Little, blue-eyed, Billy Bonney, was then about five years of age, and became greatly attached to good natured, jovial, Ash Upson, who spent much of his leisure time playing with the bright boy.
Three years later, when the hero of our story was about eight years old, Ash Upson and the Antrim family pulled up stakes and moved to the booming silver mining camp of Silver City, in the southwestern part of the Territory of New Mexico.
Here Mr. and Mrs. Antrim established a new restaurant, and had Ash Upson as the star boarder.
Naturally their boarders were made up of all classes, both women and men,—some being gamblers and toughs of the lowest order.
Amidst these surroundings, Billy Bonney grew up. He went to school and was a bright scholar. When not at school, Billy was associating with tough men and boys, and learning the art of gambling and shooting.
This didn’t suit Mr. Antrim, who became a cruel step-father, according to Billy Bonney’s way of thinking.
Jesse Evans, a little older than Billy, was a young tough who was a hero in Billy’s estimation. They became fast friends, and bosom companions. In the years to come they were to fight bloody battles side by side, as friends, and again as bitter enemies.
As a boy, Mr. Upson says Billy had a sunny disposition, but when aroused had an uncontrollable temper.
At the tender age of twelve, young Bonney made a trip to Fort Union, New Mexico, and there gambled with the negro soldiers. One “black nigger” cheated Billy, who shot him dead. This story I got from the lips of “Billy the Kid” in 1878.
Making his way back to Silver City he kept the secret from his fond mother, who was the idol of his heart.