Billy the Kid

A curious choice some might think, but not myself. My first Hero (and Idol) of History was Billy the Kid, alias Henry McCarty, alias William H Bonney. Now your probably thinking, wait, how was he a hero, he was just an outlaw, didnt he steal and kill? In legend Billy the Kid, coming from movies and false filled books, has been described as being a vicious killer, an outlaw who had nothing good about him and simply was a menace. Legend says he took the lives of twenty-one men, one for each year of his life, (despite him most probably being around nineteen turning twenty when he was killed). He was a rebel without a cause who killed without reason(not true, Billy always had a cause and reason). These and many more unwarrented accusations of dispicable acts are examples of the MYTH of Billy the Kid that has been created over the years. In reality, the Kid was not the mean cold blooded killer he has been portrayed as, but a young man who lived in a violent, every man for himself, world where knowing how to use a gun was the difference between life and death, he did what he had to do to survive under the circumstances. Billy did rustle cattle frome time to time, and was known to steal horse when first becoming an orphan at a young age. But really, does theft make him a bad person? of course not, in fact if you look through all the myths and propaganda you can easily see Billy was a good hearted person, he simply did what he had to do in the times to survive. He had good many good qualities, a winning and popular personality, loved to laugh and joke, was loyal to his beliefs and his friends and was very well liked by most anyone that met him, except his enemies of course, which were far worse than him, like a vicious corrupt sheriff, truly murderous criminals and backshooting bullys. He was never a cold blooded killer but simply stood up for himself and what he believed in. He only killed a confirmed four men, two in self defence bar fights (which he did not start) and two in order to escape jail and being hung, one of which killed a close friend of his by shooting him several times in the back, simply, Billy did what he had to do, put yourself in his postition and you may realise you would have done the same, i would have. Of course Billy took part in a Huge County War which begin (after his employer whom took him in was brutally murdered in total cold blood) in which featured dozens of shootouts and killings and involved hundreds of men. Billy was only a small part of this, he took place in several shootouts with dozens of others and no doubt may have shot a few in this war too, but never without decent cause, in fact the side he was on were not the instigaters or the war, they simply sought revenge and with good cause. Of course Billy had his faults as any human being does, but he was never a bad person, as most of those who genuinly knew him have said so. My above views have come from years upon years of in depth research, i first become curious about him as a young child and soon wanted to research him and discover what he was really like, and was pleasantly surprised, Billy really was the good hearted "Bad" guy that so many fantasize about. After much consideration, i decided not to write up a full length biography of Billy, as it has already been done several times to my personal satisfaction, in other words i couldn't write one more detailed and truthfull than these, i am talking about a Book and a Website. I would like to thank the Marcelle Brothers for letting me use their site links on my site, and Frederick Nolan for writing such an incredible book that does Billy justice, I dedicate this to Billy, my hero and idol...

"The West of Billy the Kid" by renowed author and historian Frederick Nolan , who is a mentor of mine, is the most unbiased, fact filled and truthfull Billy the Kid book availible, for anyone with an interest in Billy, i cannot recommend it enough.

"The West of Billy the Kid" BUY IT NOW!

There is a full scale detailed Online Biography on Billy online. Written by Marcelle Brothers, it basically echos many of my statements and surves to expose the truth about Billy.

btkog/billybio - the best online Billy biography

Marcelle Brothers also has a Website which i cannot recommend enough, which has full details of the Kids entire life and loads of other important info.

aboutbillythekid.com - The Best Billy website online