Billy the Kid

This new, in-depth life of Henry McCarty, alias Billy Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, offers fresh perspectives, not only on the Lincoln County War and his boyhood in Silver City, New Mexico, but also on his Irish mother’s origins and immigration to Indiana, his public-school education in Indianapolis, the McCarty family’s moves to Wichita, Kansas, and Santa Fe, and his two-year outlaw adventures in Arizona.
For the first time, the whole person emerges. This biography brings together a huge amount of material, much of it made available to researchers only in recent years. The result is an original, authoritative, and provocative portrait of Billy the Kid as both outlaw and frontier fighter against the infamously corrupt Santa Fe Ring.

George R. Matthews has written on the Olympics, baseball and Zebulon Pike, and is a member of Biographers International Organization and the National Coalition of Independent Scholars. He lives in New Mexico.

George R. Matthews
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 311
Bibliographic Info: 68 photos, 5 maps, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9526-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5270-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1

 1. The Kid from Indiana 3
 2. “Wichita street gamin” 16
 3. Family Antrim 24
 4. “Dressed like a ‘country jake’” 41
 5. Bad Company 50
 6. An Englishman Named Tunstall 60
 7. “A community favorite” 69
 8. A Taxpayer’s Complaint 82
 9. “Murderers, outlaws, and desperate characters” 90
10. “What, John? What, John?” 98
11. Deputy Constable Billy Bonney 105
12. “Powers behind the throne” 115
13. “A terrible alternative” 126
14. “One of nature’s noblemen” 133
15. “The grandest victory yet won by the people” 143
16. “Affairs have somewhat changed here” 153
17. “We didn’t scare worth a damn” 164
18. “Such men as Billy Kid” 172
19. “We intend to play the same game” 180
20. “I Have no Wish to fight any more” 187
21. “It was a game of two and I got there first” 198
22. “Dwelling number 240” 208
23. “All the world loves a lover” 217
24. “Extreme penalty of the law” 228
25. A Shot in the Dark 241

Chapter Notes 261
Bibliography 289
Index 295

• “A deeply researched, context-rich, compelling account of Billy the Kid’s remarkable life.”—David G. Thomas, author of The Trial of Billy the Kid

• “There have been many books written about Billy the Kid, but George R. Matthews makes the story fresh, vibrant and fascinating. Soundly researched and fun to read.”—Johnny D. Boggs, nine-time Spur Award winner from Western Writers of America

• “George R. Matthews has successfully unraveled and revealed Billy the Kid: The Life Behind the Legend. The author draws from new primary sources relating to Henry McCarty (alias William Bonney) to painstakingly separate fact from fiction. Through Matthews’ capable hands, Billy the Kid offers fresh insights demythologizing this American outlaw.”—Jay H. Buckley, coauthor of Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West