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Man About Town iflContinued From Put Onebeen investigated, for it is pos sible 'McCarty was the Kid’s mother's maiden name, and it is listed tinder Booney.Another possibility is that the Kid was born earlier than 1859, as contemporary' new'spa per stories of (lie Kid at the time of bis death give his age as 24, which would place bis birth in 1856, instead of )859.At any rate, the best evidence extant to date places the Kid’s birth at Anderson, and his name as Henry McCarty, not William H. Bonncy from Brooklyn.TEXT OF COLUMNThe complete text of McGaw’s copyrighted column, “Out of the West, follows:Billy the Kid was just another punk brat to Harvey Whiteliitl. who had no time for things which were dinmiiitive or devious, and the Kid was both.Wliitehill stood 6-foot-2, weighed 240 pounds, and in 1970 he loaded Ids wife, daughter and household belongings in a covered wagon, to which he hitched two horses—Ned and Nig—and left Taos. N. M., headed for Cienega de San Vincente, a mining camp some 300 miles to the southwest.Near Socorro, the horse, Nig. look sick. Wliitehill simply slip-IHrcl the ailing Nig out of harness unit put his own huge frame in M-rpinrernext-fa -the-remaining horse. Null. The two of them, animal and man. hauled the wagon across Hie Black Range and into Cicnega de San Vincente, to be incorporated a year or so later as Silver City, the first corporate town in the hislory of New Mexico.Harvey Whiteiiill’s trail stretched clear back to Wooster, Ohio, Wayne County, where he was born on Sept. 2, 1337, but be didn’t like it, so he simply hauled off and walked to Denver, by way of Minnesota, arriving in tne Colorado capital in 1858, when that metropolis didn’t boost a single house with a floor in it.Harvey joined Kit Carson as an Army scout and moved to Taos, N, M., where he later got a contract cutting hay for the U.S. Cavalry. He came down with a case of gold fever and lit out for Silver City.In 1872 he was made sheriffof Grant County, serving for nearly 20 years, and during which time he never wore a cun. Even murderers he apprehended with his bare hands.And it was Jus bare hand that Sheriff Whitehall applied to the backside of BUly the Kid for stealing bulier out of the buckboard of a Grant County rancher named Webb.“Uncle’* Harvey, as he was affectionately known, was the first law officer ever to arrest the Kid and for that reason the Silver City Enterprise newspaper of Jan. 3, 1903, carries an interview with the then retired sheriff.Says the Enterprise, of that early date:“The story of Billy the Kid is receiving so much attention these days in eastern newspapers, ow ing to the appointment of Pat Garrett, the Kill’s slayer, to the office of collector of the Port of El Paso, ilial it was thought a brief sketch of his life in Silver City might be interesting to Enterprise readers.‘DANCING EYES’So, the Enterprise sent porter out to ask Uncle Harvey what he'thought of life young desperado. Harvey is quoted:“Billy had one peculiar facia) characteristic that to an experienced man-hunler would have marked him immediately bad mnnraniHhat-was' his- rianc-flt;ing eyes. They never were at rest, blit continually shined and roved, much like lux own rebellious nature.The Enterprise interview with Sheriff Wliitehill is important to today's historians, however, because the sheriff absolutely re-' futcs 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 mother.Sheriff Whitehiil's testimony must be given more credence about these matters 1han that of any other witness or writer, because the sheriff knew Billy, his mother, his older brother, Joe, and his stepfather, William 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 bom in Anderson, Indiana, and(3) He committed no crime in Silver City more serious than robbing a Chinaman.But let’s listen to Uncle Harvey as he talks to the Enterprise reporter:“Billy’s right name, you know, was Henry McCarty and he was born in Anderson, Ind. Shortly aflerward his family moved to Silver City, where they livedlog house next to the Enterprise building and that's where the boy was raised. When about, nine years of age, the boy’s mother died and with his brother he was left in the eare of his step-father (ed. note: William H. Antrim).CHANGED NAME“Early in his career he changed his name to Billy Bonncy order to keep the stigma of disgrace from his family, and it was in this way lie caine lo be known as 'Billy the Kid.’“His first offense was the theft of several pounds uf butter from a ranchman by the name of Webb, living near Silver City, and which he disposed of to one nf the local merchants. His guilt was easily established, but on the promise of good behavior, he was released.“But the nimble-fingered boy found the road too straight and narrow and when next I heard from him he had extended his operations to Georgetown (N.M.), which was booming in those days, and he had stolen S70 from a Chinaman.“Again he was easily deleclerl and this time placed in jail. The structure was an adobe affair ami is still standing in the yard of (he Undies Hospital. One dav theVi A ii.. *i it .
Newspaper Details
Anderson Herald Bulletin
Anderson, Indiana, US
Sat, Nov 05, 1960
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Rich R.
USA 09 Mar 2024
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