Our Attraction to Chaos
It is no secret the American West lacked order and discipline throughout the 19th century. During the California Gold Rush (1848 – 1855), men and women ditched their established lives with the hope that they would one day become rich. New towns were built to accommodate the prospectors, and multiple businesses set up shop, all eager to profit from the greed of others. Countless families ended up with less money than they had started with, though a small minority grew enormous wealth, through sheer luck more than anything else.
The ‘Wild West’ has become a part of popular culture in the 21st century. We watch films, read books, and wear costumes based on the Wild West. But life as a cowboy was not nearly as glamorous as Clint Eastwood makes it out to be. It takes a certain amount of chaotic spontaneity to leave an orderly life on a whim. Those who grew rich of the California Gold Rush shared this trait with those who went broke – luck was the only thing that separated the two groups.
Billy the Kid’s cunning exploits wreaked havoc across the American West, yet his legacy outshines that of the man who caught him. Why is this the case, and where does our attraction to such chaos come from? To find answers, we must look to the past to gain an understanding of how Billy the Kid rose to fame in the first place.
Billy’s Chaotic Youth
Billy (born Henry McCarty) grew up in the years just after the gold rush had ended. He moved around a lot in his youth, eventually becoming an orphan after the death of his mother. The 19th Century is renowned for its strict boarding houses, and Billy’s was no exception. He was expected to endure a tough working environment in exchange for minimal food. Eventually, he grew so hungry he began stealing from Sarah Brown, the owner of the boarding house. A mere ten days later, he felt the urge to rebel again, this time robbing a Chinese laundry for clothes and weapons. He was subsequently jailed but escaped two days later. From then on, Billy was a fugitive.
Billy the Kid fully embraced a chaotic lifestyle after his first jail escape, stealing from not only his stepfather, but soldiers too. He became acquainted with other chaotic personalities during his time on the run; men such as the wealthy rancher, Henry Hooker, who were old enough to remember the hype of the gold rush. Unfortunately for Billy, this unrelenting need to rebel against order meant butting heads with other chaotic individuals. Francis P Cahill, a blacksmith, taunted Billy on several occasions, eventually leading to a physical altercation. Billy struggled to defend himself, and out of sheer panic, he fired his revolver, mortally injuring Cahill.
The next day, Cahill died, and Billy was apprehended once more. Yet again, Billy managed to escape, eventually making his way to Lincoln County after a near-death encounter with a group of Apaches. Billy hid his former identity by adopting the name William H Bonney from then on.
Billy’s Death and Legacy
Billy the Kid died in his youth – his life cut short by Pat Garrett on July 14th, 1881. After Billy’s death, his name grew even more famous, with writers competing to be the first to finish a book about the infamous outlaw. To Garrett’s surprise, Billy was made out to be some sort of folk hero, whilst Garrett was described as nothing more than an assassin. Perhaps Garrett’s ruthless pursuit of Billy garnered sympathy towards the latter, though it seems more likely that the common folk of the West saw Billy as a symbol of chaotic freedom, and Garrett as a symbol of orderly oppression. Garrett’s harsh actions reminded people that there were consequences to every decision, a fact of life many found hard to stomach.
A decade after Billy’s death, the Old West began to die. The prospectors from the gold rush era were now either old or dead, expanding towns required more law enforcement to uphold order, and the 20th Century was fast approaching. Outlaws like Billy were becoming a distant memory for the most part, wasting away in graves long forgotten.
Yet, the mid-20th century saw the reignition of Billy’s legacy. He had remained a lost legend right up until 1948, when probate investigator, William V Morrison, located Joe Hines, a relic of the Old West. Hines declared that Billy the Kid was still alive, and thus the outlaw’s legacy was reignited. The Great Depression and World War Two were sore memories for many Americans, so Morrison knew he needed a distracting story, and fast.
Morrison tracked down a man by the name of O L Roberts, and after a lengthy correspondence, Roberts ‘confessed’ to being Billy the Kid. Roberts detailed many events that were true to Billy’s life, showed an ability to slip free from handcuffs, and proved his skill as a gunslinger by shooting a hat thrown in the air. Known associates of Billy such as Jesse Evans and Jim McDaniels, signed affidavits stating their belief that Roberts was truly Billy the Kid.
Unfortunately, Roberts died a short while later, and his claim was neither fully proven, nor denied. Though Roberts was soon forgotten, the Old West was not. The 1950s and 60s saw a rise in Western movies; cheap, European Spaghetti Westerns in particular, grew popular in the wake of Sergio Leone’s filmmaking success. Everyone suddenly wanted to be Clint Eastwood, the gruff actor who portrayed tough anti-heroes in many Westerns throughout the 60s. Kids and young adults alike were too young to have experienced the West for what it truly was, and so romanticised the chaotic lifestyle of Billy the Kid and Clint Eastwood’s characters.
Billy the Kid, Roberts, and the rest of William Bonney’s chaotic legacy remained largely forgotten for many years to come. That is, until the year 1988, when Christopher Cain directed the film, Young Guns, around the rise of Billy the Kid’s fame and notoriety. Billy’s legacy was once again shown to a new audience, reigniting the romanticised idea of chaotic freedom. The film was well received, and so another film, Young Guns 2, was released in 1990. This film took a darker tone, showing the consequences of a chaotic lifestyle, and how it leads to ruin and despair. Roberts is portrayed as the film’s narrator, showing his nostalgia not only to his own life as Billy the Kid, but to the Old West in general. Roberts looks across a busy road in the final scene, remembering the chaotic freedom he once had.
21st Century Life
Billy the Kid will be remembered by generations to come. As the world continues to enforce new rules and regulations, it’s becoming more common for people to rebel and resist against authority through violent and chaotic means. We may choose to follow societal norms in practice, but there will always be a part of us that wonders what a completely independent life would be like, and it’s only through the legacy of those who have lived a life of chaos, such as Billy the Kid, that we can explore that freeing fantasy.
The modern world is filled with rules and regulations that limit our freedom with the promise of security. It’s apparent through the rise of social media, however, that younger generations want a certain amount of chaos in their lives. Viral videos often show people standing up to an order they deem to be oppressive, and photos of people rioting in the streets are not at all uncommon. People seem willing to compromise some security for greater freedom, despite the risks that come with this.
The Wild West remains an embodiment of the chaotic freedom many cherish; a society with few rules, where citizens were free to write their own destiny. Outlaws like Billy the Kid are no longer viewed as villains because they symbolise the heroic recalcitrance that resonates with the youth of modern society, who see them as heroes standing up to laws, rules and order.
Billy’s legacy continues to this day, and films such as The Kid (2019) are still being made, feeding people a fantasy of chaos and freedom they so desire. We want to feel like the masters of our own fate in a society where our actions are constrained at every turn. It may be perfectly normal to doubt authority at times, but we must remember there are consequences to living a chaotic life; Billy the Kid, declared dead at the young age of 21, certainly did not.