1. 1881 Billy the Kid gets gunned down.
Photo: galegroup
It was on this day in 1881 that the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett. Henry McCarty, more commonly known as Billy the Kid, was wanted for the death of Sheriff William Brady and his deputy in Lincoln, New Mexico. The Sheriff and his deputy were part of the gang that had killed Billy’s previous employer, ranch owner John Tunstall, and Billy vowed that he would seek revenge for the murder of his boss. Soon after, Billy became the most wanted man in the west and after evading posses that had been sent to wrangle him for quite some time, he was able to strike a deal with the Governor of New Mexico. The deal was that Billy would testify against the ongoing “Ranch Wars” and in exchange he would be set free. However, when he started to get the feeling the state would not honor its part of the deal he took matters into his own hands and escaped. Sheriff Pat Garret tracked Billy to the Maxwell Ranch where he was able to sneak into the room where Billy was hiding and proceeded to gun down the famous outlaw.
