He is an icon of the Old West, an orphaned teenaged gunfighter, cattle rustler, romantic renegade, and an optimist who never stopped hoping for one last chance to start all over.

Henry McCarty, a.k.a. William Bonney a.k.a. Billy the Kid still fascinates imaginations around the world, and his myth grows larger every year. For more than a century, his life has been profiled and 'improved' upon by various writers, and gobbled up by a credulous public. We've heard that he murdered 21 men, one for each year of his life, that he was a short, ugly, mean-tempered lad, that he was illiterate, and that he was spotted, Elvis-like, for years after his actual death in 1881. Thanks to herculean efforts by historians, a truer picture of Billy the Kid has emerged. His origins remain frustratingly unclear.

He was born on an Indiana farm. Or in a New York City slum. Or somewhere in Kansas or Missouri. Nothing is known about his father. The Kid's birth date is also uncertain—somewhere between 1859-1861 according to most historians.

Billy in early adulthood stood about 5'8" or 5'9" in his stocking feet, an average height for those days. He weighed about 140 pounds. He was sandy-haired, had brilliant blue eyes and a slender build. Contemporaries described him as handsome. He was fond of dancing, and liked to kick up his heels to "Turkey in the Straw." The Kid had a fine singing voice and a ready smile, not at all marred by two prominent buck teeth. People who knew him said the Kid attracted women and men in equal measure—women loved his youthful good looks; men liked the Kid's skills with a six shooter and his general cheerfulness and fondness for jokes, pranks, and cards. Far from being illiterate, the Kid spoke Spanish fluently, and read voraciously—especially newspapers.