McCarty was 15 years old when his mother died. Sarah Brown, the owner of a boarding house, gave him room and board in exchange for work. On September 16, 1875, McCarty was caught stealing food. Ten days later, McCarty and George Schaefer robbed a Chinese laundry, stealing clothing and two pistols. McCarty was charged with theft and was jailed. He escaped two days later and became a fugitive, as reported in the Silver City Herald the next day, the first story published about him. McCarty located his stepfather and stayed with him until Antrim threw him out; McCarty stole clothing and guns from him. It was the last time the two saw each other. Going to jail for stealing food, laundry, and two pistols. Do you think the justice system was too harsh in the Old West?

After leaving Antrim, McCarty traveled to southeastern Arizona Territory, where he worked as a ranch hand and gambled his wages in nearby gaming houses. In 1876, he was hired as a ranch hand by well-known rancher Henry Hooker. During this time, McCarty became acquainted with John R. Mackie, a Scottish-born criminal and former U.S. Cavalry private who, following his discharge, remained near the U.S. Army post at Camp Grant in Arizona. The two men soon began stealing horses from local soldiers. McCarty became known as "Kid Antrim" because of his youth, slight build, clean-shaven appearance, and personality. The modern legend of Billy the Kid as an immortal figure of the Old West first developed within a larger cultural context of social upheaval in the late 19th and early 20th century United States. Do you think that John Mackie led the "Kid" astray?

Billy fell into a career of thievery and lawlessness, wandering throughout the Southwest and northern Mexico, often with gangs. After killing a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877, McCarty became a wanted man in Arizona and returned to New Mexico, where he joined a group of cattle rustlers. In December 1880 he was captured by Sheriff Patrick Floyd Garrett and stood trial for murder in Mesilla, New Mexico, in April 1881; he was found guilty and was sentenced to hang. He escaped jail on April 28, however, killing two deputies, and remained at large, for over two months. Have you ever seen an original Wanted Dead or Alive poster?

Western outlaw Billy the Kid met his demise at about 12:30 a.m. on July 14, 1881, when he went to his friend Pete Maxwell's home in Fort Sumner, New Mexico in search of a slice of beef for a late-night snack. As the story goes, Billy—just 21 years old, but already a murderer who had escaped from jail and killed two guards in the process—made the mistake of walking into a darkened bedroom, where Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett was questioning Maxwell. Both Garrett and Billy were armed, but Garrett shot first, killing Billy. Did you know he only lived to be twenty-one?

Some have claimed that Garrett shot the wrong man and Billy escaped. To complicate matters further, at least two men emerged decades later who were believed by some to be Billy. John Miller, a farmer and horse trainer who lived in a small village in New Mexico near the Arizona border and died in 1937. (His few possessions reportedly included a pistol with 21 notches on the grip, the same as the number of killings that some accounts attribute to Billy. The other, a resident of Hico, Texas named Ollie "Brushy Bill" Roberts, actually managed to get a meeting with the governor of New Mexico in 1950, in which he unsuccessfully sought a pardon for Billy's murders. He died soon afterward. Do you think either of these men were actually Billy the Kid?