Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881), alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders: four for which he was solely responsible, and five in which he may have played a role alongside others.

[2] After killing a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877, Bonney became a wanted man in Arizona and returned to New Mexico, where he joined a group of cattle rustlers.

[12] After moving again a few years later, Catherine married Antrim on March 1, 1873, at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory, and the McCarty boys served as witnesses.

[18] After leaving Antrim, McCarty traveled to southeastern Arizona Territory, where he worked as a ranch hand and gambled his wages in nearby gaming houses.

[20][21] During this time, McCarty became acquainted with John R. Mackie, a Scottish-born criminal and former U.S. Cavalry private who, following his discharge, remained near the U.S. Army post at Camp Grant in Arizona.

[2] On August 17, 1877, Bonney was at a saloon in the village of Bonita when he got into an argument with Francis P. "Windy" Cahill, a blacksmith who reportedly had bullied him and on more than one occasion called him a "pimp".

At Fort Stanton,[29] starving and near death, he went to the home of friend and Seven Rivers Warriors gang member John Jones, whose mother Barbara nursed him back to health.

[30][2] After regaining his health, Bonney went to Apache Tejo, a former army post, where he joined a band of rustlers who raided herds owned by cattle magnate John Chisum in Lincoln County.

Tunstall and his business partner and lawyer Alexander McSween were opponents of an alliance formed by Irish-American businessmen Lawrence Murphy, James Dolan, and John Riley.

By February 1878, McSween owed $8,000 to Dolan, who obtained a court order and asked Lincoln County Sheriff William J. Brady to attach nearly $40,000 worth of Tunstall's property and livestock.

[33][35] After Tunstall was killed, Bonney and Dick Brewer swore affidavits against Brady and those in his posse, and obtained murder warrants from Lincoln County justice of the peace John B.

[38] Bonney then joined the Lincoln County Regulators; on March 9 they captured Frank Baker and William Morton, both of whom were accused of killing Tunstall.

McSween's supporters gathered inside his house; when Buck Powell and Deputy Sheriff Jack Long set fire to the building, the occupants began shooting.

Marshal John Sherman informed newly appointed Territorial Governor and former Union Army general Lew Wallace that he held warrants for several men, including "William H. Antrim, alias Kid, alias Bonny [sic]" but was unable to execute them "owing to the disturbed condition of affairs in that county, resulting from the acts of a desperate class of men".

[53][54] On February 18, 1879, Bonney and friend Tom O'Folliard were in Lincoln and watched as attorney Huston Chapman was shot and his corpse set on fire.

On March 20, Wallace wrote to Bonney, "to remove all suspicion of understanding, I think it better to put the arresting party in charge of Sheriff Kimbrell [sic] who shall be instructed to see that no violence is used.

"[b] Bonney responded on the same day, agreeing to testify and confirming Wallace's proposal for his arrest and detention in a local jail to assure his safety.

[64]Bonney avoided further violence until January 10, 1880, when he shot and killed Joe Grant, a newcomer to the area, at Hargrove's Saloon in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

[70][71] A few weeks after the Greathouse incident, Bonney, Rudabaugh, Wilson, O'Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, and Tom Pickett rode into Fort Sumner.

[76] Garrett refused to surrender the prisoner, and a tense confrontation ensued until he agreed to let the sheriff and two other men accompany the party to Santa Fe, where they would petition the governor to release Rudabaugh to them.

[100][101] Five days after Bonney's killing, Garrett traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to collect the $500 reward offered by Governor Lew Wallace for his capture, dead or alive.

[102] Over the next few weeks, the residents of Las Vegas, Mesilla, Santa Fe, White Oaks, and other New Mexico cities raised over $7,000 in reward money for Garrett.

A year and four days after Bonney's death, the New Mexico territorial legislature passed a special act to grant Garrett the $500 bounty reward promised by Governor Wallace.

[115] In February 2015, historian Robert Stahl petitioned a district court in Fort Sumner asking the state of New Mexico to issue a death certificate for Bonney.

The image shows Bonney wearing a vest under a sweater, a slouch hat and a bandana, while holding an 1873 Winchester rifle with its butt resting on the floor.

[131] Whitny Braun, a professor and researcher, located an advertisement for croquet sets sold at Chapman's General Store in Las Vegas, New Mexico, dated to June 1878.

A photograph curator at the Palace of the Governors archives, Daniel Kosharek, said the image is "problematic on a lot of fronts", including the small size of the figures and the lack of resemblance of the background landscape to Lincoln County or the state in general.

[137][138] In 1931, Charles W. Foor, an unofficial tour guide at Fort Sumner Cemetery, campaigned to raise funds for a permanent marker for the graves of Bonney, O'Folliard, and Bowdre.

As a result of his efforts, a stone memorial marked with the names of the three men and their death dates beneath the word "Pals" was erected in the center of the burial area.

[142] The life and likeness of Billy the Kid have been frequently represented in comics, literature, film, music, theater, radio, television, and video games.