Village Profile Home Page | About our Company | Sales Opportunities | Community eStore | vpmobile.us

Billy, Millie and Ben Lilly

BILLY THE KID
By Mary Alice Murphy, Silver City Daily Press

The controversy over Billy the Kid’s life and death started when he was shot and killed by Pat Garrett in July 1888. But did Billy die, did Garrett really kill him or was somebody else the victim of Garrett’s bullets? The legend holds that Billy, also known as William Bonney Henry McCarty and Henry Antrim, was born in New York, or was it Texas? His mother was Catherine Antrim, or was he born to her sister and raised by Antrim?

The controversy of his life stems far beyond what documented history can tell us. However, a few things about Billy’s life are not controversial. He was raised in Silver City, New Mexico, by Antrim and known then as Henry McCarty. After her death, he had no role models, got involved with shady characters and began his brief life of crime. Also not disputed is that Billy the Kid attended Sixth Street Elementary School in Silver City.

A cabin, from the movie set of “The Missing” was donated by the movie’s director Ron Howard and sits at the Murray Ryan Visitor Center near the site where Billy (a.k.a. Henry) and his mother lived. So, while the stories of Billy change as quickly as time passes, one fact that will always remain is “the Kid” will always be known as one of the West’s most rumored and remembered outlaws.

MADAME MILLIE
By Lois Duffy
Note: Information obtained from Max Evans’ “Madame Millie.”

Mildred Clark Cusey (later deemed, “Madame Millie”) was born near Kansas City, Kansas. She was sadly orphaned at an early age due to the death of her parents and temporarily separated from her ailing older sister. Millie’s life was then filled with hard times on the streets and in many foster homes. Once, when Millie got into trouble, she appeared in court before Judge Harry Truman, one of many politicians she was to meet again later in life.

Her sister’s poor health, diagnosed as tuberculosis, prompted their move to the southwest where Millie worked as a “Harvey Girl” to support the two of them. Bearing the brunt of medical bills, she quickly learned that she could make money faster by turning tricks. This would ultimately lead to a wild life and career in prostitution as she traveled throughout the West with many unbelievable adventures. During her “professional” life, along with her bordellos, Millie would also own restaurants, beauty parlors, parking lots and bars across the country.

Eventually, she settled in Silver City on Hudson Street (very close to where the Chamber of Commerce now stands). Here she ran her bordellos and became a much loved character with a heart of gold. She contributed heavily to local charities and had many friends in high places. Her business was closed down in 1968, but Millie remained in the area (retiring in Santa Clara) until her death in 1993 at the age of 87. Millie was buried by her husband’s side at the Fort Bayard National Cemetery in Grant County. To this day, many of the local residents still tell her stories.

The tale of her colorful life has been portrayed in Max Evan’s book “Madame Millie,” published by University of New Mexico Press. As time goes on Millie has become a legend and a celebrated part of Silver City and Grant County’s history.

BEN LILLY
By Gale Moore, Publisher, Forever Frontier, The Glenwood Gazette

One of the Southwest New Mexico’s legendary characters, Ben Lilly was an Alabama native (born in 1856) who came to New Mexico in 1911. Then at 55 years of age, he was in his prime. Lilly was considered the most skilled hunter in the Gila Wilderness; his stamina outlasting many younger men who hunted with him. A bounty hunter in pursuit of bear and mountain lion, Lilly hired out to ranchers and the government.

One of his many idiosyncrasies included a devout refusal to work or hunt on Sunday. He often refused to accept a warm bed indoors, preferring instead to sleep outside with his pack of hunting dogs, even in winter. By 1925, he was reputed to have killed 210 bears and 426 mountain lions.

Ben Lilly’s fame reached the ears of another legend, Texas writer J. Frank Dobie, who immortalized his life and exploits in the book “The Ben Lilly Legend.” Ben’s strength finally waned in his older years, and he died in December 1936 at the Poor Farm in Pleasanton, New Mexico, at the age of 80.