Billy the Kid died on this day 142 years ago, aged 21.
- Billy's real name was Henry McCarty; he used the alias "William Bonney", which is where the 'Billy' part of his outlaw name came from.
- Billy's mom died in 1874, and his stepfather abandoned him. He fended for himself by committing his first crimes- stealing food, laundry, and guns.
- Billy would soon move to Arizona, where he would rustle horses from US soldiers at Fort Grant.
- Billy's first murder was in self defense: he regularly got into fights with a patron at his local saloon, and this man would assault him and reach for his gun. After being apprehended, he managed to escape to New Mexico- on his journey there, his horse was stolen by Apache natives, and he had to walk for many miles in need of food and water.
- Billy would then work for a rancher named John Tunstall, who was killed by a rival businessman. Billy and several other of Tunstall's workers would form a group called the Regulators, and they would orchestrate revenge murders to avenge him. He would be detained in 1879, but again escaped jail. He would be captured again the following year, charged with murdering a sheriff during the conflict, and sentenced to death. Billy would manage to escape capture yet again despite his legs being shackled; it is believed he destroyed the shackles with an axe, and stole a horse.
- Billy would be ambushed by sheriff Pat Garrett, who shot him in a dark room. The following year, Garrett would collaborate with a ghostwriter to produce The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid to defend his actions.
- Billy's exploits have been adapted into many forms of media, from comics to stage plays to songs to his depiction in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure: