Billy The Kid Sparknotes

The Wild West is romanticized by many, despite the horrors people encountered and the lack of law it was home to people who wanted to settle away from city life. The West was home to many gang and bandits such as Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, and specifically, Billy the Kid. Billy the Kid is famous for being one of the most notorious outlaws of New Mexico and fought in the infamous gang war The Lincoln County War. In Robert M. Utley’s book, Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life, Utley describes the young gunslinger’s life upbringings, how his actions affected people and his untimely death, and an overall response to Utley’s work.
In Utley’s book, he describes that the origins of Billy the Kid are an enigma. His book begins with saying that

Billy the Kid’s parents were immigrants from Ireland who bore two sons by the names of Henry and Joe McCarty.

Henry McCarty is more famously known for being one of the youngest outlaws of the west, Billy the Kid. Catherine McCarty moved the two young boys around from New York City to Indianapolis where she married a veteran of the Civil War named Bill Antrim. Utley signifies the marriage of Bill and Catherine by saying it lifted the McCarty family out of a poor home and eventually the family moved from Indianapolis to Wichita, Kansas where Kid’s mother ran a laundry business. All of the sudden, the family decided to pack up and move without any solid evidence and wandered from Kansas to Colorado, and eventually ended up in New Mexico. At the time of the McCarty’s arrival in New Mexico, the territory was untouched by railroads and ruled by violence. The majority of Kid’s life before the passing of his mother was mainly growing up in a rustic New Mexico mining town called Silver City. Utley states that after the death of his mother in 1874, his stepfather started to pay little attention to the youth and Kid fell into a life of crime. With Kid’s lack of a

father figure, he started following around a man by the name of George Shaffer, but commonly known as Sombrero Jack because he always wore a sombrero. With Shaffer’s help, Kid stole a parcel of clothes from a Chinese laundromat who was arrested and put under the authority of the town’s sheriff. The sheriff left Kid alone for a while and when he returned Kid was nowhere to be seen. Authorities later found out that Kid had escaped the jail cell by climbing up the chimney. Utley is very descriptive in his writing when he details the life of Billy the Kid. He writes about the many friends that Kid had and how they interacted with each other.
The highlight of Kid’s criminal career was affected deeply by the people he was with at the time. During the time of the Lincoln County War, Kid partnered up with other gunslingers and was backed by businessmen John Tunstall and his friend Alexander McSween. The Lincoln County War was basically revenge killings between Tunstall’s group and a group of lawmen, and it lead to the escape of many outlaws including Billy the Kid. While Kid was with Tunstall he forged valuable relationships with people and always seemed to affect them in positive ways. Kid had a good friend who followed him almost everywhere by the name of “Red Tom” Folliard who “clung to him like a shadow ever since the breakout from the McSween house.” Kid also had a successful impact on the Hispanic community where he spent much time with and is rumored to have had a child with a lady by the name of Abrana Garcia . Utley wrote often about how the young charm of Kid influenced the people he was always around such as Folliard. Many myths and legends surrounding the young outlaw says he was one of the greatest gang leaders of the wild west but, Utley debunks those by directly quoting Kid saying “I wasn’t the leader of any gang” . Kid mainly rotated through the people he worked with and when other outlaws joined him he was seen as a leading force because of the way he handled situations and how his charm was played through his personality. Even though Kid was enamored as a law dodging hero, the law finally caught up to him through a man named Pat Garrett. Garrett was a sheriff during the time of the Lincoln County War and was driven to avenge his fallen comrades whom had been killed by either Kid or known associates of Kid and Tunstall’s gang. Kid wandered around from friend to friend crashing at houses and often stealing neighbors’ horses in order to travel around, but the trail was eventually caught by Garrett and his deputies. Kid’s trail ended up at the residency of Pete Maxwell. One of the flaw’s that Utley has in this book is that he does not really mention why Kid went to the Maxwell’s house only that Garrett and his posse was there waiting for Kid. Kid walked through the room not knowing who was there and was shot by Garrett startling all who were sleeping in the house and the lingering words of Kid repeating “Quien es? Quien es?” which is Spanish for who is there. The legacy of Billy the Kid is romanticized by all and fictionalized as a great Western outlaw, which Utley’s work expertly shows.
Utley does a fantastic job with this book describing the life of Billy the Kid.

Personally, I think this has been one of the best books I have read and seen regarding the young life of Billy the Kid and provides excellent sources and pictures to prove as evidence to Utley’s writings. Robert Wooster of Corpus Christi State University wrote in regards to Utley’s book, “The analysis of legends, the footnotes, and the notes on sources justify the author’s interpretations and express his refreshing intellectual honesty.” Despite all the great evidence that Utley shares, he did have the tendency to be a little over dramatic when it came to some of the situations that Billy the Kid overcame. For example, he often would have the flare for the dramatics whenever Kid was in a shootout and if something happened to Kid, he played it like a drama similar to ones on a television show or a movie. Besides that issue, his work on Billy the Kid was a very interesting read and it left me hungry to know more about the young

outlaw.
Billy the Kid seemed to have lived a full life on the west despite his the death at the young age of 21. He lived through the death of his young mother and used crime to escape from everything. Kid managed to be adored by all and often being called a leader of many gangs even though he did not lead any and how his relationships with people resulted in his death. Robert M. Utley does a fantastic job describing the life of Billy the Kid even though he added a bit of dramatism. Utley’s book left me hungering for more information about the young romanticized outlaw and interested to know more about his legacy.