Already a gunslinger, escape artist, and castle rustler at just age 21 when he died, the story of William Bonney \u2013 the kid \u2014 is one of a young American Maverick defying the odds just to get by. Billy the Kid, was an embattled teenager who lost his father to the American Civil War<\/a> and his mother to Tuberculosis at 14 years old. He grew up in a Foster home, separated from his siblings after this early trauma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He then fell into petty theft in 1875 after he was caught stealing clothes in a Chinese laundry. Arrested and kept in custody for this offense, Billy quickly made his first move as an escape artist as he sprawled through the jailhouse chimney and absconded to southeast Arizona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Already a fugitive now, he couldn\u2019t make an honest living. So he teamed up with a horse-stealing gang in 1876. Soon after, in 1877, he was wanted for the killing of a blacksmith, and he eloped from Arizona again back to his hometown to join another gang of thieves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Billy\u2019s last adventure, arguably the most notable, was in 1878 when he joined a Posse known as the Regulators. They were keen on avenging the death of a cattleman and, in the process, sparked up the Lincoln County war. Billy\u2019s popularity skyrocketed, attracting attention and ultimately a $500 reward for his death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n New Mexico Sheriff Pat Garrett shot and killed him on July 14, 1881. Still, the memory of Billy the Kid \u2014 the youth who became an outlaw out of necessity \u2014 would forever be grafted into American history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesse James was born in the \u201cLittle Dixie\u201d area of Clay County, Missouri, in 1847 into an alliance-promoting family notable for slave acquisition. James and his brother shared the ideology of a confederacy and were motivated to join a Guerilla unit responsible for eradicating thousands of Union soldiers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When their secessionist cause failed during the civil war, history shows that Jesse James wouldn\u2019t concede defeat and continued to nurture his Southern sympathies, robbing banks, trains, and hackney coaches. He projected the image of a modern Robinhood \u2014 taking from the rich reconstruction supporters and giving to the poor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Between 1860 and 1862, Jesse\u2019s reach spread from West Virginia to Texas to Iowa, stealing over $200,000 across approximately 20 bank and train robberies. His frame grew in the Wild West<\/a> with a notorious reputation for targeting bank and train safes and ruthlessly murdering anyone who stood in his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, Jesse James claimed he was a bold robber rather than a thief. He considered himself in the same cadre as other \u201cbold robbers\u201d like Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great<\/a>, and Julius Caesar. Although, there was very little evidence to show that he did give back to the poor what he stole from the rich. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.historydefined.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Billy_the_Kid_tintype_Fort_Sumner_1879-80-Edit2-611x1024.jpeg\"){kind=spacer}
Jesse James<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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