1 00:00:35,173 --> 00:00:37,106 NARRATOR: On April 28th, 1881, 2 00:00:37,140 --> 00:00:41,662 21-year-old Henry McCarty, alias Billy the Kid, 3 00:00:41,696 --> 00:00:47,426 was just days from being hanged for murder. 4 00:00:47,461 --> 00:00:51,534 A promised pardon from the governor of New Mexico 5 00:00:51,568 --> 00:00:55,124 never materialized, and Billy was now in the custody 6 00:00:55,158 --> 00:00:57,505 of Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett 7 00:00:57,540 --> 00:01:00,784 and two well-armed deputies. 8 00:01:00,819 --> 00:01:06,307 DREW GOMBER: Thursday evening about 6:00, there'’s two guards on duty. 9 00:01:06,342 --> 00:01:09,034 Pat Garrett went over it time and time again 10 00:01:09,069 --> 00:01:11,209 to not be taken in by this guy'’s charm. 11 00:01:11,243 --> 00:01:13,314 "I don'’t care how charming he is, 12 00:01:13,349 --> 00:01:15,489 the first chance he gets, he'’ll kill the both of you and leave." 13 00:01:17,870 --> 00:01:20,908 MARK GARDNER: Billy the Kid was extremely intelligent. 14 00:01:20,942 --> 00:01:22,116 He was able to get them 15 00:01:22,151 --> 00:01:23,497 to underestimate him time and again. 16 00:01:23,531 --> 00:01:26,845 FREDRICK NOLAN: I think he thinks, 17 00:01:26,879 --> 00:01:29,158 somewhere in here, "I'’m going to get out of this." 18 00:01:29,192 --> 00:01:33,886 Escaping was always on the agenda. 19 00:01:33,921 --> 00:01:36,889 NARRATOR: Billy the Kid had been on the run from the law 20 00:01:36,924 --> 00:01:39,444 since the age of 15. 21 00:01:39,478 --> 00:01:41,239 In just a few short years, 22 00:01:41,273 --> 00:01:44,207 he had become the most wanted man west of the Pecos. 23 00:01:44,242 --> 00:01:49,212 Demonized by a popular press set on cleaning up New Mexico, 24 00:01:49,247 --> 00:01:51,663 Billy was portrayed as a blood-thirsty killer, 25 00:01:51,697 --> 00:01:55,460 a "ruthless cuss" hell-bent on anarchy. 26 00:01:55,494 --> 00:01:57,220 MICHAEL WALLIS: They were beating the war drums. 27 00:01:57,255 --> 00:01:58,946 "Let'’s get rid of that Kid. 28 00:01:58,980 --> 00:02:01,983 "Let'’s hunt him down. 29 00:02:02,018 --> 00:02:03,882 Let'’s civilize this territory." 30 00:02:03,916 --> 00:02:07,368 NARRATOR: Billy the Kid came of age 31 00:02:07,403 --> 00:02:10,371 at the moment the myth of the Wild West was forged. 32 00:02:10,406 --> 00:02:14,134 At a time when outlaws were made famous overnight 33 00:02:14,168 --> 00:02:17,861 in the pages of dime novels, he took his place alongside men 34 00:02:17,896 --> 00:02:23,212 like Jessie James, Butch Cassidy, and Wyatt Earp. 35 00:02:23,246 --> 00:02:25,766 DENISE CHAVEZ: I grew up with Billy the Kid. 36 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,907 We grew up with the myths, the stories. 37 00:02:28,941 --> 00:02:35,085 People saw him as a voice for the disenfranchised. 38 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:40,021 He was the Robin Hood of New Mexico. 39 00:02:40,056 --> 00:02:42,679 GOV. BILL RICHARDSON: Billy the Kid was a rebel, 40 00:02:42,714 --> 00:02:46,821 an outlaw, good-looking, glamorous. 41 00:02:46,856 --> 00:02:50,204 But you have to separate the romantic, mythical side of Billy 42 00:02:50,239 --> 00:02:52,206 and the fact that he was a cop killer 43 00:02:52,241 --> 00:02:55,761 and that he murdered people. 44 00:02:55,796 --> 00:03:01,491 FINTAN O'’TOOLE: You could actually see in this period in America 45 00:03:01,526 --> 00:03:04,529 the formation of something which becomes very, very powerful 46 00:03:04,563 --> 00:03:07,635 in 20th century culture, which is the gangster as hero. 47 00:03:07,670 --> 00:03:10,017 The idea that the man of violence is the man of action. 48 00:03:13,054 --> 00:03:18,681 And that there is no difference really between fame and infamy. 49 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,661 [ship'’s horn blaring] 50 00:03:33,696 --> 00:03:36,285 NARRATOR: The young man who would come to symbolize the freedom 51 00:03:36,319 --> 00:03:38,701 and rebellion of the Wild West 52 00:03:38,735 --> 00:03:43,257 likely began his life in the teeming slums of New York City. 53 00:03:43,292 --> 00:03:50,057 He was born Henry McCarty, the son of Irish immigrants. 54 00:03:50,091 --> 00:03:52,335 His mother, Catherine, had fled Ireland 55 00:03:52,370 --> 00:03:56,097 to escape the devastating famine of the 1840s, 56 00:03:56,132 --> 00:04:00,481 only to find squalor and hardship in America. 57 00:04:00,516 --> 00:04:04,002 It'’s not known who Henry's father was or how he died, 58 00:04:04,036 --> 00:04:06,487 but Catherine was determined to give her son 59 00:04:06,522 --> 00:04:09,249 a better life than the one she had known. 60 00:04:09,283 --> 00:04:12,597 Shortly after the Civil War, 61 00:04:12,631 --> 00:04:15,289 Henry and his mother joined a wave of humanity, 62 00:04:15,324 --> 00:04:18,327 heading west in search of new opportunity. 63 00:04:18,361 --> 00:04:22,227 Out on the trail, young Henry learned to survive 64 00:04:22,262 --> 00:04:26,162 the hardscrabble life of a Western pioneer. 65 00:04:26,196 --> 00:04:29,096 Catherine made sure he learned to read and write. 66 00:04:29,130 --> 00:04:33,307 To pass the time, the two sang Irish folk songs 67 00:04:33,342 --> 00:04:38,692 as they crossed the vast open spaces of America. 68 00:04:45,940 --> 00:04:48,149 Lured by the promise of silver, 69 00:04:48,184 --> 00:04:51,774 14-year-old Henry and his mother, and her new husband, 70 00:04:51,808 --> 00:04:53,741 a prospector named William Antrim, 71 00:04:53,776 --> 00:04:56,917 settled in the remote outpost of Silver City 72 00:04:56,951 --> 00:04:59,851 in southeastern New Mexico. 73 00:04:59,885 --> 00:05:06,202 By 1873, New Mexico had been a territory of the United States 74 00:05:06,236 --> 00:05:08,066 for over two decades, 75 00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:12,139 but to American settlers fresh off the Santa Fe Trail, 76 00:05:12,173 --> 00:05:16,523 the region seemed like an exotic foreign country. 77 00:05:16,557 --> 00:05:19,388 HAMPTON SIDES: Americans, in their journals and diaries, 78 00:05:19,422 --> 00:05:21,079 you can sense the kind of, um... 79 00:05:21,113 --> 00:05:22,391 they were very patronizing 80 00:05:22,425 --> 00:05:25,083 and very dismissive of this culture here. 81 00:05:25,117 --> 00:05:27,499 The New Mexicans were dark, 82 00:05:27,534 --> 00:05:30,295 their religious practices were mysterious. 83 00:05:30,330 --> 00:05:34,437 And civilization as we customarily think of it 84 00:05:34,472 --> 00:05:36,336 kind of halted here. 85 00:05:40,305 --> 00:05:42,549 NARRATOR: In the bustling plazas of the capital, 86 00:05:42,583 --> 00:05:45,345 traders could be heard bartering for livestock 87 00:05:45,379 --> 00:05:49,901 in Spanish, French, and Navajo. 88 00:05:49,935 --> 00:05:51,972 Rustic dwellings carved into the mesas 89 00:05:52,006 --> 00:05:55,355 were home to Pueblo Indians. 90 00:05:55,389 --> 00:05:58,772 And Mescalero Apaches continued to roam the countryside. 91 00:06:01,015 --> 00:06:03,121 New Mexico is a place of mestizaje, 92 00:06:03,155 --> 00:06:04,536 what we call a mixture of cultures. 93 00:06:04,571 --> 00:06:09,817 So you have the Latino Mexican influence, 94 00:06:09,852 --> 00:06:15,927 you have the Anglo influence, you have the Native American. 95 00:06:15,961 --> 00:06:18,101 It was a wild unbelievable land 96 00:06:18,136 --> 00:06:19,379 of great violence and great beauty. 97 00:06:26,696 --> 00:06:29,423 NARRATOR: Young Henry McCarty was captivated 98 00:06:29,458 --> 00:06:30,631 by the world he discovered, 99 00:06:30,666 --> 00:06:34,739 instantly embracing New Mexican culture. 100 00:06:34,773 --> 00:06:37,811 He became a familiar presence 101 00:06:37,845 --> 00:06:39,985 in the Hispanic district of Silver City 102 00:06:40,020 --> 00:06:42,954 known as Chihuahua Hill. 103 00:06:42,988 --> 00:06:45,508 In just months, he was speaking Spanish fluently. 104 00:06:45,543 --> 00:06:48,925 He took to wearing sombreros and beaded moccasins, 105 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,238 and he would while away his nights 106 00:06:51,272 --> 00:06:54,862 learning to dance the Mexican fandango. 107 00:06:57,313 --> 00:07:01,938 WALLIS: He would go to the Mexican district of Silver City 108 00:07:01,973 --> 00:07:04,527 with his mother, with Catherine, and they'’d go to the dances 109 00:07:04,562 --> 00:07:05,942 and they'’d dance together. 110 00:07:05,977 --> 00:07:07,357 And they'’d sing songs together. 111 00:07:07,392 --> 00:07:15,538 And he certainly caught the eye of many, many senoritas. 112 00:07:15,573 --> 00:07:18,852 These Hispanic mothers and these old aunts 113 00:07:18,886 --> 00:07:21,475 and these fathers liked him enough 114 00:07:21,510 --> 00:07:25,652 to let him court around and dance 115 00:07:25,686 --> 00:07:28,551 with their lovely, protected daughters. 116 00:07:31,727 --> 00:07:33,763 He didn'’t have his arm out like people might have. 117 00:07:33,798 --> 00:07:38,837 He so embraced our culture, our people. 118 00:07:38,872 --> 00:07:43,290 He was somebody that was very respectful, 119 00:07:43,324 --> 00:07:47,225 very proper, and very formal in a Mexican sort of way, 120 00:07:47,259 --> 00:07:48,640 which we like our formality. 121 00:07:52,817 --> 00:07:55,509 PAUL HUTTON: He had this... this innate charm. 122 00:07:55,544 --> 00:07:58,754 They often talk about sort of his squirrelly teeth 123 00:07:58,788 --> 00:08:03,344 and how his mouth was shaped, but it was always in a smile, 124 00:08:03,379 --> 00:08:06,313 that'’s what the Hispanic community always says-- 125 00:08:06,347 --> 00:08:09,627 he was always smiling, always laughing. 126 00:08:14,908 --> 00:08:17,255 NARRATOR: When Henry was just 15 years old, 127 00:08:17,289 --> 00:08:20,534 his mother became gravely ill with tuberculosis. 128 00:08:20,569 --> 00:08:24,676 She had hoped the dry mountain air that banked off the Rockies 129 00:08:24,711 --> 00:08:28,715 and settled over the valleys would restore her health, 130 00:08:28,749 --> 00:08:31,062 but the galloping consumption, as it was then known, 131 00:08:31,096 --> 00:08:33,478 proved too much for Catherine. 132 00:08:33,513 --> 00:08:41,417 She died in Silver City in 1874. 133 00:08:41,451 --> 00:08:45,697 GARDNER: The Kid is a young teenager when his mom dies. 134 00:08:45,732 --> 00:08:49,977 Catherine is his one connection to stability. 135 00:08:50,012 --> 00:08:51,669 I mean, this is the mother that'’s raised you, 136 00:08:51,703 --> 00:08:54,982 that'’s made sure you were fed, that sent you to school. 137 00:08:55,017 --> 00:08:58,848 But once Catherine'’s gone, the stepfather, William Antrim, 138 00:08:58,883 --> 00:09:02,334 doesn'’t really care about the upbringing of his stepson. 139 00:09:02,369 --> 00:09:07,305 HUTTON: Antrim abandons the boy. 140 00:09:07,339 --> 00:09:12,586 I mean, to be out in this distant and strange land 141 00:09:12,621 --> 00:09:16,383 and then to have lost the only connection you had 142 00:09:16,417 --> 00:09:21,146 to who you were and to your past just has to be devastating. 143 00:09:33,296 --> 00:09:36,127 NARRATOR: An orphan in a tough and transient mining town, 144 00:09:36,161 --> 00:09:38,888 it didn'’t take long for Henry to find trouble 145 00:09:38,923 --> 00:09:41,166 or for trouble to find him. 146 00:09:41,201 --> 00:09:45,308 In the saloons and brothels in the center of town, 147 00:09:45,343 --> 00:09:49,347 Henry hustled to make a few bucks however he could. 148 00:09:49,381 --> 00:09:52,074 At night he would bunk down in the boarding houses 149 00:09:52,108 --> 00:09:55,146 with a revolving cast of strangers, 150 00:09:55,180 --> 00:10:00,323 one of them a streetwise petty thief named Sombrero Jack. 151 00:10:03,672 --> 00:10:08,608 On the afternoon of September 4, 1875, Henry acted as lookout 152 00:10:08,642 --> 00:10:13,026 while Sombrero Jack robbed a Chinese laundry. 153 00:10:13,060 --> 00:10:16,926 When some of the plunder, including a loaded revolver, 154 00:10:16,961 --> 00:10:20,447 was discovered in Henry'’s room, he was arrested. 155 00:10:20,481 --> 00:10:25,901 Alone in a cramped four-by-five cell, 156 00:10:25,935 --> 00:10:29,318 Henry could hear the bustle of downtown Silver City 157 00:10:29,352 --> 00:10:31,665 through the tiny barred window. 158 00:10:31,700 --> 00:10:34,634 He knew it might take up to three months 159 00:10:34,668 --> 00:10:37,809 for a traveling judge to make it to this part of New Mexico. 160 00:10:37,844 --> 00:10:42,158 That was a lifetime to a 16-year-old. 161 00:10:42,193 --> 00:10:47,336 GARDNER: One of the things about the Kid: he was able to deceive people. 162 00:10:47,370 --> 00:10:51,823 He was able to get them to think that he was inconsequential. 163 00:10:51,858 --> 00:10:56,310 NARRATOR: Henry conned the prison guard 164 00:10:56,345 --> 00:10:59,451 into granting him some time outside his cell. 165 00:10:59,486 --> 00:11:02,282 When the coast was clear, Henry, 166 00:11:02,316 --> 00:11:05,492 no more than 130 pounds with his boots on, 167 00:11:05,526 --> 00:11:09,772 forced his tiny frame up the chimney. 168 00:11:09,807 --> 00:11:11,394 GARDNER: The sheriff returns to the jail 169 00:11:11,429 --> 00:11:13,120 and there'’s no Kid. 170 00:11:13,155 --> 00:11:14,777 The cell is empty, the hallway'’s empty. 171 00:11:14,812 --> 00:11:19,540 Probably, it would have been a slap on the wrist 172 00:11:19,575 --> 00:11:21,301 had he stayed there. 173 00:11:21,335 --> 00:11:27,445 But with that jail break, he'’s a wanted man at the age of 16. 174 00:11:30,103 --> 00:11:32,726 NARRATOR: Henry decided to head west for Arizona, 175 00:11:32,761 --> 00:11:35,867 where he hoped to get a fresh start. 176 00:11:35,902 --> 00:11:39,871 With no horse, no gun, and little money, 177 00:11:39,906 --> 00:11:41,666 he was on the run 178 00:11:41,701 --> 00:11:45,705 in some of the most hostile land in the country. 179 00:11:45,739 --> 00:11:47,983 NOLAN: This country was so bad, 180 00:11:48,017 --> 00:11:51,296 so wild, so dangerous, just staying alive was a trick. 181 00:11:51,331 --> 00:11:57,268 This was a country where everybody was against you 182 00:11:57,302 --> 00:12:02,445 if you had anything worth taking and you were alone. 183 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,103 This territory, this landscape, 184 00:12:05,138 --> 00:12:09,176 embraces people who can stand up to the environment, 185 00:12:09,211 --> 00:12:12,248 to the harshness, to the desert. 186 00:12:12,283 --> 00:12:15,389 And you had to be a unique individual 187 00:12:15,424 --> 00:12:19,014 to survive this kind of landscape. 188 00:12:19,048 --> 00:12:22,707 NARRATOR: After 500 miles of unforgiving desert, 189 00:12:22,742 --> 00:12:26,193 Henry arrived in a remote army outpost in Arizona 190 00:12:26,228 --> 00:12:28,748 known as Camp Grant, 191 00:12:28,782 --> 00:12:32,027 where he stopped running long enough to look for honest work. 192 00:12:41,415 --> 00:12:46,800 GOMBER: Like a lot of kids in his time, he wanted to be a cowboy. 193 00:12:46,835 --> 00:12:49,285 You know the whole myth and aura that surrounded cowboys, 194 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:51,805 surrounded them then just as it does now. 195 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:56,051 He wasn'’t very good at it apparently, 196 00:12:56,085 --> 00:12:58,847 because the best work he seemed to be able to get 197 00:12:58,881 --> 00:13:01,953 was working on the chuck line as a cook. 198 00:13:01,988 --> 00:13:04,473 They thought he was too small and frail 199 00:13:04,507 --> 00:13:07,579 to be working with the other cowboys. 200 00:13:07,614 --> 00:13:12,619 NARRATOR: Once again, Henry was back to hustling for money. 201 00:13:12,653 --> 00:13:16,830 He became a skilled gambler and dealer of three-card monte 202 00:13:16,865 --> 00:13:20,109 and he fell in with a gang of seasoned outlaws 203 00:13:20,144 --> 00:13:23,043 who taught him the finer points of stealing horses. 204 00:13:26,219 --> 00:13:29,636 Soon, he earned enough to buy 205 00:13:29,670 --> 00:13:34,054 the one thing he would need most to survive: a six-shooter. 206 00:13:34,089 --> 00:13:35,504 GARDNER: It'’s an equalizer. 207 00:13:35,538 --> 00:13:37,230 If you want some instant respect, 208 00:13:37,264 --> 00:13:39,025 put on a six-shooter 209 00:13:39,059 --> 00:13:40,958 and you'’re going to get that respect. 210 00:13:43,132 --> 00:13:46,480 WALLIS: He quickly became very good with a gun. 211 00:13:50,484 --> 00:13:53,418 He learned how to handle himself, because you had to 212 00:13:53,453 --> 00:13:56,421 in order to get along out in that raw country. 213 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,085 NARRATOR: In the year since escaping the Silver City jail, 214 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,814 Henry had started to make a name for himself as an outlaw. 215 00:14:09,849 --> 00:14:12,644 He had taken to wearing a gambler'’s ring on his pinky, 216 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:16,407 and bright colored scarves around his neck. 217 00:14:16,441 --> 00:14:18,167 He spent his nights hanging out 218 00:14:18,202 --> 00:14:20,618 with other toughs at raucous saloons 219 00:14:20,652 --> 00:14:24,277 where he picked up the nickname "The Kid." 220 00:14:28,660 --> 00:14:31,698 On the evening of August 17, 1877, 221 00:14:31,732 --> 00:14:36,013 the Kid danced across a line from which he could never return 222 00:14:36,047 --> 00:14:39,361 when he ran into a local thug named Frank Cahill. 223 00:14:42,882 --> 00:14:44,918 GARDNER: Windy Cahill. 224 00:14:44,953 --> 00:14:48,991 He'’s a real boastful, outspoken bully. 225 00:14:49,026 --> 00:14:51,373 GOMBER: He thought it was fun to slap this little guy around, 226 00:14:51,407 --> 00:14:53,582 just to amuse the other patrons. 227 00:14:53,616 --> 00:14:55,377 And he did that one time too many. 228 00:14:58,276 --> 00:15:01,797 WALLIS: He started really in on the Kid, and one thing led to another 229 00:15:01,831 --> 00:15:03,488 and he got him down and was pounding him. 230 00:15:05,697 --> 00:15:08,666 GOMBER: And the Kid was working his hand toward the gun in his belt. 231 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:10,323 And Cahill tried to stop him but couldn'’t. 232 00:15:16,294 --> 00:15:19,435 WALLIS: Belly shot is not a way to die. 233 00:15:19,470 --> 00:15:22,576 It took Cahill all night to die. 234 00:15:22,611 --> 00:15:24,130 But by that time, the Kid had fled. 235 00:15:30,999 --> 00:15:33,553 GARDNER: Murder is a hanging offense. 236 00:15:33,587 --> 00:15:35,589 This is quite a bit different 237 00:15:35,624 --> 00:15:38,351 than stealing something from a laundry. 238 00:15:38,385 --> 00:15:41,595 The Kid really has reasons to be afraid of being caught, 239 00:15:41,630 --> 00:15:42,596 and he'’s on the run, 240 00:15:42,631 --> 00:15:45,565 even though if he had stayed, 241 00:15:45,599 --> 00:15:47,912 there could have been an argument made for self-defense. 242 00:15:47,947 --> 00:15:52,261 But the Kid is not willing to take that chance. 243 00:15:52,296 --> 00:15:54,332 NARRATOR: The Kid had killed a man. 244 00:15:54,367 --> 00:15:57,266 He had undergone a quick and fiery baptism 245 00:15:57,301 --> 00:16:00,476 from orphan boy to desperado. 246 00:16:00,511 --> 00:16:07,345 Now, he could only count on his wits, his gun, and his horse. 247 00:16:07,380 --> 00:16:09,244 N. SCOTT MOMADAY: I think it must have had 248 00:16:09,278 --> 00:16:11,798 a profound psychological impact upon Billy, 249 00:16:11,832 --> 00:16:16,596 being still young, very impressionable, very vulnerable. 250 00:16:16,630 --> 00:16:23,292 You know, what does it mean to kill a man? 251 00:16:23,327 --> 00:16:28,884 I think it further settled Billy into the role of an outlaw. 252 00:16:28,918 --> 00:16:31,611 I mean, after that, there was no turning back. 253 00:16:50,906 --> 00:16:54,358 SIDES: New Mexico is a great place to be a fugitive. 254 00:16:54,392 --> 00:16:56,843 The distances are so vast, 255 00:16:56,877 --> 00:16:59,052 there are so many places to hide. 256 00:16:59,087 --> 00:17:02,745 It'’s a great playground, basically, for a getaway artist, 257 00:17:02,780 --> 00:17:07,233 especially if you'’re friendly with the locals 258 00:17:07,267 --> 00:17:08,993 and you speak their language 259 00:17:09,028 --> 00:17:11,823 and you'’ve endeared yourself to them. 260 00:17:11,858 --> 00:17:15,517 NARRATOR: In 1877, riding a stolen gray mare, 261 00:17:15,551 --> 00:17:20,453 the Kid crossed the Arizona border back into New Mexico. 262 00:17:20,487 --> 00:17:22,110 He had changed his name 263 00:17:22,144 --> 00:17:26,148 and was now going by the alias William H. Bonney. 264 00:17:26,183 --> 00:17:28,875 Quietly, he made his way across the territory, 265 00:17:28,909 --> 00:17:31,429 catching a meal where he could 266 00:17:31,464 --> 00:17:34,087 and relying on the hospitality of the Hispanic farmers 267 00:17:34,122 --> 00:17:38,229 whose ranches had dotted the countryside for generations. 268 00:17:38,264 --> 00:17:40,231 [train whistle blowing] 269 00:17:40,266 --> 00:17:44,649 But times were changing in New Mexico. 270 00:17:44,684 --> 00:17:46,582 At the end of the Civil War, 271 00:17:46,617 --> 00:17:49,102 American businessmen had flocked to the territory 272 00:17:49,137 --> 00:17:52,657 looking to profit off this vast new land. 273 00:17:52,692 --> 00:17:55,522 The men of this new Anglo establishment 274 00:17:55,557 --> 00:17:58,767 quickly became the largest property owners in New Mexico, 275 00:17:58,801 --> 00:18:01,908 often wresting land from Hispanic ranchers 276 00:18:01,942 --> 00:18:06,775 with the aid of unscrupulous bankers, a rigged legal system, 277 00:18:06,809 --> 00:18:11,090 and when all else failed, the business end of a gun. 278 00:18:11,124 --> 00:18:15,749 WALLIS: It was incredible what these people controlled. 279 00:18:15,784 --> 00:18:17,993 And they got into the railroading business, 280 00:18:18,027 --> 00:18:19,374 into mining, into cattle. 281 00:18:19,408 --> 00:18:22,377 Into all of it. 282 00:18:22,411 --> 00:18:29,108 But land was at the very cornerstone of their empire. 283 00:18:29,142 --> 00:18:32,973 NARRATOR: Some of the most lucrative landholdings 284 00:18:33,008 --> 00:18:37,046 were in Lincoln County, the largest county in New Mexico. 285 00:18:37,081 --> 00:18:40,119 For the past decade, the whole county had been run 286 00:18:40,153 --> 00:18:45,020 by tough Irish immigrants Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan. 287 00:18:45,054 --> 00:18:47,160 Their business was primarily 288 00:18:47,195 --> 00:18:50,336 in cattle ranching and government beef contracts, 289 00:18:50,370 --> 00:18:54,616 but there was barely a dollar spent for 30,000 square miles 290 00:18:54,650 --> 00:18:57,895 that they didn'’t get a piece of. 291 00:18:57,929 --> 00:19:02,175 Murphy and Dolan'’s enterprise came to be known as "The House," 292 00:19:02,210 --> 00:19:04,212 named for their headquarters, 293 00:19:04,246 --> 00:19:08,871 a giant timber-frame building in the town of Lincoln. 294 00:19:08,906 --> 00:19:11,702 GOMBER: The House owned everything in the county 295 00:19:11,736 --> 00:19:14,877 and they had pretty much a stranglehold. 296 00:19:14,912 --> 00:19:16,948 They had no real competition. 297 00:19:16,983 --> 00:19:20,331 They simply ruled the place like a fiefdom. 298 00:19:20,366 --> 00:19:21,988 They were good to their friends, 299 00:19:22,022 --> 00:19:24,784 but everyone else, you better watch out. 300 00:19:24,818 --> 00:19:26,234 You didn'’t want to get in their way, that'’s for certain. 301 00:19:26,268 --> 00:19:30,686 NARRATOR: But someone was getting in their way. 302 00:19:30,721 --> 00:19:33,827 John Tunstall, the 23-year-old son 303 00:19:33,862 --> 00:19:37,831 of a wealthy British merchant, had recently arrived in town 304 00:19:37,866 --> 00:19:40,386 with grand plans to build a cattle empire 305 00:19:40,420 --> 00:19:44,079 and seemingly limitless funds to match. 306 00:19:44,113 --> 00:19:47,600 Though he was young and had little experience in ranching, 307 00:19:47,634 --> 00:19:51,845 Tunstall knew that competing with the House could get rough. 308 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:56,125 HUTTON: Tunstall'’s looking for good cowboys, 309 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,681 but cowboys that are not only good with a rope, 310 00:19:59,715 --> 00:20:02,615 but also really handy with a pistol and a rifle. 311 00:20:06,205 --> 00:20:12,245 NARRATOR: The Kid arrived in Lincoln in 1877 and was soon arrested. 312 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:17,008 He was jailed for stealing horses from the Tunstall ranch. 313 00:20:17,043 --> 00:20:18,596 But much to the Kid'’s surprise, 314 00:20:18,631 --> 00:20:20,322 instead of pressing charges against him, 315 00:20:20,357 --> 00:20:23,498 Tunstall offered him a job. 316 00:20:23,532 --> 00:20:26,086 NOLAN: Billy couldn'’t believe his luck. 317 00:20:26,121 --> 00:20:28,227 When he got the chance to go straight, he took it. 318 00:20:32,541 --> 00:20:34,405 GARDNER: One of the things that the Kid says later: 319 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:36,131 "Tunstall was the only man 320 00:20:36,165 --> 00:20:39,928 that treated me like I was decent and white." 321 00:20:39,962 --> 00:20:42,482 He didn'’t treat him like some riffraff or scum or horse thief. 322 00:20:42,517 --> 00:20:44,622 He treated him like a human being. 323 00:20:44,657 --> 00:20:49,765 And for a teenager like the Kid, that was a big, big deal. 324 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:55,081 NARRATOR: The Kid joined a group of young men 325 00:20:55,115 --> 00:20:57,290 who, like himself, were outsiders. 326 00:20:57,325 --> 00:20:59,534 Young men who'’d been drifting, 327 00:20:59,568 --> 00:21:03,262 trying to scrape together a living out on the plains. 328 00:21:03,296 --> 00:21:07,818 Together they learned how to be proper cowboys. 329 00:21:07,852 --> 00:21:11,304 At night they told stories and slept under the stars. 330 00:21:11,339 --> 00:21:15,377 Tunstall provided money to keep them in boots and bullets, 331 00:21:15,412 --> 00:21:21,245 and most of all, he gave them the promise of a future. 332 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:25,076 But to Murphy and Dolan, the two Irish immigrants 333 00:21:25,111 --> 00:21:28,597 who had enjoyed unfettered power over the county for years, 334 00:21:28,632 --> 00:21:31,255 the idea of a well-heeled Englishman 335 00:21:31,290 --> 00:21:35,570 moving in on their turf was unthinkable. 336 00:21:35,604 --> 00:21:37,261 O'’TOOLE: The first thing you have to remember 337 00:21:37,296 --> 00:21:38,814 about both Murphy and Dolan 338 00:21:38,849 --> 00:21:41,852 is that they'’ve grown up in rural Ireland. 339 00:21:41,886 --> 00:21:43,785 They'’ve experienced 340 00:21:43,819 --> 00:21:45,787 what is proportionally still in human history 341 00:21:45,821 --> 00:21:47,582 the most deadly famine that there'’s ever been. 342 00:21:47,616 --> 00:21:52,138 And that sort of experience doesn'’t make people nice. 343 00:21:52,172 --> 00:21:56,798 It makes them incredibly ruthless. 344 00:21:56,832 --> 00:21:59,732 It gives them an extraordinary other kind of hunger. 345 00:21:59,766 --> 00:22:03,874 It'’s a hunger never to have this happen to you again. 346 00:22:03,908 --> 00:22:05,634 NOLAN: You think they'’re going to sit still 347 00:22:05,669 --> 00:22:08,465 and let this bloody Englishman come in 348 00:22:08,499 --> 00:22:09,535 and take it all off them? 349 00:22:09,569 --> 00:22:12,848 "This is the very kind of Englishman 350 00:22:12,883 --> 00:22:15,782 "that'’s kept our people under their heel 351 00:22:15,817 --> 00:22:18,889 "and ground us into the dirt and made us starve 352 00:22:18,923 --> 00:22:21,167 "and now he thinks he'’s going to come out here 353 00:22:21,201 --> 00:22:24,239 "and take this off us, after what we'’ve had to do to get it? 354 00:22:24,273 --> 00:22:26,414 You'’ve got to be kidding me." 355 00:22:26,448 --> 00:22:30,279 NARRATOR: The House concocted a plan 356 00:22:30,314 --> 00:22:33,386 to get rid of Tunstall once and for all. 357 00:22:33,421 --> 00:22:35,526 They enlisted Sheriff William Brady 358 00:22:35,561 --> 00:22:37,390 to enforce a phony court order 359 00:22:37,425 --> 00:22:42,015 confiscating all of Tunstall'’s horses and cattle. 360 00:22:42,050 --> 00:22:45,950 On the afternoon of February 18, 1878, 361 00:22:45,985 --> 00:22:48,608 John Tunstall rode into town 362 00:22:48,643 --> 00:22:51,818 to challenge the claim on his property. 363 00:22:51,853 --> 00:22:55,995 Along the way, he ran into the sheriff'’s posse. 364 00:22:56,029 --> 00:22:57,583 HUTTON: When they find Tunstall, 365 00:22:57,617 --> 00:23:01,241 he, of course, rides forward to talk to them. 366 00:23:01,276 --> 00:23:03,071 Here'’s a man who actually believes 367 00:23:03,105 --> 00:23:04,175 that the law will protect him. 368 00:23:04,210 --> 00:23:07,006 They never give him a chance. 369 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,974 [gunshots, horse neighing] 370 00:23:10,009 --> 00:23:12,805 They shoot him out of the saddle. 371 00:23:12,839 --> 00:23:17,810 That'’s the way the law works in Lincoln County. 372 00:23:17,844 --> 00:23:19,087 One of them dismounted, walked over, 373 00:23:19,121 --> 00:23:20,502 and put a bullet in Tunstall'’s head. 374 00:23:20,537 --> 00:23:23,643 And then, just out of sheer meanness, 375 00:23:23,678 --> 00:23:24,920 they shot Tunstall'’s horse. 376 00:23:24,955 --> 00:23:27,992 They arranged the bodies 377 00:23:28,027 --> 00:23:30,443 as though man and horse were taking a nap together. 378 00:23:30,478 --> 00:23:33,066 And they put Tunstall'’s hat under the horse'’s head 379 00:23:33,101 --> 00:23:35,862 and folded Tunstall'’s coat up underneath his head 380 00:23:35,897 --> 00:23:37,761 and they thought it was a good joke. 381 00:23:41,558 --> 00:23:45,389 NARRATOR: Tunstall'’s gang of men retrieved his dead body 382 00:23:45,424 --> 00:23:49,428 and buried him at his ranch. 383 00:23:49,462 --> 00:23:51,326 The Kid had learned a hard truth 384 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:54,087 about the way the world worked in New Mexico. 385 00:23:54,122 --> 00:23:58,264 To him, Murphy, Dolan, the House, 386 00:23:58,298 --> 00:24:01,267 and the whole system was corrupt. 387 00:24:01,301 --> 00:24:04,719 He made a pact with Dick Brewer, Doc Scurlock, 388 00:24:04,753 --> 00:24:08,377 and the other men who had worked for Tunstall. 389 00:24:08,412 --> 00:24:11,864 Together they would form their own cowboy army. 390 00:24:11,898 --> 00:24:13,831 Calling themselves the Regulators, 391 00:24:13,866 --> 00:24:19,147 they vowed to dispense their own brand of justice. 392 00:24:19,181 --> 00:24:24,980 MOMADAY: Billy had one capacity above others, and that was loyalty. 393 00:24:25,015 --> 00:24:26,637 He was extremely loyal. 394 00:24:26,672 --> 00:24:28,536 He was loyal to everyone 395 00:24:28,570 --> 00:24:31,780 who would give him that chance to be loyal. 396 00:24:31,815 --> 00:24:36,578 And when Tunstall was killed, he was hell-bent on revenge. 397 00:24:36,613 --> 00:24:39,685 HUTTON: He'’s going to get every man 398 00:24:39,719 --> 00:24:42,377 that'’s been involved in this killing. 399 00:24:42,411 --> 00:24:46,623 And he has a particular hit list that he wants to take care of. 400 00:24:46,657 --> 00:24:50,592 NARRATOR: William Brady, the sheriff of Lincoln County-- 401 00:24:50,627 --> 00:24:53,802 the man the Regulators believed ordered Tunstall'’s murder-- 402 00:24:53,837 --> 00:24:56,495 was number one on that list. 403 00:24:56,529 --> 00:25:01,085 On April Fool'’s Day, 1878, 404 00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:03,329 they got their chance to even the score. 405 00:25:05,745 --> 00:25:08,196 GARDNER: One day in Lincoln, the Kid is there and several Regulators 406 00:25:08,230 --> 00:25:10,819 and Sheriff Brady is walking down the street 407 00:25:10,854 --> 00:25:13,304 with several of his deputies. 408 00:25:13,339 --> 00:25:15,375 HUTTON: I think they knew his patterns. 409 00:25:15,410 --> 00:25:20,173 They knew he took that morning stroll every day. 410 00:25:20,208 --> 00:25:22,175 GARDNER: And behind an adobe wall, 411 00:25:22,210 --> 00:25:25,731 the Kid and his fellow Regulators are hiding. 412 00:25:36,604 --> 00:25:38,364 NARRATOR: The Kid and the Regulators 413 00:25:38,398 --> 00:25:41,574 put over a dozen slugs into Sheriff Brady. 414 00:25:41,609 --> 00:25:46,199 He was dead before he hit the ground. 415 00:25:49,996 --> 00:25:52,999 HUTTON: It'’s an assassination, there'’s no question about it. 416 00:25:53,034 --> 00:25:56,382 And certainly, why would they think Brady deserved any better, 417 00:25:56,416 --> 00:25:58,384 after he had sent known killers out to murder Tunstall? 418 00:25:58,418 --> 00:26:01,387 Brady was a murderer, even though he wore a badge. 419 00:26:01,421 --> 00:26:03,216 They shoot him down like a dog, 420 00:26:03,251 --> 00:26:07,117 because, you know, this is a war. 421 00:26:07,151 --> 00:26:09,326 The only way we'’re going to get a decent law around here 422 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:12,398 is to kill the law we'’ve got and put our law in it. 423 00:26:18,473 --> 00:26:21,165 NARRATOR: What started off as a revenge killing, 424 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,342 sparked by an old world rivalry between the Irish and English, 425 00:26:25,376 --> 00:26:28,690 quickly spiraled into anarchy. 426 00:26:28,725 --> 00:26:32,211 The Regulators and the House were engaged in gang warfare, 427 00:26:32,245 --> 00:26:35,283 ambushing each other on the countryside 428 00:26:35,317 --> 00:26:38,079 and squaring off in the center of town. 429 00:26:40,426 --> 00:26:44,913 With each encounter, the body count rose. 430 00:26:44,948 --> 00:26:46,535 In just a few weeks of fighting, 431 00:26:46,570 --> 00:26:48,641 the press began calling the conflict 432 00:26:48,676 --> 00:26:51,437 "The Lincoln County War." 433 00:26:51,471 --> 00:26:57,374 NOLAN: The Lincoln County War was the finality of a lot, a lot, 434 00:26:57,408 --> 00:27:01,240 a lot of hostility that had been bubbling for a decade, 435 00:27:01,274 --> 00:27:05,313 when finally everybody took arms and said, "Let'’s finish this." 436 00:27:05,347 --> 00:27:08,557 NARRATOR: "It was just an open free-for-all," 437 00:27:08,592 --> 00:27:10,698 one former Regulator recalled. 438 00:27:10,732 --> 00:27:15,634 "Everyone just had to line up on one side or the other." 439 00:27:15,668 --> 00:27:20,224 HUTTON: There'’s a lot of... a lot of hard feelings going on here. 440 00:27:20,259 --> 00:27:22,675 And this isn'’t unique, of course, 441 00:27:22,710 --> 00:27:24,815 to the Irish and the Englishman Tunstall. 442 00:27:24,850 --> 00:27:26,437 But there'’s a lot of hard feelings 443 00:27:26,472 --> 00:27:29,958 between the Mescaleros and the Hispanics. 444 00:27:29,993 --> 00:27:32,616 It doesn'’t take much to get an argument going, 445 00:27:32,651 --> 00:27:35,101 and that'’s why so many dead bodies pile up so quickly. 446 00:27:38,104 --> 00:27:40,969 GOMBER: Law completely broke down in Lincoln County. 447 00:27:41,004 --> 00:27:44,593 There was really no semblance of law and order. 448 00:27:44,628 --> 00:27:47,217 Every son of a bitch up there wanted to kill somebody. 449 00:27:47,251 --> 00:27:51,670 NARRATOR: The Kid watched many of his friends die 450 00:27:51,704 --> 00:27:53,948 in the relentless violence. 451 00:27:53,982 --> 00:27:55,881 Simply by staying alive, 452 00:27:55,915 --> 00:27:58,435 he became one of the leaders of the Regulators. 453 00:27:58,469 --> 00:27:59,885 In the process, 454 00:27:59,919 --> 00:28:02,888 he made a name for himself as a fearsome fighter. 455 00:28:02,922 --> 00:28:06,063 NOLAN: The remarkable thing about the Kid: 456 00:28:06,098 --> 00:28:09,791 he'’s the only one of the soldiers 457 00:28:09,826 --> 00:28:13,105 that was in every single skirmish, 458 00:28:13,139 --> 00:28:16,418 every fight, every face-off. 459 00:28:16,453 --> 00:28:20,319 Every "No you don'’t," he was there. 460 00:28:20,353 --> 00:28:23,529 And he just kept getting better at it. 461 00:28:23,563 --> 00:28:27,809 O'’TOOLE: I think he just gets stuck in the logic of this conflict 462 00:28:27,844 --> 00:28:31,399 and I think he does what young men of his age 463 00:28:31,433 --> 00:28:33,159 have done throughout history, 464 00:28:33,194 --> 00:28:34,643 which is he, he fights for the dead, 465 00:28:34,678 --> 00:28:36,128 he keeps going because his mates have been killed. 466 00:28:36,162 --> 00:28:38,717 It'’s very, very intense, 467 00:28:38,751 --> 00:28:41,547 and it'’s an incredibly intimate conflict. 468 00:28:41,581 --> 00:28:42,893 I think there'’s a sense 469 00:28:42,928 --> 00:28:46,138 that Billy sort of doesn'’t have anywhere to go. 470 00:28:46,172 --> 00:28:49,486 The people he'’s connected to who might have been able to help him 471 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:51,212 and might have been able to give him a job 472 00:28:51,246 --> 00:28:55,388 or get him up the ladder are being killed. 473 00:28:55,423 --> 00:28:59,496 NARRATOR: Blending into the darkness of the New Mexico night, 474 00:28:59,530 --> 00:29:02,154 the Kid could always find comfort and refuge 475 00:29:02,188 --> 00:29:04,018 with the Hispanic ranchers. 476 00:29:04,052 --> 00:29:07,469 On the tiny sheep farms that surrounded Lincoln, 477 00:29:07,504 --> 00:29:12,440 he was becoming a heroic figure in another struggle. 478 00:29:12,474 --> 00:29:16,030 TONY MARES: The Hispanos would have seen in the Kid 479 00:29:16,064 --> 00:29:18,929 a person who was fighting their enemies. 480 00:29:18,964 --> 00:29:20,793 The people he was fighting against, 481 00:29:20,828 --> 00:29:23,451 even the ones who were on the side of the law, were crooks. 482 00:29:23,485 --> 00:29:25,867 The Hispanos knew that. 483 00:29:25,902 --> 00:29:28,697 These were not fine, outstanding citizens 484 00:29:28,732 --> 00:29:31,528 who were being gunned down. 485 00:29:31,562 --> 00:29:34,427 He was engaging against people who had stolen a whole country. 486 00:29:34,462 --> 00:29:37,430 He was engaging against people who had stolen their lands. 487 00:29:37,465 --> 00:29:40,917 HUTTON: The Kid is a consistent rebel, 488 00:29:40,951 --> 00:29:44,403 rebelling against the new Anglo establishment. 489 00:29:44,437 --> 00:29:47,130 They are co-opting all the land grants. 490 00:29:47,164 --> 00:29:49,201 They are making themselves wealthy. 491 00:29:49,235 --> 00:29:51,859 And so when he strikes against the House, 492 00:29:51,893 --> 00:29:53,688 he'’s always striking a blow 493 00:29:53,722 --> 00:29:55,966 for those who are being dispossessed, 494 00:29:56,001 --> 00:29:59,659 the Mexican sheepherders. 495 00:29:59,694 --> 00:30:02,317 So it'’s not a very long journey 496 00:30:02,352 --> 00:30:06,459 to make him into this fighter for justice. 497 00:30:06,494 --> 00:30:09,359 JOHN MICHAEL RIVERA: The Hispanos gave him shelter and hid him. 498 00:30:09,393 --> 00:30:11,982 They were able to use the Kid 499 00:30:12,017 --> 00:30:14,364 and construct a hero 500 00:30:14,398 --> 00:30:18,023 at a time when heroes were on short supply, 501 00:30:18,057 --> 00:30:20,888 a time when they had no heroes. 502 00:30:25,444 --> 00:30:27,860 NARRATOR: Five months after the Tunstall murder, 503 00:30:27,895 --> 00:30:31,519 the violence of the Lincoln County War reached its peak. 504 00:30:31,553 --> 00:30:34,418 A bloody siege in the center of Lincoln 505 00:30:34,453 --> 00:30:38,491 known as the "big killing" left five more men dead. 506 00:30:38,526 --> 00:30:42,495 The Kid narrowly escaped with his life. 507 00:30:42,530 --> 00:30:46,051 To the anxious American politicians and businessmen 508 00:30:46,085 --> 00:30:49,502 in the Territory, the vigilante violence was bad for business 509 00:30:49,537 --> 00:30:52,022 and needed to be stopped. 510 00:30:52,057 --> 00:30:55,060 Indictments were handed down against the Kid 511 00:30:55,094 --> 00:30:58,995 and three other Regulators for the killing of Sheriff Brady. 512 00:30:59,029 --> 00:31:03,516 Still, the bloodshed continued unabated. 513 00:31:03,551 --> 00:31:06,830 WALLIS: All this murder and mayhem 514 00:31:06,865 --> 00:31:11,283 naturally made its way back to Washington 515 00:31:11,317 --> 00:31:14,010 and the federal government'’s response was, 516 00:31:14,044 --> 00:31:15,632 "Let'’s put an end to this." 517 00:31:15,666 --> 00:31:19,670 NARRATOR: President Rutherford B. Hayes himself intervened, 518 00:31:19,705 --> 00:31:22,811 appointing a new governor to the New Mexico Territory, 519 00:31:22,846 --> 00:31:26,436 former Union Army General Lew Wallace. 520 00:31:26,470 --> 00:31:29,749 Wallace traveled to the town of Lincoln with a mandate 521 00:31:29,784 --> 00:31:33,408 to restore order as quickly as possible. 522 00:31:33,443 --> 00:31:37,309 GOMBER: He came down here and began to take testimony from everybody. 523 00:31:37,343 --> 00:31:40,622 He was interested in who killed who and when. 524 00:31:40,657 --> 00:31:42,866 And he couldn'’t get anybody to testify; 525 00:31:42,901 --> 00:31:44,419 everybody was frightened. 526 00:31:44,454 --> 00:31:48,768 Finally he found a willing witness. 527 00:31:48,803 --> 00:31:53,394 NARRATOR: In Lew Wallace, the Kid saw an opportunity to clear his name. 528 00:31:53,428 --> 00:31:56,811 He wrote a letter to the governor, offering to testify 529 00:31:56,845 --> 00:32:00,711 against members of the House in exchange for a full pardon. 530 00:32:00,746 --> 00:32:03,783 NOLAN: He'’s trying not to be on the run. 531 00:32:03,818 --> 00:32:05,924 He'’s trying to go straight. 532 00:32:05,958 --> 00:32:07,856 "Hey, let'’s quit this. 533 00:32:07,891 --> 00:32:09,720 "Let me live a life. 534 00:32:09,755 --> 00:32:13,655 "Damn it, I'’m not 20 years of age yet. 535 00:32:13,690 --> 00:32:15,934 I don'’t want to be dead." 536 00:32:15,968 --> 00:32:19,454 NARRATOR: Wallace agreed to the deal. 537 00:32:19,489 --> 00:32:23,251 And the Kid appeared before a grand jury. 538 00:32:23,286 --> 00:32:27,290 Due in part to his testimony, more than 200 indictments, 539 00:32:27,324 --> 00:32:30,845 many for murder, were returned against 50 men, 540 00:32:30,879 --> 00:32:35,332 including the House leader Jimmy Dolan. 541 00:32:35,367 --> 00:32:37,196 But when it came time to grant the Kid his pardon, 542 00:32:37,231 --> 00:32:40,096 Wallace was nowhere to be found. 543 00:32:40,130 --> 00:32:43,375 He had returned to the governor'’s mansion in Santa Fe, 544 00:32:43,409 --> 00:32:45,239 leaving the Kid'’s fate 545 00:32:45,273 --> 00:32:48,483 in the hands of the authorities in Lincoln. 546 00:32:48,518 --> 00:32:51,107 WALLIS: Basically I don'’t think Lew Wallace gave a damn 547 00:32:51,141 --> 00:32:53,661 about Billy the Kid. 548 00:32:53,695 --> 00:32:57,906 He just wanted to get out of here and get out of here he did. 549 00:33:01,807 --> 00:33:04,534 NARRATOR: With the Governor gone, the local district attorney, 550 00:33:04,568 --> 00:33:07,330 who was a close associate of Murphy and Dolan'’s, 551 00:33:07,364 --> 00:33:10,505 dropped most of the charges against members of the House. 552 00:33:10,540 --> 00:33:15,441 But indictments against the Kid and the Regulators remained. 553 00:33:15,476 --> 00:33:18,789 Before Billy could be taken back into custody, 554 00:33:18,824 --> 00:33:23,001 he slipped out of town. 555 00:33:23,035 --> 00:33:27,764 NOLAN: There was a last gathering of the gang, the Regulators, 556 00:33:27,798 --> 00:33:33,252 where they all decided to get the heck out of New Mexico. 557 00:33:33,287 --> 00:33:34,978 They said, "We'’re going to Colorado 558 00:33:35,013 --> 00:33:37,049 "and we'’re going to Kansas and we'’re going to Texas, 559 00:33:37,084 --> 00:33:38,326 the hell with this." 560 00:33:38,361 --> 00:33:40,535 And Billy said, 561 00:33:40,570 --> 00:33:43,400 "Well, boys, I'’m going to stay here and steal myself a living." 562 00:33:46,265 --> 00:33:49,303 NARRATOR: The Kid went back to stealing horses and rustling cattle, 563 00:33:49,337 --> 00:33:50,994 quickly becoming a nuisance 564 00:33:51,029 --> 00:33:54,687 to the wealthy Anglo ranchers in the territory. 565 00:33:54,722 --> 00:33:58,691 HUTTON: The Kid is a consistent rebel all the way. 566 00:33:58,726 --> 00:34:01,349 He didn'’t back down from the House. 567 00:34:01,384 --> 00:34:05,008 He'’s not going to back away now. 568 00:34:05,043 --> 00:34:08,080 He is now a real thorn in the power structure in New Mexico. 569 00:34:08,115 --> 00:34:11,635 And so they'’re determined to get him. 570 00:34:11,670 --> 00:34:13,568 NARRATOR: Over the next few months, 571 00:34:13,603 --> 00:34:16,019 newspapers were filled with accounts about the Kid, 572 00:34:16,054 --> 00:34:18,159 mostly embellished. 573 00:34:18,194 --> 00:34:20,610 He was portrayed as a murderous villain 574 00:34:20,644 --> 00:34:22,819 terrorizing the countryside, 575 00:34:22,853 --> 00:34:25,718 a desperate cuss hell-bent on anarchy, 576 00:34:25,753 --> 00:34:28,342 in charge of a ruthless gang of criminals. 577 00:34:28,376 --> 00:34:31,517 There was scarcely a violent crime committed 578 00:34:31,552 --> 00:34:37,109 in the whole of New Mexico that wasn'’t blamed on the Kid. 579 00:34:37,144 --> 00:34:41,872 The large majority of the territorial press 580 00:34:41,907 --> 00:34:43,909 were mouthpieces for the House, 581 00:34:43,943 --> 00:34:46,118 for the big bosses up in Santa Fe. 582 00:34:46,153 --> 00:34:48,362 They were beating the war drums. 583 00:34:48,396 --> 00:34:51,503 "Let'’s civilize this territory. 584 00:34:51,537 --> 00:34:54,299 "Let'’s get rid of that Kid. 585 00:34:54,333 --> 00:34:57,474 Let'’s get rid of Billy the Kid." 586 00:34:57,509 --> 00:35:03,480 NARRATOR: In 1880, an enterprising newspaper editor 587 00:35:03,515 --> 00:35:08,692 named J.H. Koogler gave the Kid his most famous alias. 588 00:35:08,727 --> 00:35:13,525 Soon, a notice appeared in town squares across the territory: 589 00:35:13,559 --> 00:35:18,426 "Wanted Dead or Alive: Billy the Kid." 590 00:35:30,058 --> 00:35:31,888 In the spring of 1880, 591 00:35:31,922 --> 00:35:35,409 a traveling photographer arrived in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. 592 00:35:35,443 --> 00:35:38,998 Dusty and bedraggled, 593 00:35:39,033 --> 00:35:43,002 the Kid decided to pose for a 25 cent tintype. 594 00:35:43,037 --> 00:35:46,213 For the past several months, 595 00:35:46,247 --> 00:35:48,801 Billy had counted on his close relationship 596 00:35:48,836 --> 00:35:51,045 with the Hispanic ranchers in Fort Sumner 597 00:35:51,079 --> 00:35:53,392 to help him to elude capture. 598 00:35:53,427 --> 00:35:56,533 It was rumored that he had fallen in love 599 00:35:56,568 --> 00:36:01,193 with a 16-year-old Hispanic girl named Paulita Maxwell. 600 00:36:01,228 --> 00:36:03,920 Years later, Paulita would say 601 00:36:03,954 --> 00:36:08,442 the photo taken that day didn'’t do him justice. 602 00:36:08,476 --> 00:36:09,891 CHAVEZ: Paulita would have seen 603 00:36:09,926 --> 00:36:15,794 a slim, attractive young man, 604 00:36:15,828 --> 00:36:21,558 dancing eyes, mischievous eyes. 605 00:36:21,593 --> 00:36:24,803 Yes, he was scarred, yes, he was battered, 606 00:36:24,837 --> 00:36:28,427 but he was a man who still had his dreams. 607 00:36:28,462 --> 00:36:33,191 So she would have seen that great yearning in his spirit. 608 00:36:33,225 --> 00:36:35,572 MOMADAY: Billy was always looking for a family. 609 00:36:35,607 --> 00:36:40,405 He wanted a home and that'’s the one thing 610 00:36:40,439 --> 00:36:42,993 that he never really had and couldn'’t get. 611 00:36:43,028 --> 00:36:48,551 But I think he felt that Fort Sumner was home. 612 00:36:55,903 --> 00:36:59,838 NARRATOR: A hundred miles away, the town of Lincoln had a new sheriff 613 00:36:59,872 --> 00:37:03,359 determined to make a name for himself. 614 00:37:03,393 --> 00:37:06,672 HUTTON: Pat Garrett, he'’s a man on the make. 615 00:37:06,707 --> 00:37:10,089 He'’s a man who wants respectability. 616 00:37:10,124 --> 00:37:14,059 He wanted to be a famous lawman like Wild Bill Hickok. 617 00:37:14,093 --> 00:37:17,442 And in capturing the Kid, he could do so. 618 00:37:20,134 --> 00:37:25,622 NARRATOR: By December of 1880, Garrett had assembled a gang of lawmen. 619 00:37:25,657 --> 00:37:28,384 Dubbed the Panhandle Posse, 620 00:37:28,418 --> 00:37:32,180 it included some of the toughest cowboys from Texas. 621 00:37:32,215 --> 00:37:35,460 The newspapers would follow their every move, 622 00:37:35,494 --> 00:37:37,979 providing details to a public now eager 623 00:37:38,014 --> 00:37:41,569 to see Billy the Kid brought to justice. 624 00:37:41,604 --> 00:37:43,916 GARDNER: It'’s no simple feat. 625 00:37:43,951 --> 00:37:46,333 This is winter, this is November, December, 626 00:37:46,367 --> 00:37:49,646 when he'’s out there on the trail. 627 00:37:49,681 --> 00:37:53,512 Finally, through a combination of stealth and some sleuthing, 628 00:37:53,547 --> 00:37:55,031 he tracks him down. 629 00:37:55,065 --> 00:37:58,966 [gunshots] 630 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:00,692 NARRATOR: Garrett and his posse 631 00:38:00,726 --> 00:38:04,696 killed two of Billy'’s friends, Tom Folliard and Charlie Bowdre, 632 00:38:04,730 --> 00:38:07,630 and in just a matter of days 633 00:38:07,664 --> 00:38:10,460 they had backed the Kid into a corner in a tiny cabin 634 00:38:10,495 --> 00:38:15,914 in a desolate area known as Stinking Spring. 635 00:38:15,948 --> 00:38:19,020 GOMBER: The Kid and the others were trapped inside the place. 636 00:38:19,055 --> 00:38:21,540 There was nowhere for them to go. 637 00:38:21,575 --> 00:38:24,163 Garrett shot one of their horses right in the doorway. 638 00:38:24,198 --> 00:38:29,583 NARRATOR: After a night with no food, no water, and no fire, 639 00:38:29,617 --> 00:38:32,517 the Kid finally ran out of options. 640 00:38:32,551 --> 00:38:38,212 He walked out, threw his hands in the air, and surrendered. 641 00:38:38,246 --> 00:38:39,593 NOLAN: When he came out he said, 642 00:38:39,627 --> 00:38:43,113 "Hell, Pat, I thought you had 200 Texans out here! 643 00:38:43,148 --> 00:38:46,979 Otherwise I'’d have never have given up." 644 00:38:47,014 --> 00:38:51,432 He'’s actually going to jail and he'’s probably going to be hanged 645 00:38:51,467 --> 00:38:53,710 and yet he'’s laughing about it 646 00:38:53,745 --> 00:38:58,197 because in here, I think he thinks, somewhere in here, 647 00:38:58,232 --> 00:39:00,303 "I'’m going to get out of this." 648 00:39:00,338 --> 00:39:06,274 NARRATOR: News of the Kid'’s capture spread across the territory. 649 00:39:06,309 --> 00:39:09,968 When Garrett arrived in Las Vegas, New Mexico, 650 00:39:10,002 --> 00:39:11,763 with the kid in irons, 651 00:39:11,797 --> 00:39:15,042 the sheriff was greeted as a conquering hero. 652 00:39:15,076 --> 00:39:18,010 Crowds lined the street to see the famous man-hunter 653 00:39:18,045 --> 00:39:21,566 and to gawk at the mythic outlaw. 654 00:39:28,055 --> 00:39:30,402 GARDNER: The newspaper reporters are allowed in 655 00:39:30,437 --> 00:39:32,508 and they get to talk to the Kid. 656 00:39:32,542 --> 00:39:35,787 And as he'’s talking to the reporters, the Kid says, 657 00:39:35,821 --> 00:39:37,305 "You know, this is good, 658 00:39:37,340 --> 00:39:39,618 "maybe people will think I'’m half human now, 659 00:39:39,653 --> 00:39:41,931 "because they haven'’t thought I was human before. 660 00:39:41,965 --> 00:39:43,553 "They consider me an animal. 661 00:39:43,588 --> 00:39:45,486 Maybe now they'’ll think I'’m half human." 662 00:39:45,521 --> 00:39:52,044 NARRATOR: "He did look human indeed," one reporter wrote. 663 00:39:52,079 --> 00:39:55,945 "There was nothing very mannish about him in his appearance, 664 00:39:55,979 --> 00:39:58,741 "for he looked and acted like a school boy 665 00:39:58,775 --> 00:40:02,710 "with the traditional silky fuzz on his upper lip 666 00:40:02,745 --> 00:40:07,163 and clear blue eyes with a roguish snap about them." 667 00:40:14,929 --> 00:40:17,345 Billy was loaded onto a train bound for Santa Fe, 668 00:40:17,380 --> 00:40:20,935 where he would await his trial for murder. 669 00:40:20,970 --> 00:40:23,800 As he pulled away from the station, 670 00:40:23,835 --> 00:40:26,147 the defiant Kid smiled and laughed, 671 00:40:26,182 --> 00:40:30,980 inviting reporters to come visit him in jail. 672 00:40:33,741 --> 00:40:37,435 HUTTON: The train, of course, is the machine in the garden, 673 00:40:37,469 --> 00:40:41,197 the change that'’s going to come to the entire West. 674 00:40:41,231 --> 00:40:45,960 And so now he is, of course, placed on this machine. 675 00:40:45,995 --> 00:40:49,688 And now it'’s going to take him to Santa Fe 676 00:40:49,723 --> 00:40:51,276 and there, of course, 677 00:40:51,310 --> 00:40:56,005 they'’ll chain him and they'll prepare him for execution. 678 00:40:56,039 --> 00:40:59,008 Once he'’s on that train, it'’s a one-way trip. 679 00:41:04,047 --> 00:41:06,740 NARRATOR: Billy was convicted of first-degree murder 680 00:41:06,774 --> 00:41:09,156 for the killing of Sheriff Brady. 681 00:41:09,190 --> 00:41:11,883 He was sent back to Lincoln in the custody of Pat Garrett 682 00:41:11,917 --> 00:41:16,991 and two well-armed deputies, J.W. Bell and Bob Ollinger. 683 00:41:17,026 --> 00:41:22,445 At only 21 years of age, he was a dead man walking, 684 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:27,105 scheduled to hang in just a matter of days. 685 00:41:27,139 --> 00:41:29,694 MOMADAY: He believed that he was going to get away. 686 00:41:29,728 --> 00:41:34,422 All he had to do was recognize the opportunity. 687 00:41:34,457 --> 00:41:36,045 It was a matter of time, and he... 688 00:41:36,079 --> 00:41:37,598 and he picked his time well. 689 00:41:37,633 --> 00:41:42,534 NARRATOR: On the afternoon of April 28, 1881, 690 00:41:42,569 --> 00:41:44,743 Garrett was out of town on county business 691 00:41:44,778 --> 00:41:50,093 and Bob Ollinger was across the street eating dinner. 692 00:41:50,128 --> 00:41:55,064 GARDNER: The Kid said, "I need to go use the outhouse." 693 00:41:55,098 --> 00:41:59,102 Bell takes the Kid out to the outhouse, they come back in, 694 00:41:59,137 --> 00:42:02,934 and at the top of the stairs he surprises Bell, 695 00:42:05,868 --> 00:42:07,559 Billy gets Bell'’s gun... 696 00:42:09,596 --> 00:42:13,185 and Bell panics and he starts running down the stairs... 697 00:42:15,567 --> 00:42:17,983 and he does inflict one mortal wound. 698 00:42:21,504 --> 00:42:24,576 Billy grabs Bob Ollinger'’s shotgun 699 00:42:24,611 --> 00:42:26,682 and he runs to one of the windows 700 00:42:26,716 --> 00:42:28,269 where he could see out across the street, 701 00:42:28,304 --> 00:42:29,892 because he expected that Ollinger 702 00:42:29,926 --> 00:42:32,860 probably heard the gunfire. 703 00:42:32,895 --> 00:42:34,482 MOMADAY: And Ollinger... 704 00:42:34,517 --> 00:42:37,209 I'’ve always imagined him picking up his head and saying, 705 00:42:37,244 --> 00:42:39,626 "Did you hear, did you hear that, did you hear something? 706 00:42:39,660 --> 00:42:41,731 It'’s a shot." 707 00:42:41,766 --> 00:42:43,388 So he... 708 00:42:43,422 --> 00:42:46,218 I don'’t know what was going on in his mind 709 00:42:46,253 --> 00:42:52,535 but he must have known something like fear, real fear. 710 00:42:52,570 --> 00:42:56,228 HUTTON: And Ollinger came running across from the Wortley 711 00:42:56,263 --> 00:43:01,717 and someone yelled out, "“The Kid'’s killed Bell!"” 712 00:43:01,751 --> 00:43:05,237 GARDNER: And just as soon as Goss spoke those words, 713 00:43:05,272 --> 00:43:09,448 Ollinger hears the voice from above in the window. 714 00:43:09,483 --> 00:43:10,691 "Hello, Bob." 715 00:43:10,726 --> 00:43:12,313 "Hello, Bob." 716 00:43:12,348 --> 00:43:13,936 "Hello, Bob." 717 00:43:13,970 --> 00:43:19,286 HUTTON: And Ollinger looked up into the twin barrels of his own shotgun. 718 00:43:24,256 --> 00:43:26,776 GOMBER: He'’s hit by .36 buckshot, 719 00:43:26,811 --> 00:43:28,329 which is about a quarter pound of lead. 720 00:43:28,364 --> 00:43:29,745 He'’s dead when he hits the ground. 721 00:43:32,989 --> 00:43:35,578 NOLAN: It is so unexpected. 722 00:43:35,613 --> 00:43:39,064 He'’s got no chances of getting out of this, 723 00:43:39,099 --> 00:43:42,205 and suddenly, whip, whap, bang, 724 00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:47,279 they'’re dead, and dead very-- how shall I say-- spectacularly. 725 00:43:50,904 --> 00:43:52,802 And he then comes out, commandeers a horse, 726 00:43:52,837 --> 00:43:55,771 and rides out of town singing. 727 00:44:01,708 --> 00:44:04,849 MOMADAY: He was very good at getting away, escaping. 728 00:44:04,883 --> 00:44:10,475 Escape was one of his great talents. 729 00:44:10,509 --> 00:44:15,549 In that moment when he leaves the courthouse on horseback, 730 00:44:15,583 --> 00:44:19,346 as he goes out of sight, 731 00:44:19,380 --> 00:44:22,038 he passes into legend at that moment. 732 00:44:25,421 --> 00:44:29,114 The story will never be the same after that. 733 00:44:45,027 --> 00:44:46,891 NARRATOR: The story would take less than a day 734 00:44:46,925 --> 00:44:50,204 to make front-page headlines across the country. 735 00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:52,172 The telegraph gave electric life 736 00:44:52,206 --> 00:44:55,313 to the details of Billy'’s escape. 737 00:44:55,347 --> 00:45:00,352 RICHARDSON: He became nationally famous because instantaneously, 738 00:45:00,387 --> 00:45:02,561 people would know about Billy and what he did, 739 00:45:02,596 --> 00:45:06,082 and he was glamorized. 740 00:45:06,117 --> 00:45:08,188 And he was made into a mythical character. 741 00:45:08,222 --> 00:45:13,193 NOLAN: The New York Times,he was even in the London Times, 742 00:45:13,227 --> 00:45:14,815 big towns, small towns, 743 00:45:14,850 --> 00:45:17,093 you know, Fredericksburg, Illinois, wherever. 744 00:45:17,128 --> 00:45:18,716 Name any town you like. 745 00:45:18,750 --> 00:45:22,167 Chicago, sure, San Francisco, certainly. 746 00:45:22,202 --> 00:45:28,173 So he became an absolute icon of American outlawry. 747 00:45:28,208 --> 00:45:31,487 NARRATOR: Just a few years earlier, 748 00:45:31,521 --> 00:45:34,524 he had been a skinny orphan boy from New York City. 749 00:45:34,559 --> 00:45:39,564 Now, Billy was the most feared man in New Mexico. 750 00:45:39,598 --> 00:45:42,325 He knew it wouldn'’t be long 751 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:44,293 before someone came looking for him, 752 00:45:44,327 --> 00:45:47,330 but he still refused to leave the territory. 753 00:45:47,365 --> 00:45:49,125 MARES: He was urged to by friends 754 00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:54,510 to, you know, don'’t let the sun set on you in New Mexico. 755 00:45:54,544 --> 00:46:00,585 But he made no attempt to get away, and he could have. 756 00:46:00,619 --> 00:46:04,382 WALLIS: Most of us know exactly why he did that. 757 00:46:04,416 --> 00:46:06,280 Two words: Paulita Maxwell. 758 00:46:06,315 --> 00:46:08,662 His true love. 759 00:46:08,696 --> 00:46:11,389 He wasn'’t going to go down to Mexico. 760 00:46:11,423 --> 00:46:14,116 That would have been the smart thing to do. 761 00:46:14,150 --> 00:46:17,740 But, you know, sometimes a kid isn'’t always smart. 762 00:46:17,775 --> 00:46:20,156 Sometimes the heart rules, 763 00:46:20,191 --> 00:46:22,469 and I think it certainly did in that case. 764 00:46:22,503 --> 00:46:26,231 NARRATOR: It had been nearly three months 765 00:46:26,266 --> 00:46:28,613 since Billy escaped from Lincoln. 766 00:46:28,647 --> 00:46:30,580 Some began to wonder 767 00:46:30,615 --> 00:46:34,308 if Pat Garrett was too afraid to go after him again. 768 00:46:34,343 --> 00:46:36,932 But Garrett was biding his time 769 00:46:36,966 --> 00:46:41,384 and he knew exactly where Billy was. 770 00:46:41,419 --> 00:46:43,697 You know, Pat Garrett kept getting these persistent tips 771 00:46:43,731 --> 00:46:45,733 from Fort Sumner that the Kid was up there. 772 00:46:45,768 --> 00:46:46,907 Turned out the tips were coming from Pete Maxwell, 773 00:46:46,942 --> 00:46:49,599 Paulita'’s big brother, 774 00:46:49,634 --> 00:46:52,844 who did not approve of their relationship. 775 00:46:52,879 --> 00:46:55,951 And finally Garrett decided that he had to act on it. 776 00:46:55,985 --> 00:46:59,506 NARRATOR: Garrett and two new deputies 777 00:46:59,540 --> 00:47:02,785 headed up north along the Pecos River. 778 00:47:02,820 --> 00:47:07,031 They arrived in Fort Sumner the night of July 14, 1881, 779 00:47:07,065 --> 00:47:10,137 and went directly to the Maxwell home. 780 00:47:10,172 --> 00:47:13,244 Garrett posted his two men on the front porch. 781 00:47:13,278 --> 00:47:19,319 So as not to be noticed, he snuck in through the back 782 00:47:19,353 --> 00:47:22,287 and found his way to Pete Maxwell'’s bedroom. 783 00:47:22,322 --> 00:47:25,152 At that same moment, 784 00:47:25,187 --> 00:47:28,742 Billy, in his stocking feet, approached the porch 785 00:47:28,776 --> 00:47:30,640 where Garrett'’s men were stationed. 786 00:47:30,675 --> 00:47:36,715 MOMADAY: Billy came into Maxwell'’s house in the dead of night, 787 00:47:36,750 --> 00:47:39,857 presumably to cut a piece of meat from a beef 788 00:47:39,891 --> 00:47:41,824 that was hanging on the porch. 789 00:47:41,859 --> 00:47:46,104 He came up, he saw those two silhouettes there hunkered down, 790 00:47:46,139 --> 00:47:49,038 and he asked them in Spanish, "Quién es?" 791 00:47:49,073 --> 00:47:50,488 "Quién es?" 792 00:47:50,522 --> 00:47:51,799 Who is it? 793 00:47:51,834 --> 00:47:53,456 There was no answer. 794 00:47:53,491 --> 00:47:58,599 GOMBER: Well, the Kid backs away from them and backs away from them 795 00:47:58,634 --> 00:48:01,706 and finally backs into the doorway. 796 00:48:01,740 --> 00:48:05,503 And from inside the room, he'’s framed in the light. 797 00:48:05,537 --> 00:48:07,022 The moonlight. 798 00:48:07,056 --> 00:48:09,887 And Garrett is sitting on the bed with Pete Maxwell. 799 00:48:09,921 --> 00:48:13,304 Maxwell leaned over and said, "El es." 800 00:48:13,338 --> 00:48:15,030 It'’s him. 801 00:48:17,411 --> 00:48:19,620 WALLIS: It'’s him. 802 00:48:19,655 --> 00:48:22,485 And Garrett took his gun and blasted. 803 00:48:31,839 --> 00:48:35,153 And there fell dead Billy the Kid. 804 00:48:35,188 --> 00:48:41,815 Right on that floor with that question on his lips, 805 00:48:41,849 --> 00:48:43,748 "Quién es?" 806 00:48:43,782 --> 00:48:45,543 Never knowing who killed him. 807 00:48:56,002 --> 00:48:57,831 HUTTON: The folks in the local community 808 00:48:57,865 --> 00:49:00,730 are horrified by what'’s happened. 809 00:49:00,765 --> 00:49:05,701 The local senoritasand Paulita Maxwell gather up Billy'’s body. 810 00:49:05,735 --> 00:49:08,324 They anoint him and lay him out 811 00:49:08,359 --> 00:49:11,707 and sort of pray over him that night. 812 00:49:11,741 --> 00:49:16,539 They loved the Kid. 813 00:49:16,574 --> 00:49:20,026 CHAVEZ: New Mexicans felt that he was one of us. 814 00:49:20,060 --> 00:49:22,062 Lo nuestro,one of ours. 815 00:49:25,134 --> 00:49:27,688 NARRATOR: News of his killing spread fast. 816 00:49:27,723 --> 00:49:30,312 Everyone from preachers in pulpits 817 00:49:30,346 --> 00:49:33,660 to kids in the schoolyards retold the story 818 00:49:33,694 --> 00:49:39,217 of how legendary outlaw Billy the Kid was gunned down. 819 00:49:39,252 --> 00:49:40,632 WALLIS: My maternal grandmother, 820 00:49:40,667 --> 00:49:43,049 she would tell me of that day 821 00:49:43,083 --> 00:49:47,432 when her brothers ran into the house in Kansas City, Missouri 822 00:49:47,467 --> 00:49:51,367 and said, "Two days ago, out in New Mexico territory, 823 00:49:51,402 --> 00:49:53,887 they killed Billy the Kid!" 824 00:49:53,921 --> 00:49:58,754 She remembered that day as clear as a bell 825 00:49:58,788 --> 00:50:00,549 when she was an old, old woman, 826 00:50:00,583 --> 00:50:05,588 and I think a lot of people did. 827 00:50:05,623 --> 00:50:08,039 NARRATOR: For killing Billy the Kid, 828 00:50:08,074 --> 00:50:10,731 Pat Garrett would enjoy momentary fame 829 00:50:10,766 --> 00:50:13,424 as America'’s greatest lawman. 830 00:50:13,458 --> 00:50:16,737 But in 1908, mired in gambling debts, 831 00:50:16,772 --> 00:50:20,224 he was mysteriously shot dead along a remote stretch of road 832 00:50:20,258 --> 00:50:22,709 in the New Mexican desert. 833 00:50:22,743 --> 00:50:26,299 For the big businessmen in Santa Fe, 834 00:50:26,333 --> 00:50:30,130 economic progress was slow to come to the territory, 835 00:50:30,165 --> 00:50:34,652 and they would have to wait another 30 years for statehood. 836 00:50:34,686 --> 00:50:38,483 The House and its beef empire would go bankrupt 837 00:50:38,518 --> 00:50:41,383 and the names Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan 838 00:50:41,417 --> 00:50:44,524 would fade from memory. 839 00:50:44,558 --> 00:50:48,976 Only the legend of Billy the Kid would endure. 840 00:50:54,741 --> 00:50:58,020 WALLIS: That was Henry McCarty that died, 841 00:50:58,055 --> 00:51:01,368 that was Billy Bonney that died. 842 00:51:01,403 --> 00:51:06,028 Billy the Kid rode on, and he rides on forever.