Billy the Kid.

"Billy the Kid"

(Probably born Henry McCarty, aka William H. Bonney, William Antrim, Henry Antrim and Kid Antrim, 1859.11.23-1881.07.14)

West's most famous outlaw.

Lived (for 2 years) Globe area

Killed his first man in Camp Grant

The west's most famous outlaw killed his first man on August 17, 1877 in George Adkins' Saloon in Camp Grant, midway between Globe and Tucson not far off what is now state route 77.  Billy had come to the Arizona Territory about two years earlier when he ran away from his stepfather's home in Silver City, NM, not wanting to face him following a prank involving petty theft from a laundry.

The Billy the Kid sleuths have tracked his less than two years in Arizona to the communities of Globe City (now Globe), Camp Thomas, Mount Graham, Camp Grant, and Clifton.  For a time, he worked as a cook and bussed tables at the Hotel de Luna near Camp Grant.  There he met an ex-soldier and escalated his criminal activities horses and saddle thievery.

The Kid was arrested and put in the guard house at Camp Grant.  On his second attempt, he escaped from the guard house, and headed for the new mining town of Globe City.  Reports suggest that he was arrested twice in Globe, escaping both times.  He returned to Camp Grant where he had an altercation with a local blacksmith at George Adkins' Saloon.  The Kid shot bullying blacksmith who died the next day.  Wanted for murder, The Kid fled the territory.

In the three years and eleven months he would live after his Arizona exodus, The Kid would go to eastern New Mexico and fight in the "Lincoln County War."  The war was bloody conflict between ranchers and merchants over control of a large section of eastern New Mexico.  Though Billy was on the losing side, he became somewhat of a local hero.  His exploits got headlines across the nation when he killed two guards and escaped from certain hanging for the murder of an ex-sheriff.

Billy the Kid would bring fame to Pat Garrett, the newly appointed sheriff in Lincoln County.  Garrett tracked The Kid down and shot him.