BILLY THE KID-NOT THE WAY HOLLYWOOD PORTAYED HIM

BILLY THE KID

A LITTLE TRIVIA FOLLOWING A VISIT TO 

OLD MESILLA  NEW MEXICO

We were driving from El Paso  through New Mexico, the destination Scottsdale Arizona and we stopped for lunch at Old Mesilla (Las Cruses) New Mexico. We had crossed over the Rio Grande which was bone dry.

On the old courthouse was a sign indicating at this courthouse Billy The Kid was sentenced to hang in 1881. It prompted some research.

Born Henry McCartney in New York in 1859, he was known as 'Billy the Kid" and also as William H Bonney (could not find why).He apparently was a ansty young dude who killed eight  before he was shot and killed by Pat Garret at the age of 21 in Fort Sumner some 260 km north of Las Cruces. After he was sentenced to hang in April 1881 he excaped six days later , killed two Sherrif's Deputies in the process and eluded capture and was found by Garrett in Fort Sumner and shot.on July 14 1881.His life of crime started at age 14 with theft.

POPULAR CULTURE

Ove sixty movies have been made about Billy the Kid as as a kid , I probably saw most of them and did not have a clue. Realizing Henry McCartney was five foot three at age 18 and if the only photo I could find was any indication not that bright ( a strange look on his face)  and not very attractive.He also died at 21 yet most of the actors  were significantly older. Kris Kristofferson  played him at age 38 in "Pat Garret and Billy The Kid" (1973), Robert Taylor in 1941  in "Billy the Kid" at age 30. Paul Newman was Billy the Kid in "The Left Handed Gun" in 1958 at age 33 and Buster Crabbe in the 1941 'Billy the Kid Wanted" at 33. Audie Murphy was Billy the Kid at 25 in "The Kid From Texas"although he came from New York , Indianna and Kansas and spent his time in Arizona and New Mexico. Roy Rodgers  was 37 when he played Billy in "Billy The Kid Returns" in 1938.Val Kilmer played him at age 30 in the 1989 movie --you guessed it,"Billy the Kid"'.Scott Brady played the kid in the 1957 movie "The law vs Billy the Kid in 1957 at age 34.

For an Óld World experience in Old Mesilla try

The Double Eagle Restaurant