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MAN ABOUT TOWNSesquicentennial StirsBilly The Kid ReportA report that the Old West’* most notorious outlaw, Billy the Kid. was born in Anderson as Henry McOrty ia getting renewed attention as the state's observance of its 150th birthday anniversary serves to unfold storios /bout people, plares and things in Hoosierdom during the past century and a half.It was about six years ago thM Anderson was given the dubious distinction of having been named birthplace ot the desperado when Bill McGaw, newspaperman and Western researcher quoted an interview with an old - time sheriff, Harvey Whitehill of Silver City. N.M., who knew the Kid. his mother, Kathleen; his brother, Joe. and stepfather, William Antrim.The Silver City Enterprise in its edition of Jan. 3, 1902, had this to say;“The story of Billy the Kid is receiving so much attention these otys in eastern newspapers, owinp to the appointment of Pat Garrett, the Kid’s slayer, to the office of collector of the Port of El Paso, that it was though! a brief sketch of his life in Silver City might be interesting to Enterprise readers So. the Erlcrprise sent a reporter out f j alt;k Cncle Harvey what he thought of the young desperado Hrrvey is quoted “Billy had one peculiar facial characteristic that to an experienced man hunter would have marked him immediately as a had man. and that was his dancing eyes. They never were at rest, but continually shifted and roved, much like his own rebellious nature.”The Enterprise interview with Sheriff Whitehill is important to today’s historians, however, because the sheriP absolutely refutes three heretofore accepted facts about the Kid; that Billy's true name was William H. Bon-ney, that he was born in Brooklyn and that he killed a bully in Silver City who insulted his motherSheriff Whitehill’s testimony must be given more credence about these matters than that of any other witness or writer, because the sheriff knew Billy, his mother, his older brother, Joe, and his stepfather, WUliam Antrim, intimately in those early days and. being a law officer, most certainly would have known if the Kid killed anybody in Silver City.According to Sheriff Whitehill:(1) Billy the Kid’s true name was Henry McCarty;(2) He was born in Anderson, Indiana, and(3) He committed no crime in Silver Otv more serious than robbing a Chinaman.But let’s listen to Uncle Harvey as be talks to the Enterprise reporter:“Billy’s right name, you know, was Henry McCarty and he was bom in Anderson, Ind. Shortly afterward his family moved to Silver City, where they lived in a log house next to the Enterprise building and that’s where ■ the boy was raised. When aboutnine years of age, the boy’s ; mother died and with hisr brother he was left in the careof his step-father.1 CHANGED NAME“Early in his career he chang-' ed his name to Billy Bonney inorder to keep the stigma of dis-1 grace from his family, and itwas in this way he came to beI known as ‘Billy the Kid.’e “His first offense was thetheft of several pounds of blitter a from a ranchman by the names of Webb, living near Silver City,and which he disposed of to g one of the local merchants. His3 guilt was easily established, but on the promise of good be-'X havior. he was released.? “But the nimble-fingered boy* found the road too straight and* narrow and when next I heardd from him he had extended histr operations to Georgetown (N.w M.), which was booming in thoses d s, and he had stolen $70le from a Chinaman.it “Again he was easily detectedand this time placed in iail. The s. structure was an abode affairU and is still standing in the yardal of the Ladies Hospital. One dayie the Kid complained to me thatie the iailer was treating himroughly and kept him in solitaryconfinement in his cell without any exercise.. So I ordered that he be allowed to remain in the corridor for a limited time each morning.“And right there is where we fell down, for the Kid had a mi.id whose ingenuity we knew not at that time. He was only a boy. scarcely 15 years of age yet we made the mistake of leaving him alone for a short half-hour When we returned and unlocked the heavy oaken doors to the jail, the Kid was nowhere to be seen.”Sheriff Whitehill went on to explain that the Kid escaped bv climbing up out of a fireplace chimnev “The next thing we heard of him was at Camp Thomas, Arizona, where he killed a familiar character at the post known as ‘Windv the Blacksmith.’ In making his escape, he shot down in cold blood two soldiers who were herding the post’s horses, selected the best horse ana headed for Globe.”“Uncle” Harvey then tells how they lost sight of Billy, or Henry, until the Lincoln County Cattle Wars, which are now recorded in history.Mrs. Robert K Bell, the Sheriff's daughter corroborated the storv in its entirety at her home in Silver Chv and added a fillip of her own.“My brother. Wayne,” said Mrs. Bell, “knew both Billy and his older brother, Joe, Wayne always told roe that he thought Joe was a worse roughneck than Billy.“We used to have a pretty good sized Chinatown in Silver City and there were several opium dens running then. Wayne said he and some other boys used to go down there and peak through the cracks in the windows and doors to see who was smoking opium.“Wayne told me that they saw Billy the Kid’s brother, Joe, along with the Chinamen. At least I never heard tell of Billy doing that.”A search of Anderson and Madison County records has not produced any birth certificate which shows Henry McCarty was bom here in 1859.★ ★ ★A man attending his first symphony concert was puzzled by the large orchestra and the dazzling repertoire on the program. Finally he asked someone near him. “What’s that book the fellow with the stick keeps looking at?”“That’s the score,” he w a s told.“Oh?” said the man. “Well who’s winning?” Catholic Digest)★ ★ ★It’s what the child learns on his mother's knee, and over his father's, that counts in the long run. (Clinton, Mo., Eye)Q's and A's...Q—Is the whooping crane becoming extinct?A—Of all birds threatened with extinction, the whooping crane is the most widely known. Only 49 of the tall, graceful birds are believed to exist, seven of which are in captivity.Q—Are the Panama and Suez Canals sea-level or lock canals?A—Hie former is a lock canal; the latter is at sea levelQ-What is the Book of Good Counsel?A—This is the subtitle of the Hitopadesa, a celebrated Sanskrit collection of fables, most of which have passed into the literature of all civilized countries.SO THEY SAY...I will no t participate In a riot.—Sargent Shriver, after being booed while explaining the antipoverty program at a meeting of the Citizens Crusade Against Poverty.I have for a long time called NATO six nations in search of an enemy. Now they’ve come up with France.—Actor Peter Ustinov
Newspaper Details
Anderson Herald Bulletin
Anderson, Indiana, US
Fri, Jun 03, 1966
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Rich R.
USA 09 Mar 2024
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