September 17, 1859 - Billy the Kid
Few figures from the frontier period have been mythologized as thoroughly as this one, which makes it easy to lose sight of the actual record — a sequence of thefts, escapes, and killings that began in adolescence and escalated steadily. He was linked to nine murders by the time of his death at twenty-one, operating within the lawless ranching disputes and territorial conflicts of the New Mexico frontier. The legend has long outpaced the biography, but the biography is grim enough on its own terms.
From Wikipedia
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. He was solely responsible for four of them, and he may have played a role in five, alongside other men. He is also noted for his involvement in New Mexico's Lincoln County War.
McCarty was orphaned at the age of 15. His first arrest was for stealing food at the age of 16 in 1875. Ten days later, he robbed a Chinese laundry and was arrested again, but escaped shortly afterwards. He fled from New Mexico Territory into neighboring Arizona Territory, making himself both an outlaw and a federal fugitive. In 1877, he began to call himself "William H. Bonney."
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.
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