the Kid. Billy - WANTED: the outlaw lives of billy the kid and ned kelly

Wanted

The Lamar Series in Western History The Lamar Series in Western History includes scholarly books of general public interest that enhance the understanding of human affairs in the American West and contribute to a wider understanding of the Wests significance in the political, social, and cultural life of America. Comprising works of the highest quality, the series aims to increase the range and vitality of Western American history, focusing on frontier places and people, Indian and ethnic communities, the urban West and the environment, and the art and illustrated history of the American West.

Editorial Board

Howard R. Lamar, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Past President of Yale University

William J. Cronon, University of WisconsinMadison

Philip J. Deloria, University of Michigan

John Mack Faragher, Yale University

Jay Gitlin, Yale University

George A. Miles, Beinecke Library, Yale University

Martha A. Sandweiss, Princeton University

Virginia J. Scharff, University of New Mexico

Robert M. Utley, Former Chief Historian, National Park Service

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Wanted: The Outlaw Lives of Billy the Kid and Ned Kelly, by Robert M. Utley

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American Genocide: The California Indian Catastrophe, 18461873, by Benjamin Madley

Wanted

The Outlaw Lives of Billy the Kid & Ned Kelly

ROBERT M. UTLEY

Copyright 2015 by Robert M. Utley.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015944117

ISBN 978-0-300-20455-1

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In February and March 1998, my wife, Melody Webb, and I toured New Zealand and Australia. In Beechworth, Australia, we spent the night and visited the Ned Kelly sites. That was my introduction to Ned Kelly. In driving south to Melbourne, we stopped briefly at Glenrowan. Melody pointed to a statue of Ned Kelly in armor and remarked that he was Australias Billy the Kid. Even though I had written a biography of Billy the Kid a decade earlier, I brushed it off without further thought. At the Old Melbourne Gaol, however, as we stood next to the trapdoor where Ned was hanged and examined the adjacent suit of armor and an interpretive panel that explained who Ned Kelly was and what he had done, it dawned on me that Ned was indeed Australias Billy the Kid. Melody made the suggestion in Glenrowan, but I failed to take it seriously until the Old Melbourne Gaol. Thereafter my goal was to write a book comparing the two. In subsequent trips to Australia, especially one in 2004, we visited the major Kelly sites and accumulated a photographic record.

Other books intervened, and the project did not get under way until Chris Rogers, my editor at Yale University Press, which had just published my biography of Geronimo, became interested in Ned and encouraged me to undertake the project. That was in 2013, and I soon resumed the study of Ned from the stack of books I had acquired during our 2004 visit. I already had the basis for Billy the Kid in my biography published in 1989 and its predecessor, High Noon in Lincoln, published in 1987. Chris Rogers sent a contract, which spurred the work that resulted in this book.

After that 1998 revelation in Melbourne, I sensed that enough similarities link Billy the Kid and Ned Kelly to warrant comparison of the two, even though they lived and operated in countries so far distant from each otherthe United States and Australiathat one is hard-pressed to think of two places on earth farther apart.

Both lived and died at roughly the same time: Billy from 1859 to 1881; Ned from 1854 to 1880. Both died at the hands of the law, Billy at age twenty-one, Ned at age twenty-five. Both were outlaws who lived by the gun. Both became legends in their own time and remain so. Both created a trail of motion pictures and television productions that continues to appear in modern times. Both have been the subject of books, articles, and other printed material, as well as art. Both have their own modern followers: the Billy the Kid Outlaw Gang and the Ned Kelly Fan Club. Both spawned conspiracy theories: Billy lived until 1950 under the name of Brushy Bill Roberts. The charred bodies pulled from the fire at Glenrowan were not Steve Hart and Neds brother Dan, and the two later turned up in South Africa to fight in the First Boer War. Both Ned and Billy became tourist attractions: you can travel the Billy the Kid National Scenic Highway and the Ned Kelly Trail.

Neither Billy nor Ned seems to qualify as an outstanding outlaw. Billy rustled cattle, fought in the Lincoln County War, and used his guns on the enemy. Ned stole cattle and sheep, killed three policemen, robbed two banks, and always endured harassment from the police. Neither, however, systematically pursued outlawry.

Australia and the United States are very different places, and readers in both countries may find themselves confused by language, culture, politics, geography, economics, social relationships, and ways of thinking. I have tried to remedy the confusion, not always successfully. One striking example is the position of North America above the equator and Australia below. That means that winter in Australia is summer in the United States. The reader is left to bear in mind this distinction and, when a date in December is mentioned, keep in mind that the season is winter in North America and summer in Australia.

* * *

In expressing appreciation for assistance, I must place Ian Jones at the head of the list. I have never met him. But his biography of Ned Kelly forms the solid base for the Australian part of my story. I have relied heavily on his account and interpretations in dealing with Ned Kelly. His is widely acclaimed the best biography of Ned Kelly, which I discovered to be true. A hearty thanks, Ian; may we meet some day.