By the Fall of 1880, Billy was still trying to convince the governor of a pardon, although continuing his outlaw activities. You had to believe other stories, but then I don't know if any one would believe anything good of me anyway. During this time his notoriety with newspapers increased and they dubbed him “Billy the Kid”, and the most important outlaw of New Mexico. The Billy the Kid Museum in Hico, Texas explores the theory that one of the Old West's most famous outlaws escaped death and lived a quiet life in Texas. One reason...the Lincoln County War. On the fateful day, the argument got out of control resulting in Billy the Kid killing Cahill. Billy the Kid was a notorious outlaw who participated in the Lincoln County War. The amount of stock that the Kid stole was more annoying and a nuisance than a huge financial loss to the cattle owner. For starters, Billy the Kid’s name wasn’t Billy and he wasn’t born in the western United States. Cahill was a known bully who had picked on the Kid numerous times. He is alleged to have murdered at least nine people. So as a thief, Billy the Kid was a small-scale rustler. Billy the Kid was given a big reputation by pat Garrett for the purpose of Glorifying himself. While still young, his family relocated to New Mexico. Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881), better known as "Billy the Kid" and also by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at age 21. In a promotional photo for 1941’s Billy the Kid, William S. Hart shows Robert Taylor his Billy the Kid pistol.Poor Taylor, encouraged by the famous tintype of the Kid given to him by MGM’s research department, the right-handed Taylor spent months practicing his left-handed draw. He was only 18 when he killed his first man. Billy the Kid—born William Henry McCarty, but also known as William H. Bonney—originally came from New York. Little is known of Billy the Kid's youth, but early on he entered a life of thievery, eventually heading west and joining a violent gang. The infamous Western outlaw known as “Billy the Kid” is born in a poor Irish neighborhood on New York City’s East Side. But the account Garrett gave of that night in his biography of Billy the Kid is odd, to say the least. As is the case with so many mythologized historical figures, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. Lincoln County, New Mexico Sheriff Pat Garrett would later claim that on the night he shot down Billy the Kid, the notorious outlaw was holding a gun..