In the summer of 1881, Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett. The lawman had been on the hunt ever since Billy broke out of jail in the town of Lincoln and finally caught up to the bandit at Old Fort Sumner. It was around midnight, and Pat was waiting inside Pete Maxwell’s darkened bedroom when the Kid stepped in. “Quien es?” Billy asked, noticing the large shape looming in the shadows. “Who is it?” Pat answered in the form of two shots from his 44-40 colt revolver and just like that Billy the Kid was over. At least in his mortal form. His body may have been stuck ground the next day but can’t no pine box contain the legend that soon emerged. And make no mistake about it, over the decades that followed Billy the Kid has taken on mythical proportions unrivaled by any other character of the old west.

But who was he REALLY?

In this episode we’ll take a look at the Kid’s origin story; what we know about his family and his early life. We’ll dive into Billy’s time in Silver City, his first brush(es) with the law, his time in the mining camps of Arizona, and – of course - his first time with Francis “Windy” Cahill.

Check out my website for more true tales from the wild and woolly west https://www.wildwestextra.com/

Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/

Buy me a coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wildwest

Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/

Join Patreon for bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra

How The West Was Cast – https://westernpodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life | Robert Utley - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0803295588?linkCode=ssc&tag=onamzjoshta02-20&creativeASIN=0803295588&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.YEHGNY7KFAU7&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin

Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride | Michael Wallis - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393060683?linkCode=ssc&tag=onamzjoshta02-20&creativeASIN=0393060683&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.YEHGNY7KFAU7&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin