Podcast
Real Dictators
The book was referenced when the hosts introduced the series, noting that its author was a journalist and historian who had written a detailed account of Billy the Kid. They highlighted the author's expertise as background for the episode's focus on the outlaw's family, especially his mother Catherine McCarty. The mention served mainly to establish credibility rather than to recommend the title.
Episode: Introducing: Real Outlaws - Billy the Kid Part 1
The author is a journalist and historian, and describes Catherine McCarty as a strong, decent woman who raised her two sons alone after her husband's death. Catherine was described as a jolly Irish lady full of life and mischief who always welcomed her sons with a smile and a joke.
Michael Wallace is a journalist and historian and author of Billy the Kid, The Endless Ride.
She was basically a strong, decent woman.
Most likely part of the great throng of famine Irish who came to this country.
She ended up living fairly impoverished, as many people did, especially the Irish, in the bowels of New York and she had two sons.
A son, Joseph, who went by Josie, then a young Henry, Henry McCarty.