Billy the Kid’s first criminal offense was for stealing several pounds of butter from a rancher and selling it to a local merchant.  He was about 14-15 years old.  Because of his age, he received a warning from the sheriff as his only punishment.

Billy was 15 when arrested for the first time in Silver City, New Mexico for stealing clothes from a laundry.  He escaped through the jailhouse chimney.  This started him on a path that would write his name into the pages of history.

At around the age of eighteen, Billy shot and killed Frank P. “Windy” Cahill, a bully who had Billy pinned down and was beating him at the time.

On April 1876 Billy met up with John Mackie, a known horse thief, and worked with him at this newfound occupation.  On March 25, 1877, Billy and Mackie were arrested and jailed at Fort Grant.  Billy didn’t stayed confined long, he escaped later that evening.

Also in April of 1876, a group called  the Regulators shot and killed Sheriff William Brady.  Billy the Kid was a member of the group, and was convicted of Brady’s death.  There wasn’t a jail that had been built that Billy couldn’t escape from and this time was no exception.  In the process of escaping, Billy killed Deputies J. W. Bell and Robert Olinger.

In September 1877, Billy joined Jesse Evans’ gang of rustlers and killers that were dubbed “The Boys.”  When Billy the Kid began working for John Tunstall in October 1877, the violent Lincoln County War was ready to explode.  When John Tunstall and Alexander McSween were shot and killed, the Kid rained his vendetta down on the heads of those he felt responsible.

Wanting to go straight, Billy talked with the territorial governor, retired Union General Lew Wallace.  Hoping to restore peace, Wallace issued an amnesty proclamation promising the Kid a full pardon if Billy provided evidence against other wanted killers of the Lincoln County War.  Billy agreed and allowed himself to be taken into custody.  The Lincoln County District Attorney refused to acknowledge the pardon and kept Billy locked up, even after he had testified in court.  Billy escaped and remained at large for another year.  It was during this time he met and became friends with Pat Garrett.

History claims that around midnight on July 14, 1881, Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Patrick “Pat” Garrett in the home of Billy’s friend Pete Maxwell.  At the time, Billy was running from the law after escaping from the Lincoln County jail, killing two deputies in the process.

Several witnesses viewed the body lying on Maxwell’s floor; all agreed it was Billy the Kid.  A quick coroner’s inquest convened and just as quick, the body was buried in the Fort Summer cemetery, a short walk from Maxwell’s home.