April 9, 1881

On April 9, 1881, the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid was convicted of murder. Born Henry McCarthy in New York City, Billy had a long history of thefts and murders, but it wasn’t until his 1878 revenge killing of Lincoln County, NM Sheriff William Brady, who had killed Billy’s boss, John Tunstall, that Billy was actively pursued as a wanted man. After three years on the run, he was captured by Sheriff Pat Garrett and convicted after a one-day trial. He was sentenced to hang, but managed to escape. Garrett caught up with him three months later and fatally shot Billy the Kid.