BILLY THE KID APACHES

The audacious outlaw fought and raided his rival renegades without retribution.

- JAMES B. MILLS

Their war-cries were enough to jolt even some of the most hardened of men. When you first saw them, they had likely been watching you for quite some time. They could seem to appear from nowhere and dissolve back into the surrounding rugged landscape just as quickly. When attacking their enemies with a ruthless ferocity, their presence was often greeted with a familiar panicked cry heard throughout the Southwest: “Apaches!” And with a party of such menacing warriors having set upon them, young Billy Bonney and friend Tom O’Keefe were in serious trouble.

Billy and Tom had made the mistake of travelling through the northern Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico Territory in the fall of 1877. After filling their canteens in a stream, Billy had started to make his way back to O’Keefe and their horses when the Apaches had sprung upon them, seizing a chance to kill or capture some trespassing White Eyes. After waving O’Keefe to ride out of the ambush, Billy, or “Kid Antrim,” as he was also known, quickly found a place to hide. He remained hidden until making his way downstream after nightfall. It must have been a tense journey, with the Apaches potentially reappearing at a moment’s notice. The slender teenager survived the night and at dawn began walking an easterly course.