Billy the kid
Problem Question Was “Billy the Kid” as notorious as rumored?

Some people have compared Robin Hood to Billy the Kid, but, was Billy the Kid a Robin Hood? Let me tell you all now!
Who was Billy the Kid?
Billy the Kid has been described as a vicious and ruthless killer, an outlaw who died at the age of 21, not before raising widespread destruction in the New Mexico Territory. It was said he took the lives of 21 men, one for each year of his life, the first one when he was just 12 years old. He was a rebel without a cause who killed without reason, but a young man who lived in a violent world where knowing how to use a gun was the difference between life and death.
Name  During his early life he was called…
When his mother, Catherine McCarty remarried a man named William Antrim, the family now had two Williams. Therefore, Catherine started calling her son by his middle name, Henry. He had a childhood friend from Silver City, Chauncey Truesdell, who recalled, “Henry's first name was Billy, but they called him by his middle name to keep him from getting mixed up with his stepfather.”
Even though his first name was William, he became famous as Billy, the Kid. And, as all famous men, they have their famous actions…
Famous Actions
Billy the Kid is known as one of the most famous outlaws in American history, but why? When we look at his outlaw status, he really was not a wicked man by outlaw standards. So how bad was he? Below I give a listing of Billy the Kid's criminal record.
Petty theft: On two occasions in Silver City: First time, the Kid stole several pounds of butter which he sold to a merchant and the second time, he was an accomplice in the theft of a laundry.

Armed Robbery (holding up bank, trains, and stage coaches (Wagons)): Never.

Rapes or Assaults on Women: Absolutely Not!
Drunk and disorderly conduct: None.
Illegal Gambling: On one or two occasions, he was busted for running an illegal card table.

Cattle rustling/Horse stealing: On a small scale with only a handful of his friends. Most of his rustling was against John Chisum for supposedly owing him wages in the late Lincoln County War (LCW). His rustling activities did not hold a light to "The Boys," "The Rustlers," or even the "Cowboys" in Arizona. His thievery was greatly exaggerated by the newspaper publications which of course turned public opinion against him.

Gunfights: Due to the Kid's participation in the Lincoln County War, he was indeed involved in some gunfights. Most notable was the Blazer's Mill gun battle against Buckshot Roberts and the three-day battle at Alex McSween's house.

Killings: Billy the Kid is solely responsible for the death of four men. Two were strictly self-defense (Windy Cahill and Joe Grant) and the other two while escaping jail (Jim Bell and Bob Olinger). Assassinations: During the LCW, the Kid was one of the six men that gunned down Sheriff William Brady and Deputy George Hindman. He was also part of a group that killed Bill Morton, Frank Baker and William McCloskey.

Some of his killings were also in the Lincoln War:
This started in January 1878 when the Kid was working for Tunstall. When the Murphy- Dolan faction murdered Tunstall, the Kid and other Tunstall- McSween allies declared themselves "Regulators" and sought revenge.
For the next year, bloody retaliatory warfare was waged between the two factions. In early March, the Regulators arrested and then killed Dolan associates Frank Baker and Billy Morton, reportedly while the duo were trying to escape. At that point, territorial governor John Axtell declared the Regulators outlaws; after that, they were hunted. On April 1, 1878, when Sheriff William Brady and Deputy George Hindman, both Dolan allies, tried to ambush McSween, the Regulators fought back and killed the lawmen.

On the fifth day, after the US Army arrived, McSween’s home was set on fire, and Billy the Kid led a rush out of the burning house. Billy managed to escape but McSween and several others were riddled with bullets.
Death of a legend
Billy the Kid was somehow able to overpower and kill his jail guard, shoot another deputy and escape. This time the lawmen would take no chances. In July 1881, Sheriff Garrett and his team (a group of men organized by the sheriff to assist him) trapped Billy at a house in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. They ambushed him in a dark room and shot him to death.
The next day he was buried in a borrowed white shirt that was too large for his slim body. Admirers scraped together 208$ for a gravestone which was later broken into pieces and stolen by souvenir hunters. Billy had lived exactly 21 years, seven months, and 21 days.
Over the years, the legend of Billy the Kid grew as a result of several books and movies made about his life, many of which overemphasized.

Was “Billy The Kid” as notorious as rumored?

To conclude:

So, who was actually Billy the Kid? Well, he was an orphan who unintentionally fell into outlawry, a lifestyle he couldn’t get out of. He tried to make peace with the law and his enemies, and both times, it backfired on him, making things worse. He killed only in self-defense and during the war. The men he killed were not angels, but were either bullies or outlaws. The sheriffs he killed were not honest men trying to “protect and serve,” but crooked and corrupt. The Kid did steal livestock, but in some cases, he either paid for or returned what he had taken. He even recovered stolen livestock for small ranchers and judging by the poverty state he was always in, it seems he did not steal enough.

I am not saying Billy the Kid was an angel who rode around with a halo over his head. He did do some wrong, but he was not a Robin Hood of the 14th century, he did not do any good, but there were other outlaws of his time which were worse than him, and that’s why no one today has really heard of them, because they really-were evil and not worth remembering. In closing, I hope I have changed some of your perspective on Billy the Kid from a dark villainous outlaw to a misled, misunderstood orphan who became astray in childhood and can never come back to lead an honest and simple life! The road to violence that he adopted for himself only made his life a violent tale of crime and punishment! Somewhere deep down, there was an innocent boyhood gone horribly wrong, sometimes a victim and sometimes, a perpetrator of violence, sometimes an underdog, and sometimes a rebel and an anti-hero!