Billy the Kid?
I’ve always been fascinated by the Old West and its legendary heroes and outlaws. So my interest was peaked when I read this at Ancestry.com.
It appears this census taker caught Billy the Kid (alias William Bonney) and his comrade Charles Bowdre in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in 1880. Bowdre was killed at nearby Stinking Springs later that year; Billy was killed at Fort Sumner the year after.
Imagine that. Wanted by the law, yet giving his name to the census taker. Perhaps not the wisest decision of his short-lived career…
Doug
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Reader Comments (8)
I guess it is good business for them to find historical nuggets like this. It does make you wonder why he and his sidekick would give their real names. I mean, people back then didn't carry I.D. like driver licenses in their wallets to prove who they were. He could have said he was anybody and not raised an eyebrow.
It is amazing what you discover when you go digging into old historical documents. I made our family tree on ancestry.com and they make enormous amounts of documents and indexes available to genealogy buffs.
I think a lot of outlaws were pretty proud of their notoriety in the old days. Maybe he wasn't "hiding out" at all, just waiting for Pat Garret to come after him.
It isn't as though he had much to worry about beyond those already at the fort. Not like the census taker could dial 9-1-1 to report the sighting and see a SWAT team swoop in and apprehend Billy.
There is speculation about whether "the" Wm. Bonney was at Ft. Sumner in 1880. There were more than one McCarty in New Mexico and more than one Billy Bonney in New Mexico during that period of time. Also by 1880 he had not been going by that name for over two years.
You might like to know about an entry in the US 1880 Census for Grants, NM where Wm. McCarty is listed as 21 years old, born in illinois, his occupation listed as "Dairyman" and his parents as having been born in Ireland. The census was taken June 7th-9th 1880.
Could the "Kid" have been in Grant then? Was he born in Illinois? Was he pulling the census taker's leg about his occupation? Has to make you wonder, is this the "Kid"?
There is no evidence that he spent any time in or near Grants. There is much evidence that he was in Ft. Sumner in 1880, in fact he was killed by Sheriff Pat Garret in Ft.Sumner. The Grants info has pretty well been shown to be a red herring as has the Illinois speculation.
Is McCarty Billy Bonney's real last name?