Call Me Billy: A New Look at the Life of Billy the Kid

William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, is one of the most misunderstood characters in American history. The territorial newspapers and dime novels reaped great profits by promoting Billy as a cold killer. Those who knew the young man told a much different story. He was described as intelligent and humorous. He had fine manners and was very polite to women. He would not allow Mexican people to be disrespected. He went out of his way to help the old and the poor. Even his adversaries had only good things to say about him. Pat Garrett said that Billy was one of the finest gentlemen he ever knew. Charlie Siringo called him a prince of a human being. Governor Miguel Otero said that it was a terrible mistake that Billy's story had never been told by the Mexican people who loved him. Exactly who was this young outlaw? More than a hundred years after his death, we are still trying to answer that question.