Gunfighters
of the old west
Seemingly the best known bandit, Billy the Kid, was quite the mastermind in his trade. Coming across as a responsible, calm, and kind youngman, no one would ever suspect him of being the murderer he turned out to be. Moving to Santa Fe at the beginning of his “career”. Mention Billy the Kid to the common citizen and quickly their face would light up. His care-free spirit allowed him to cruise through town without a care in the world. Everyone had his back and he had everyone else’s back; for now. Although he had murders on his record, the police never tried to arrest him. Everyone knew where his house was, a pink adobe house with a blue door and shutters. One reason no one messed with The Kid was because they knew he was not afraid of anything. Any punishment they could possibly give him would do nothing to him. He certainly hadn’t done anything yet worthy of killing him, so they just let him be.
All of the Mexican speaking civilians spoke fondly of The Kid as well. Often times you would here them say, “Billee the Keed? Ah, you have hear of heem? He was a gran’ boy, señor”. They were all his friend. Or ask Frank Coe. Billy the Kid stayed him for a while after he came to New Mexico. He said, “He was only eighteen years old, as nice-looking a young fellow as you’d care to meet, and certainly mighty pleasant company.” Coe said Billy was a great hunter and could shoot a bear in the eye before Coe even knew there was a bear. He did not mind having him stay at his house even though he had already killed several people. It never weighed on The Kid, so it did not bother Coe either.
He also said of him, “You never saw such shooting as that lad could do. Billy was the best shot with a six-shooter I ever saw.” The common citizen was not at all afraid of Billy, but rather the other criminals were. One of which, named Jesse Evans, bragged he was as good a shot as the Kid, but everyone knew Jesse had never seen him shoot. Evans also bragged he wasn’t afraid of Billy the Kid, but again, everyone knew he was scared to death of him. Coe also said Billy used to do a lot of practice shooting. The barn was full of holes. Some people said they saw him empty his shooter at a hat tossed twenty feet into the air and hit it six times before it hit the ground. Another one of his best stunts was to shoot are snowbirds sitting on fence posts along the road as he rode by with his horse at a gallop. Sometimes he would kill half-a-dozen birds one after the other; and then he would miss a few.
Billy the Kid had little schooling but could read a write as well as anybody else around town. He always had his hand on a newspaper, probably plotting his next move. He had a clean mind and his conversation was never coarse or vulgar. He was a free-hearted, generous boy. He’d give a friend the shirt off his back. The Kid was quite the master at poker and sometimes won big, others times not. Losing his money never made him mad. Coe said, “I never saw Billy the Kid mad in my life.” Billy was an honest fellow outside of rustling cattle. This was stealing, of course, but it didn’t strike him exactly that way. So he seems like a normal person, but what gave him the title of being an outlaw? He was quiet and a favorite with the ladies, but somewhere among these pleasant qualities was a hiatus in his character. The Kid did not see committing murder as “murder”. It did not appeal to him as a tragedy; it was merely a physical process of pressing the trigger in self defense. He followed no rules when killing someone. Just as long as the man he wanted to kill was killed, he was happy. Leaning against the wall with a cigarette in his mouth, he would shoot someone square in the face. Billy was able to shoot someone straight through the heart as cooly as he did practicing on tin cans. He had no remorse. No memories haunted him. His courage was beyond question. He not only had the will but the skill to kill. In times of danger, his mind was not only calm, but singularly clear, watching like a hawk for an advantage to take a shot. Billy was able to translate an impulse into action with a suave flash of light. The Kid himself claimed to have killed twenty-one. He was killed himself by Pat Garrett at the age of twenty-one, making that one killing per every year of his life. Billy said, “I have killed twenty-one men and I want to make it twenty-three before I die,” he said shortly before his death. He also stated, “If I live long enough to kill Pat Garrett and Barney Mason, I’ll be satisfied.” Sheriff Pat Garrett, who for several years was the Kid’s close friend believed he only kill eleven men. John Poe, who was with Garrett at the Kid’s death, accepted the Kid’s own statement. Poe said, “Billy the Kid had killed more men than any man I ever knew or heard of during my fifty years in the Southwest. I cannot name the twenty-one men he killed; nor can any man alive today. I doubt if there ever was a man who could name them all except the Kid himself. He was the only man who knew exactly. He said he had killed twenty-one and I believe him.”
Personally, I did not know anything about Billy the Kid. I have heard the name before but only knew him as a bad guy. After reading about him I am amazed at his willingness to do what he did and the way he set this life up for himself. His calm and coolness is what makes him such a great criminal. It seemed like very little bothered him; and if it did, he took care of it. After this investigation on The Kid, I can’t wait to learn about Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp and see what makes them famous.
