Coe Ranch
undated
New Mexico Tourism Department

A symbolic figure of the Old West, Henry McCarty (also known as William H. Bonney but best known as Billy the Kid) was a charismatic 19th-century American frontier outlaw and gunman and a participant in the “Lincoln County War,” of 1878. The “War," a conflict between wealthy ranchers and the owners of a General Store, included dramatic shootouts and revenge killings, against a general backdrop of gambling and lawlessness.  Before he became a bona-fide outlaw, Billy worked at the Coe Ranch outside the city of Ruidoso.