69 (D-62) Billy The Kid and "outlaw" vocabulary

69 (D-62) Billy the Kid (1859-1881) was a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman. He became a symbolic figure of the American Old West. His father abandoned him when he was a child and his mother died when he was 14. He was arrested when he was 15 for stealing (in fact, he didn't steal anything), but he escaped. Then later, at age 18, he killed a man who enjoyed bullying him. His life as an outlaw began. He was arrested several times, but he was a real escape artist. His many conflicts with the law were in New Mexico and Arizona, but he was sometimes hiding in Utah. Because he was so young, there is a big legend that goes with his name. It is said that he killed 21 people, one for each year of his life. However, many historians calculate the figure closer to nine (four on his own and five with the help of others).


Billy The Kid

'Twas on the same night when poor Billy died,
He said to his friends, "I am not satisfied;
There are twenty-one men I have put bullets through,
And Sheriff Pat Garrett will make twenty-two."

Now this is how Billy the Kid met his fate:
The bright moon was shining, the hour was late,
Shot down by Pat Garrett, who once was his friend,
The young outlaw's life had come to an end.

There's many a man with a face fine and fair,
Who starts out in life with a chance to be square,
But just like poor Billy, he wanders astray,
And loses his life in the very same way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEAntEQNnGQ
(Tex Ritter, American country music singer)

Jane
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Do you know this "OUTLAW" VOCABULARY?

an outlaw.... a gunman.... a gang....gun, Colt-45, rifle, bullets.....Wanted: Dead or Alive.... $5000 reward.... to have a bounty on his head....marshal, sheriff and deputy....a posse.... a hideout.... a jail.... to be shot and killed.... to be hanged ("hanged" OR "hung"??? --- Pictures are hung on the wall; people are always hanged!!!)... tombstone... epitaph