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Most people know Billy the Kid as one of the most famous outlaws of the Old West. But the records from his final days tell a story that feels very different from the legend. Behind the wanted posters, gunfights, and rumors, there were jail documents, court papers, guard reports, and official records that reveal how fragile the law really was in New Mexico Territory. Billy was sentenced to hang, locked inside a building that was never truly built to hold him, and watched by men who carried their