The Write Team Daily: "Henry McCarty's Escape"

The Write Team Podcast · Sep 25, 2026 · 34m

September 25, 1875.

Before he became Billy the Kid, he was a poor, orphaned teenager named Henry McCarty living in Silver City, New Mexico.

After stolen property was discovered in his room, the teenager found himself locked inside the local jail. Then he spotted an unlikely escape route.

The chimney.

On September 25, McCarty somehow squeezed through the narrow opening, climbed onto the roof, and disappeared into the New Mexico night.

It was his first known escape from custody.

It would not be his last.

Over the next several years, Henry McCarty would become William H. Bonney—and eventually…