after he was shot to death by Pat Garrett, newspaper accounts flashed around the country about the demise of the great "desperado" and five dime-novel "biographies" appeared, getting most of the facts wrong but creating a "hero." Life is strange. The Kid was born Henry McCarty in NYC (!) in 1859. He began being called Billy after his mother married William Antrim in 1873 in Santa Fe. (At times he also assumed the name Bonney, but no one knows why.) He gained a reputation early for escaping arrest; one time he escaped custody within hours after being arrested for horse stealing, and another time he escaped out of jail by crawling up the chimney. He escaped again in 1877 (aged 18) after being jailed for killing an army blacksmith at Fort Grant. He was in Lincoln County, NM, at the outbreak of the so-called Lincoln County War. He was involved or at least present during many of the violent incidents that plagued Lincoln County in 1878, and was wounded twice. Deep in trouble by now and getting deeper, he was wanted for a number of crimes, some of which he did not commit. Governor Lew Wallace offered him immunity for testimony in one killing, but the Kid saw a double-cross and escaped. He added cattle rustling to his criminal activities, which brought the enmity of local ranchers down upon him. Pat Garrett was elected sheriff in Lincoln County with the special task of bringing the Kid in. He was captured in December 1880 and brought to trial in Mesilla in March 1881; he was charged with murder, found guilty, and sentenced to hang in May. While in jail in Lincoln he killed the two guards and escaped; for three months Garrett tracked him down, finding and shooting him in a ranch house at Fort Sumner, NM. The Kid was 21 years old. Then the legend exploded onto the scene. They say he shot a man at age 12 (false); that he killed lawyer Billy Chapman (innocent); that he led the Regulators during the Lincoln County War (false); that he was a deadly shot (probably good, but not extraordinary). It's true that he killed at least four men. He loved to laugh and was a big hit with the senoritas (despite his buck teeth). He spoke Spanish fluently. He was an excellent monte dealer. He was "slim, muscular, wiry, and erect, weighing 135 pounds and standing 5'7" tall; he had deep blue eyes and wavy brown hair. He fancied wearing a Mexican sombrero." Chances are good (I think) if it weren't for the dime-novelists he would forgotten today. But he's not forgotten and Utley's account of his life (and legend) is magnificent. Definitive is the word for it, replacing Maurice Fulton's HISTORY OF THE LINCOLN COUNTY WAR as the best work on the Kid. (It wasn't until the last few months of his life that he was known as Billy the Kid.) Utley's scholarship is renown in the Western field; his series of book

Robert Utley has done a superb job in his factually-based portrayal of Billy The Kid. The work is replete with extensive notes and an exhaustive list of sources. He brings to life the exciting, real life drama surrounding the Lincoln County War and the Kid's role in that saga. Although Utley is careful not to paint Billy as a mythical hero or leader of men, desparados or otherwise, I was able to conclude from the story that his life serves as a symbol for many aspects of the turn-of-the-century American west and is the stuff of legends. One of the symbols Utley suggests as disturbing is "an enduring national ambivalence toward corruption and violence."I especially liked how Utley reconstucted the drama of Billy's daring break-out at the Lincoln County jail and the supporting material he provided to back up his account of the bloody events that transpired on that day. I agree with Utley, that although there was exciting drama surrounding his short-lived life, up until that point, Billy had not really done very much relative to others of his ilk to earn his notoreity as the most dreaded desparado of the American West. Billy the Kid's story is in many ways a tragic one of good boy gone bad and of the difficulties that arise when one finds oneself caught ill-prepared and unsponsored in the transition from frontier to civilization. As Utley concludes, "Despite superior qualities....the Kid met failure at most every turn. He failed because he lacked powerful friends and because he did not shed the wartime habits of open rebellion." This proved to be Billy's tragic undoing at a time when the movers and shakers of the west wanted to rely less on violence and place a mantle of respectability in front of their quest for power and wealth.

Robert Utley writes an excellent history of a young man virtually parentless (a surviving but perhaps neglectful father) that becomes involved with petty crimes and eventually winds up with a gang of semi-outlaws in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Fascinating descriptive of life in this county where cattle rustling and other related crimes did not seem to have the mark of a criminal as they would in our day. Utley documents how young William graduates to a member of one of two cowboy armies in Lincoln, each supporting rival businessman in the Lincoln County war where control of rival business interests involve murder, gun battles and massaging of the legal authorities in the State. Billy earns his nickname the Kid during his benefators losing battle with the other business rival resulting in the death of his benefactors plus Billy's involvement of the killings of several men including a well liked Sheriff. Utley chronicles the story of the Civil War, the causes, the Armies feigned attempt at neutrality that actually defeated the Kids forces, Billy's testimony at a trial, chance for a pardon from Governor Lew Wallace, his continued participation in crime, arrest and bloody jail break and his refusal to leave the State after being declared an outlaw. Utley tells an amazing story of an apparently likable young, man who was popular with the senioritis and in spite of the legal authorities attempts to apprehend him he continued to live almost openly in a neighboring town only to be caught by Pat Garrett an acquaintance of his. Utley writes a real story of the west where a not so innocent youth gets caught in a social Civil War and with an opportunity to leave it all behind, stubbornly or playfully decides to continue to live in his home neighborhood which cost him his life. Utley's book leaves you thinking that at 21 years of age, the Kid was truly too immature to know when it was time to move on and actually grow up. Utley's description makes you wonder if with the right mentor other than gunman, the likeable kid would have been a popular citizen with a family if he every developed something of an honest vocation.

Fast moving, action packed, superbly researched and easy to read. A standard bearer for all future books based upon the life of Billy the Kid. Robert M. Utley has been uncomprimising in his efforts to convey the true exploits of the 'Kid'. The author displays an extensive knowledge in this field, and it is hard to fault the texts contents. Plenty of other sources are cited and scrutinized by the author, for further reading and information in closely related topics ie. the Lincoln County War.Clearly, one of Robert M. Utley's strengths is how well he argues the evidence, an ability he exerts throughout this truly enthralling biography. This only adds to the enjoyment of the book. To be fair there are several areas that could be expanded upon, such as 'the Kid's' earlier relationship with Pat Garrett, but there is no evidence to suggest that this work was to be completely exhaustive. But certainly this book is an exceptional building block for further research and any emerging new evidence. If you are interested in the life of Billy the Kid, and you've not read this book...READ IT! You will not be disappointed.

I have been interested in the saga of Billy the Kid and the story about the Linconcounty war. I have read several books on these subjects and must say that Utley is by far the best. You will get a story full of historic facts and that in the same time is a thrill to read. You get a understanding for William the person as well as Billy the myth. A five star book if you ask me!