New Year’s Eve reprieve denied to Irish outlaw

Legendary gunslinger Billy the Kid was turned down for a pardon today, nearly 130 years after his death at the hands of Irish American lawman Pat Garrett on 14 July 1881.

Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico, had promised he would decide whether to give the controversial pardon to one of America's most notorious desperadoes before leaving office on Dec 31. The Kid is reputed to have shot dead 21 people; one for each year of his short and violent life.

Richardson considered whether Lew Wallace, the state's governor at the time (and author of Ben Hur), had reneged on a promise of an amnesty for the Kid's crimes in return for him testifying as a witness in a murder case. In the end however, Richardson, whose campaign generated significant media attention, decided there just wasn’t enough evidence to allow a pardon.

"I have decided not to pardon Billy the Kid because of a lack of conclusiveness, and also the historical ambiguity as to why governor Wallace reneged on his pardon," Mr Richardson told reporters today.

The decision was welcomed by the descendants of Sheriff Pat Garrett, who had launched a protest over the move calling the outlaw a "thief, terroriser and cop killer."

Billy the Kid's real name was William McCarty; both of his parents are thought to have come from Ireland. While McCarty's origins remain uncertain, many reputable scholars of western history maintain “he was born on the eve of the Civil War in the bowels of an Irish neighbourhood in New York City at 70 Allen Street.”

There is however clear evidence that the Kid's mother's name was Catherine McCarty and it is widely believed that the she was a survivor of the Great Hunger in the mid-19th century.

Catherine died of tuberculosis in 1874 and was thus spared the knowledge of her son’s notoriety, which reached its peak during the Lincoln County War in 1877.


The Rusty Wire Service wishes its readers a happy and enlightened new year.