On this day, April 9, in 1881, Billy the Kid was convicted of murdering the Lincoln County, N.M., sheriff and was sentenced to hang.
Born Henry McCarty, Billy the Kid was seen as both a hot-headed killer and as a romantic Robin Hood. He was loyal to his friends and dangerous to his enemies.
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He earned nickname after he shot and killed the man responsible for killing his boss, John Tunstall, a powerful cattleman who died in a violent feud known as the Lincoln County War. The killer was supposedly corrupt sheriff William Brady.
The Kid went on the run, committing several more murders until he was arrested by Pat Garrett. Billy was sentenced to hang, but he escaped three weeks later by slipping his handcuffs and murdering both guards.
Garrett set off to recapture the outlaw. On July 14, 1881, Garrett tracked Billy to a ranch house where both men had previously worked. Garrett surprised Billy in a darkened room and shot him dead.
