Billy the Kid: Thug or Hero?
Philip Armour — Tue, 2010-09-07 09:53
Here's an article in today's (Sept. 7, 2010) New York Times by Hampton Sides. Hampton has a nice essay about Navajo Country in our upcoming John Wayne Collector's Edition. Do you agree with his take on Billy the Kid? Was he a thug or a hero? Tell us why?
Bill Richardson, New Mexico’s departing governor, is known for his studied sense of theater. But when he recently declared that he would hold a hearing to consider a posthumous pardon for the state’s most notorious resident — William Bonney, a k a Henry McCarty, a k a Billy the Kid — a lot of us wondered if he had lost his mind.
What’s to be gained by dredging up stories from a tired old shoot’em-up? Why should we care about a trigger-happy sociopath who’s been moldering in his grave for almost 130 years? New Mexico has a rich history, but some episodes from the past are best left there.
At issue is a deal made in 1879 by one of Mr. Richardson’s predecessors, Lew Wallace (later the author of “Ben-Hur”). Wallace promised to grant Billy the Kid amnesty for murders he committed during the so-called Lincoln County War if he would testify about a killing he had witnessed; the Kid testified, but Wallace’s men reneged on the deal. Two years later Pat Garrett, the sheriff of Lincoln County, shot and killed the outlaw.
Billy the Kid is something of a phantom figure. There is only one known photograph of him. His real name and date of birth are disputed. As a result, people interpret him in their own ways. He’s often portrayed as a folk hero, like Rob Roy or Robin Hood. It is said that more films have been made about him than any other figure in American history. He is our state’s most bankable tourist commodity and his name is plastered on everything from casinos to no-tell motels.
But regardless of whether he got a raw deal, the Kid was a thug. He murdered one of Garrett’s predecessors and as many as eight other people. He rustled horses and cattle. Far from heroic, the Lincoln County War was just a feud over beef contracts, and it marked one of the bleakest episodes in the history of the West.
True, for some the story evokes a certain romanticism of gun smoke and leather, and the governor is banking on Western buffs to bring new attention, and tourist dollars, to our state.
The pardon hearing, which will likely convene in November in the town of Lincoln, will be complete with period costumes and Wild West facial hair. Mr. Richardson himself will preside, playing a role somewhere between Judge Judy and Judge Roy Bean.
Mr. Richardson has a good sense of humor, but governors who play with history often get burned — witness Gov. Robert McDonnell of Virginia and his ill-advised Confederate History Month proclamation. Governor Richardson has already drawn public criticism: descendants of Pat Garrett and Lew Wallace have implored him not to follow through with his plans; Billy the Kid, they and others note, was a cop killer.
Under Governor Richardson, New Mexico has taken significant steps forward, with investments in solar and wind power, film production and light rail. He even got rid of cock-fighting. The state has begun to slowly pull away from the poverty, crime and backwardness that defined much of its past. Billy the Kid is a symbol of that era. Why does Mr. Richardson, as one of his last acts in office, want to revisit it?
(Hampton Sides is the author of "Blood and Thunder," about Kit Carson, and, most recently, “Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin.”)
- Philip Armour's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- 2364 reads
Poll
Should cattle branding be replaced with other identification technologies, like iris scanning, tattooing, tagging, etc.?
Yes- branding is a cruel, 19th-century anachronism.
27%
No- branding is cost effective, efficient, and humane.
73%
Total votes: 60
- 3 comments
- 1289 reads
- Older polls
Today's popular content
- February 8, 2012! Watch Miami Heat vs Orlando Magic Live Strea ming Online (437)
- The Western Bucket List (237)
- Straw or Felt Cowboy hat? (169)
- February 8, 2012! Watch Minnesota Timberwolves vs Memphis Grizzlies Live Strea ming Online (140)
- February 8, 2012! Watch Chicago Bulls vs New Orleans Hornets Live Strea ming Online (109)
Symposium of "Billy the KID"
South Texas Cowboy — Tue, 2010-09-14 09:17The Greeks once use the term SYMPOSIUM meaning “Lets Drink together” today used to mean any Academic Conference. What better topic among us than the myths, the facts and the legend behind Billy the Kid, Hero or Thug. To set the room of justice, the New Mexico Governor has been requested to remain outside since he too is a “Billy” commonly known as Governor Bill Richardson. Our gun belts hang among the coat pegs, whiskey kept behind the bar and name calling left behind so we can review the many stories, some myths, legends or folk lore of the notorious gunman.
One can quickly state that the young man known as “The Kid” has both thug and heroic qualities. His aliases Henry Antrim, William H. Bonney and Henry McCarty makes him mystic as much his small frame standing at 5 feet 8 inches with blue eyes, smooth complexion and prominent front teeth. He was said to be friendly and personable at times and many recalled that he was as "lithe as a cat". Contemporaries described him as a "neat" dresser who favored an "unadorned Mexican Sombrero.” These qualities, along with his cunning and celebrated skill with firearms, contributed to his paradoxical image, as both a notorious outlaw and beloved folk hero.
A relative unknown during his own lifetime, he was catapulted into legend the year after his death when his killer, Sheriff Pat Garrett, along with co-author M.A. "Ash" Upson, published a sensationalistic biography titled The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid. Beginning with Garrett's account, Billy the Kid grew into a symbolic figure of the American Frontier of the Wild Old West. This is the first “Penny Dreadful” illustrated book written about the Kid.
Was this dime novel more to bring exaggerated frame to Pat Garrett rather than boasting the true life of the Kid? Perhaps to the over ego of Garrett who often failed running for public offices and also later murdered. The characters often painted by authors or movie directors placing the roles on one side of the fence or the other. Although, I often find myself seeing and understanding much reasoning for perhaps how these characters are portrayed.
American Cowboy reviewed the book “To Hell on a Fast Horse” http://americancowboy.com/culture/hell-fast-horse?utm_source=Facebook&ut... mentions his behavior often spoken as charming likable young man who more often made poor mistakes, such as becoming a horse thief and the gun fight killing Frank "Windy" Cahill.
Nevertheless, the actions he further took when his employer is murder is no more than any young devote male today would want to do. "Get the men who killed his boss". No, this does not make him a hero nor justify his actions. Punk kid perhaps, but it makes for a mystic story glorified by dime novels over and over. Likely, most of his accounts are highly exaggerated to the benefit of others, be it be the underhanded dealings in Lincoln County, the sale of dime-back novels, and so on. I never glorified the man, Hollywood and music did. I see him as he was but understand the reason a boy becomes what he is.
The Kid from Texas (1950) Directed by Kurt Neulmann / Starring Audie Murphy who was WWII most decorated Hero portrays a heroic honest like young man that greed of Lincoln County and controlling big businessmen makes for a likable KID. The Left-Handed Gun (1958) Directed by Arthur Penn / Starring Paul Newman makes for an unlikable ruthless gunman. Although I seem to still like the works “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” (1973) directed by Sam Peckinpah / Starring Kris Kristofferson as the best Billy the Kid western. However, these are movies and while they have some truth, some facts….there is many unknowns to this mystic character.
Did long time friend Pat Garrett really kill his long time friend. Garrett was also once on the other side of the fence before being appointed Sheriff. Perhaps he shot someone else, perhaps they staged it. Then there comes a man name Brushy Bill Roberts who said he’s Billy the Kid.
Governor Bill Richardson will be a remembered Governor in history. However, he will surely make history if he does sign the pardon that Lew Wallace had promised. Why not, the controversy has already been laid over 100 years ago. I say, go for it Billy…..because 100 years from now, like the penny Dreadful of Pat Garrett’s book that made Billy the Kid a hero, will also make Bill Richardson a hero of tomorrows remembering.
Roger Edison
http://cowboyandchuckwagoncooking.blogspot.com/
BTK
Sonora Rebel — Thu, 2010-09-09 00:05"...trigger-happy sociopath." That about covers it. Billy was a shanty-Irish thug from New York City only made famous by the Penny Dreadful illustrated books of the time. BTK was nothing more than a latter-day gang banger. A drifter and gunzel... he was a dangerously skilled criminal in comparison to the rather inept non-professional lawmen of the area during that period. When Pat Garrett tracked him down 'n shot him in Pete Maxwell's bedroom (in the dark)... he was scared to death of this outlaw. There was no fuss made over the kill until much later as the 'legend' grew in the Penny Dreadfuls. Richardson could use better use of his time in securing the border than this nonsense.
A round downrange cannot be recalled.