Kevin Wynne Professor Legal Systems November 30 2015 Billy the Kid When I first started this research paper I didn’t know who Billy the kid was and why he was one of the top 100 notorious criminals. After my research I discovered why Billy the kid was a well known outlaw in American old west and how much he did in the little time he had. Not much is known about his early life and what is known is not very accurate. The amount of myths around Billy the kid really starts to blur what actually happen. That’s what makes Billy the kid a legend. Billy the kid’s life starts when Catherine McCarty gave birth to Henry McCarty in 1859 in New York City. His exact birth date is unknown and some people belief he was born on November 23, 1859 and …show more content…
There is a myth going around that Billy the kid didn’t die in 1881. There are some stories that Garrett the new sheriff shot and killed the wrong person and that Billy the kid got away. A man called by the name Brushy Bill Roberts claimed to be Billy the kid. I don’t think he was really Billy the kid because when questioned his answers were not vivid and were mostly incorrect. When comparing the two pictures of them both they don’t look like it’s the same person. What’s even more amazing is that another man named John Miller also claimed he was Billy the kid but unlike Brushy Roberts this man only told his friends and family and did not talk publicly about it. Even though he does in fact look similar like Roberts his information on Billy the kid was unclear. This is still debated today whether he died or not and a professor is asking to see the death certificate of Billy the kid so he can prove or disprove this theory. I think Billy died that day because Garrett proved he would stop at nothing to get the kid. But these myths just make for a great story. They said Billy the kid killed 21 people one for each birthday. There are a few problems with this theory. He never reached his 21th birthday and he only killed 4 confirmed people. Billy the kid was in 5 shootings so we don’t really know if he actually killed was the person to kill those people. There is no way to prove if he did …show more content…
He committed tons of crimes in such a short amount of time. What really makes Billy the kid a legend is being able to escape from jails at such a young age. Billy the kid’s age plays a huge role in making him a legend. Before he even reached his 21th birthday he was in 5 shootings, the Lincoln county war, becomes leader of a gang and even escapes from a jail. To be able to do that at his young age is incredible and is why Billy the kid is so known today and the myths of him just add on making him even more amazing then he already is. One thing many people believe is that Billy the kid was mean and coldhearted. But he wasn’t as bad as people make him seem. All of the people he killed were from self defense, so he wasn’t a killer. He did what he needed to do at the time. He was a fun kind of guy to be around and he wasn’t a mean person. In fact he loved music and could even sing (Samantha). He only did what he needed to so he could survive. I believe he was a famous outlaw because how he committed those crimes but always came back to the same town to try to handle it. He wrote to the Governor a few times to try to talk to him about getting him pardoned. Billy held up his end but too many people have heard of Billy the kid so the Governor couldn’t do it. That’s when Billy knew there was only one way to get out of it which was escaping. But that was what
The lives of everyone in the town of Springfield Oregon changed on May 21st of 1998. A quiet boy named Kip Kinkel became known as “The Killer at Thurston High” after killing both of his parents, murdering two classmates, and severely injuring 24 others. There are many factors in the 15 year old boy’s life that led up to the horrific events that occurred on that day. The same factors that influenced the tragedy in occurring could have very easily insured that it never happened to begin with.
A question that arises in almost any medium of art, be it music, film or literature, is whether or not the depiction of violence is merely gratuitous or whether it is a legitimate artistic expression. There can be no doubt that Michael Ondaatje's long poem The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is a violent work, but certain factors should be kept in mind before passing it off as an attempt to shock and titillate; certainly, the poem does both of these, but they are not the primary purpose of the work. For one thing, social context needs to be considered; Billy lived in the "Wild West", a time associated with range wars, shoot-outs and great train robberies. The entire legend of Billy the Kid has been built around his criminal activities and notorious reputation; indeed, the more popular this myth becomes, the more people he is accused of having murdered. If anything, it was a cultural fascination with violence that "created" the legend, perhaps even more so than anything the "real" Billy ever did. Michael Ondaatje comments on this phenomenon and actually offers an alternative vision of who Billy the Kid was; perhaps he was not just a blood-thirsty killer but a man who, due to circumstance and human nature, was continually being pushed over the edge. Ondaatje is more concerned with the motivations behind the acts of violence than the acts of violence themselves: "A motive? some reasoning we can give to explain all this violence. Was there a source for all this? yup -" (54). If they shock, it is to shock the readers out of complicity and encourage them to think about the nature of violence and their own capacity for it.
Henry Starr was a 17 year old Cherokee cowboy working a steady job at a ranch. One day, however he was framed for stealing two horses by a man that was in cahoots with a crooked sheriff. Henry’s uncle paid his bail, and Henry went back to work. A little while later, a rival cowboy hid whiskey in Henrys wagon, and Henry was stopped with a whiskey warrant, which was a way for crooked lawmen and lawyers to make money off of each other. Once again, Henry’s uncle bailed him out.
to tell childr en about a kid around their age or little older than they
Atticus risked his safety and reputation to defend Tom Robinson because he believed in equality and showed it with his actions. However Boo Radley, the crazy recluse of the village is also a hero. He came out of his house, and risked exposure and his safety to save Atticus’s children from murder. A hero is someone who puts others’ safety or needs before their own. Therefore, this essay shows both Atticus and Boo are heroes.
"...The fate of each character is the direct reverse of what one is led to expect from his nature" (Johnson, 185). The character of Billy Budd is portrayed as a peacemaker, a young, innocent, likable, sweet man. However, halfway through the story, he becomes a murderer. Billy Budd was first introduced to the reader as a good looking young man in good health who was honest and sincerely innocent. He does not believe that Claggart could dislike him, since he is so nice to his face. When Billy finds out about Claggart's lies, he strikes him and kills him. This is not an action that was expected by readers due to the persona he exemplified throughout the first half of the story. Bil...
During the mid-1800’s, the Southwest was a land full of adventure and legends. Cowboys led cattle drives to towns like Dodge City, and brazen gunmen such as Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the Clantons walked the streets in Tombstone, Arizona. But no one ranked as one of the most notorious figures of the Western frontier as did William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid. Depending on whom you spoke with, the identity of Billy the Kid was sometimes questioned. Billy the Kid was born as William Henry McCarty on November 23, 1859. But during his short lifetime of twenty-one years, he would be known as William H. Bonney, William Henry McCarty and historically as Billy the Kid. There has been much controversy, speculation,
...ntful life. He was responsible for the death of over 500 people. As a young boy, he had no opportunities to be rich and live in a big home. The only way out was through a life of crime. That’s where he turned and he succeeded with over $60,000,000. To do something well you have to have the drive to do it. This was how Al Capone was and he was a natural at what he did. He had the right personality and the right connections to be at the top. This was how he became the most feared gangster in the city of Chicago and got that $60,000,000. I noticed a connection to Al Capone and Adolf Hitler. They both seemed to have it all then have it suddenly swept under them. They lived lives of crime and hatred but in the end it took a turn. Hitler ended up putting a gun to his mouth while Capone went insane from his stay at Alcatraz. I learned a lot from doing this report. Besides the amount of typing, which has repeatedly cramped my fingers, it let me read some interesting articles that made me really know what Al Capone’s life was like. It may seem cool to talk about Al Capone, but behind his innocent face, was an evil gangster. Al Capone’s name will live on as the crime czar who ruled Chicago.
Kurt Vonnegut begins the book with writing about his own experience with the war in Dresden. He goes on to tell about how he wanted to write about his experience for a while and how it took him twenty-three years to actually accomplish it. Vonnegut soon writes about another story in Chapter two and this is the story the rest of the book follows. The reader soon finds out about the character Billy Pilgrim and everything about his life. “He has seen his birth and death many times, he says, and pays random visits to all the events in between” (Vonnegut, 26). Vonnegut uses time-shifting throughout the novel to try and make the reader understand Billy Pilgrims traumatic experiences throughout his life. These different experiences made Billy Pilgrims
We know that Billy respects Dutch Schultz a lot and wants to become a part of his gang, but many times while he's in the gang, he begins to doubt the group and tells himself he should leave and go hide somewhere. One of these instances was when he was watching over Mrs. Preston, thinking to himself that, “I had the feeling that if we just stayed here we would be free, Mr. Schultz would never find us because he couldn't imagine such a place existed” (152). Because of Billy's nature to debate everything that's going on, he doesn't really do much in the story of his own accord, and the other members of the gang just use him as an errand boy for the most part. I say that Billy's inability is to decide on one thing is a weakness, but it didn't really prevent him from doing anything. His indecisive-ness may have gotten him pushed around by the other gang members, but at the end of the story, Billy was the only one left standing. He does get taken to see Lucky at one point, the man responsible for Mr. Schultz's death, but instead of trying to avenge Schultz, Billy decides to go live his life and get an education, all while under the watchful eyes of Lucky. Perhaps Billy's real issue is that he is too complacent with how things are, always going along with what people tell him and even though he thinks about going against orders, he never does. Billy wanted to
Billy the Kid is one of the most famous outlaws in American history. He has been a widely told figure in American history as well as folklore. The have made movies from his history and have also wrote many books on him. Most of Billy the Kids life remains a heated controversy throughout America.
Because of the outlaw hero’s definitive elements, society more so identifies with this myth. Ray said, “…the scarcity of mature heroes in American...
While the western frontier was still new and untamed, the western hero often took on the role of a vigilante. The vigilante’s role in the frontier was that of extralegal verve which was used to restrain criminal threats to the civil peace and opulence of a local community. Vigilantism was typical to the settler-state societies of the western frontier where the structures and powers of government were at first very feeble and weak. The typical cowboy hero had a willingness to use this extralegal verve. The Virginian demonstrated this throughout with his interactions with Trampas, most notably in the interactions leading up to the shoot out and during the shoot-out itself. “Others struggled with Trampas, and his bullet smashed the ceiling before they could drag the pistol from him… Yet the Virginian stood quiet by the...
In "The Thematic Paradigm", Robert Ray explains how there are two distinctly different heroes, the outlaw hero and the official hero. The official hero embraces common values and traditional beliefs, while the outlaw has a clear sense of right and wrong but operates above the law (Ray). Ray explains how the role of an outlaw hero has many traits. "The attractiveness of the outlaw hero's childishness and propensity to whims, tantrums, and emotional decisions derived from America's cult of childhood", states Ray. (309) Ray also says, "To the outlaw hero's inconsistence on private standards of right and wrong, the official hero offered the admonition, you cannot take the law into your own hands." (312) The values of these two traditional heroes contrasts clearly. Society favors the outlaw hero because we identify with that character more. We see ourselves more so in the outlaw hero than in the official hero. The outlaw hero has the "childlike" qualities that most of us wish we had as adults. To civilians it may seem that the outlaw hero lives more of a fantasy life that we all wish to have.
Growing up as a boy naturally comes with a lot of pure pressure and competition. From Magazine ads to television shows the male always has to be macho and protect his family.