Galileo
08-01-2010, 12:26 AM
After 129 years, pardon beckons for Billy the Kid!
A campaign to rehabilitate the famed outlaw is set to succeed. But the descendants of the sheriff who killed him are not happy
He was a feared gunslinger and a conniving outlaw who was steeped in the blood of many men, yet the paradox is that he remains a favourite folk hero of the American West.
Now, 129 years after his death, Billy the Kid may be about to receive a pardon from none other than the Governor of New Mexico, the territory where his final exploits were played out.
Generations raised on westerns have shared a fascination for the Kid, who was – possibly – gunned down by sheriff Pat Garrett in July 1881 after he had shot his way out of a local jail, killing two deputies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/after-129-years-pardon-beckons-for-billy-the-kid-2040018.html
Billy the Kid should be pardoned at once! He was the victim of a media smear campaign and lies by Pat Garrett!
“I don’t blame you for writing of me as you have. You had to believe other stories, but then I don’t know if any one would believe anything good of me anyway.”
~ Billy the Kid's comment to a Las Vegas Gazette reporter (December, 1880)
Fact vs. Myth
Separating the truth from the legend
Myth: At the age twelve, Billy the Kid killed his first man who had insulted his mother. After the killing, he bid his mother farewell and ran away.
Myth: As a young boy, Billy the Kid was given a Barlow knife as a gift and he used it to decapitate a neighbor's kitten.
Myth: Billy the Kid was short, chubby and ugly.
Myth: Billy the Kid was left-handed.
Myth: Billy the Kid had a hair-trigger temper, which could explode with the slightest provocation.
Myth: Billy the Kid was illiterate and had no schooling.
Myth: Billy the Kid was a large scale rustler.
Myth: There were wanted posters on Billy the Kid.
Myth: Billy the Kid shot a man for snoring too loud at a hotel.
Myth: At one time Billy the Kid rode with Jesse James.
Myth: Billy the Kid would drink to the extreme and go on drunken rages.
Myth: The most popular one of all: “Billy the Kid killed 21 men, one for each of year of his life.”
http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/fact_vs_myth.htm
:ihit
A campaign to rehabilitate the famed outlaw is set to succeed. But the descendants of the sheriff who killed him are not happy
He was a feared gunslinger and a conniving outlaw who was steeped in the blood of many men, yet the paradox is that he remains a favourite folk hero of the American West.
Now, 129 years after his death, Billy the Kid may be about to receive a pardon from none other than the Governor of New Mexico, the territory where his final exploits were played out.
Generations raised on westerns have shared a fascination for the Kid, who was – possibly – gunned down by sheriff Pat Garrett in July 1881 after he had shot his way out of a local jail, killing two deputies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/after-129-years-pardon-beckons-for-billy-the-kid-2040018.html
Billy the Kid should be pardoned at once! He was the victim of a media smear campaign and lies by Pat Garrett!
“I don’t blame you for writing of me as you have. You had to believe other stories, but then I don’t know if any one would believe anything good of me anyway.”
~ Billy the Kid's comment to a Las Vegas Gazette reporter (December, 1880)
Fact vs. Myth
Separating the truth from the legend
Myth: At the age twelve, Billy the Kid killed his first man who had insulted his mother. After the killing, he bid his mother farewell and ran away.
Myth: As a young boy, Billy the Kid was given a Barlow knife as a gift and he used it to decapitate a neighbor's kitten.
Myth: Billy the Kid was short, chubby and ugly.
Myth: Billy the Kid was left-handed.
Myth: Billy the Kid had a hair-trigger temper, which could explode with the slightest provocation.
Myth: Billy the Kid was illiterate and had no schooling.
Myth: Billy the Kid was a large scale rustler.
Myth: There were wanted posters on Billy the Kid.
Myth: Billy the Kid shot a man for snoring too loud at a hotel.
Myth: At one time Billy the Kid rode with Jesse James.
Myth: Billy the Kid would drink to the extreme and go on drunken rages.
Myth: The most popular one of all: “Billy the Kid killed 21 men, one for each of year of his life.”
http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/fact_vs_myth.htm
:ihit