April 18 - This Day in the History of a Legend

This Day in the History of a Legend

Billy Was Bad 'Un

(Bisbee Daily Review, Bisbee, Arizona, April 18, 1905, p. 4.)

Arthur Chapman writing in the Outlook of noted western bad men has this to say:

"It is one of the anomalies of western life that a pale, slender, high voiced, light haired and altogether effeminate individual named William Antrim, sometimes called Billy Bonny, and generally known as Billy the Kid, should be the worst desperado in the history of the frontier. Yet, in considering the so-called "bad man" of the west, his name must stand forth as the superlative of badness. Some of the gun fighters of frontier days killed when they were in liquor or inflamed with anger - but Billy the Kid was the only white man who slew out of pure wantonness. Three of his victims - Mexicans they were - he bowled over "just to see them kick," as he laughingly explained afterwards. If he had a grudge against a man he never harbored it long, but simply confronted his victim and slew without making explanation. Only sturdy John Chisholm bade defiance to Billy to the end of the desperado's red career, and only one man ever proved himself a quicker shot - Patrick A. Garrett, one of the nerviest sheriffs that ever served in the days when the southwest needed nervy men in that office.

Could a Lombroso have studied this mere boy, who seemed to have been born with a tiger's blood thirst no doubt science would have received an interesting contribution. Without a spark of pity for his numerous victims and with no fear of his enemies in his heart, Billy the Kid presented a peculiar phenomenon. His desire was to kill, and it seemed to make little odds to him whether he killed in the most cowardly manner or whether he boldly faced the weapons of his enemies. Few men have been the Kid's equal with the revolver, and none ever made a more terrifying record with that universal weapon of the frontier.

Dying, as he had lived, like a wild beast, this beardless, soulless youth who had about him none of the attributes that usually gain the western desperado a certain sort of admiration, must remain wholly the most unaccountable figure in frontier history."