When Billy Was A Kid, part 2

Billy the Kid's family was now settled in Silver City, New Mexico. His step-father went to work in the mines while his mother made room in the family cabin for boarders. Billy's job was to go to school just like all the other kids. How well he did in school isn't certain but Billy loved to read, and excelled in singing and dancing. Sadly, the happy home that had been created for Billy and his brother was not to last.

On September 16, 1874, Catherine Antrim died. After her death Billy was left pretty much on his own as his step-father continued to labor in the mines. Being resourceful, Billy managed to find himself a companion. That Billy's new-found friend was an old drunk that went by the name of Sombrero Jack, probably wasn't the best of situations, as time would soon prove.

It was Jack that put Billy, now fifteen-years-old, up to robbing the Chinese laundry. Billy got caught, but of course old Jack was nowhere around at the time. The outcome was that Billy got introduced to a new kind of home when the sheriff put the kid in the local jail to teach him a lesson. Billy had a way of grasping a situation, though, and learning new things from them. And this was one of those time. It was a lesson he would find useful a couple of years or so later after he'd high-tailed it on the run our of New Mexico, then returned for more wild frontier fun.

The jail where Billy had been placed for safekeeping had heavy, locked doors, but when the sheriff came back to let Billy our--Billy was gone. Considering the seemingly security of the place, it appeared that Billy well might have up and vanished into thin air. But, of course, it was a far more clever feat that The Kid had pulled off than just a plain old vanishing act.

As soon as the sheriff had left the jail Billy crawled into the fireplace. Doing a reverse Santa stunt, he then wiggled his self up the chimney. As soon as he was out of that confinement he voluntarily went looking for another new home.

Arizona was the place that saw Henry McCarty, or Henry Antrim as he sometimes called himself, become a man, at least in the eyes of Billy the Kid. He found work on a ranch for a while but soon Billy fell in with a group of cattle rustlers. Sometimes he was caught but he always managed to escape the heavy hand of the law by some means.

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