The infamous Western outlaw known as “Billy the Kid” was
mostly likely born in a poor Irish neighborhood on New York
City’s East Side on November 23, 1859. (Much about his early
life is unknown or unverified.) Before he was shot dead at age
21, Billy reputedly killed at least nine people in the American
West.

Billy the Kid called himself William H. Bonney, but his original
name was probably Henry McCarty. Bonney was his mother
Catherine’s maiden name, and William was the first name of
his mother’s longtime companion—William Antrin—who acted
as Billy’s father after his biological father disappeared.

Photo of Billy the Kid (second at left ) at a poker game. This photo is the 2nd known photo of Billy the Kid, and was discovered in 2019.

On September 23, 1875, Billy the Kid was arrested for the first
time after being involved in the stealing of a basket of clothes
from a Chinese laundry. It was a result of a 15-year-old’s prank,
gone wrong.

He later broke out of jail and roamed the American West,
eventually earning a reputation as an outlaw and murderer
with a rap sheet that allegedly included 21 murders.

The exact details of Billy the Kid’s birth are unknown, other
than his name, William Henry McCarty. He was probably born
sometime between 1859 and 1861, in Indiana or New York.

 

An old photo purchased from a California antique shop shows the
infamous outlaw Billy the Kid, apparently taking part in a game of
croquet. The image could be worth up to $5 million. It took more
than a year of careful inspection to confirm the authenticity of
the photo.

MIKE GRACIA

Richard Benjamin Speck
(December 6, 1941 – December 5, 1991)

SANDY KOZEL

Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004)

On October 6, 1866, the brothers John and Simeon Reno staged the
first train robbery in American history, making off with $13,000 from
an Ohio and Mississippi railroad train in Jackson County, Indiana.

Of course, trains had been robbed before the Reno brothers’ holdup 
but, these previous crimes had all been burglaries of stationary
trains sitting in depots or freight yards.