This is one of the early stories about “Billy the Kid” (born Henry McCarty in late 1859)—also known as William H. Bonney—reportedly told by witnesses claiming to have known him. Opinions as to the accuracy of this book and others are disputed as there is little solid evidence to support the events. The “Kid” was supposed to have killed eight men—starting in 1877 when he was 18—before he was finally shot and killed at the age of 21 in July 1881.

Many depictions of him in popular culture have varied from a notorious, cold-blooded murderer to a hero fighting for justice. This book shows him somewhere in the middle. He tried to protect those people who had befriended him and killed those that he considered his enemies, specifically, those who had killed his friends.

Whether myth or fact, this story along with other early stories and newspaper reports have become the basis for dozens of films (from 1911 to 2019), comics and other novels, music, stage and radio plays, television shows and even video games!

Walter Noble Burns was a writer of Western history and an author of Western American legends such as Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp and Joaquin Murrieta. He has also been called an American Mythmaker. The Saga of Billy the Kid is one of his most notable.

There are currently two more of Burns’ Western fiction books in production at Distributed Proofreaders Canada. Please visit us there if you would like to join us in our efforts to add more public domain books to Faded Page.