Billy the Kid William aka Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney

Billy the Kid, also known as William Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim and William H. Bonney.

Sheriff Pat Garrett offered that he responded to rumors that McCarty was lurking in the vicinity of Fort Sumner. Garrett and two deputies set out on July 14, 1881, to question one of the town's residents, a friend of McCarty's named Pete Maxwell (son of land baron Lucien Maxwell). Close to midnight, as Garrett and Maxwell sat talking in Maxwell's darkened bedroom, McCarty unexpectedly entered the room.

There are at least two versions of what happened next. One version suggests that as the Kid entered, he failed to recognize Garrett in the poor light. McCarty drew his pistol and backed away, asking "¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?". Recognizing McCarty's voice, Garrett drew his own pistol and fired twice, the first bullet striking McCarty in the chest just above his heart, killing him.

Billy the Kid (1860 – 1881). Image mirrored on vertical axis to correct widely-seen flopped tintype. Cartridge loading gate on Winchester Model 1873 lever action rifle is on the right side of the receiver. The only surviving authenticated portrait of Billy the Kid. This tintype portrait sold at auction in June 2011 for USD $2,300,000 to William Koch.

This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. The original can be viewed here: Billy the Kid tintype, Fort Sumner, 1879-80.jpg. Author: unattributed, possibly a traveling photographer who came through Fort Sumner in 1880. Source: Brian Lebel's Old West Show and Auction. Modifications made by Hydrargyrum.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF. Works published before 1923, in this case 1879-80, are now in the public domain. These images are also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris) and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from the last day of that year. Attribution: By derivative work: Quicksilver@ Billykid.jpg: Ben Wittick (1845-1903) (Billykid.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. TEXT RESOURCE: Billy the Kid From Wikipedia