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Paulita Maxwell: The Woman, the Myth, the Legend

The Story Behind Billy the Kid's Alleged Girlfriend

By Rachel LeschPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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Paulita Maxwell was born around 1864-5 in the town of Mora, New Mexico. She was the daughter of Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell, a wealthy and respected landowner. The New Mexico border with Old Mexico was the haunt of the notorious outlaw, Henry “Billy the Kid” McCarty. Billy was popular with New Mexico’s Hispanic community and often relied upon its hospitality. He was known to be something of a ladies man and had a particular taste for latina girls. Paulita and the Kid are popularly believed to have been lovers and it has been claimed that she was pregnant with his child around the time that he was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett. According to Billy the Kid historian, Frederick Nolan, Garrett’s wife heard gossip that Paulita was pregnant with Billy’s child, which allowed Garrett to track him to Fort Sumner NM, where Paulita was staying and Billy was killed (Trimble).

Like with many of the details of Billy the Kid’s life, it is difficult to sort out the fact from the fiction in regards to his relationship with Paulita Maxwell. As the legend goes, the Maxwells arranged for the pregnant Paulita to marry José Jaramillo, a prosperous sheepherder, to spare the family embarrassment. This version of events has been strongly contested. Its veracity is based on which date you believe for the wedding, sometime in January 1882, seven months after the Kid’s death, or January 14, 1883, eighteen months after his death (Stahl). Paulita herself, in an interview done in the 1920s, denied having an affair with Billy the Kid but confessed to having been infatuated with him. Whether it happened or not, the romance with Paulita Maxwell has popularly been accepted into the Billy the Kid mythos.

The Character of Celsa in The Left Handed Gun (1958) and Billy the Kid (1989) is an amalgamation of Paulita Maxwell and a number of other young women said to have been Billy the Kid’s Lovers. Celsa (Lita Milan) in The Left Handed Gun is the daughter of a Hispanic rancher who takes Billy (Paul Newman) in. She is beautiful, jovial, and tempestuous, and though she is clearly attracted to Newman’s raw, intense, and compelling Billy the Kid; she tries to resist his advances and turns him away in the end. The Celsa character (Julie Carmen) in Billy the Kid (1989) is the sister-in-law of Pat Garrett. Instead of a virginal young senorita, Celsa is a widow said to be some years older than Billy (Val Kilmer). She is cynical, sarcastic, and completely devoted to the Kid. A love affair makes an exciting edition to any tale about an outlaw. Every Robin Hood needs a Maid Marion.

The life of Billy the Kid and the details of the people who crossed his path are a prime example of when fact and fiction have become indistinguishably intertwined. His legend became bigger than Henry McCarty, the young man who was shot dead in 1881 and who may or may not have loved Paulita Maxwell. Legends usually have some kernel of truth somewhere but take on a life of their own; the truth can be seen as irrelevant compared to telling a good story.

Works Cited

“Billy the Kid.” American Experience. Writ. Pro. Dir. John Maggio. PBS. 2012

Billy the Kid. Dir. William A. Graham. Perf. Val Kilmer. Writ. Gore Vidal. TNT. 1989.

Private User “Paulita Maxwell, alleged girlfriend of Billy the Kid” geni.com. https://www.geni.com/people/Paulita-Maxwell-alleged-girlfriend-of-Billy-the-Kid/6000000010898078307. Accessed 21 Aug. 2017.

Stahl, Robert J. “Billy’s Bastard Child?” True West Magazine.com. 1 Feb 2017. https://truewestmagazine.com/billys-bastard-child/

The Left Handed Gun. Dir. Arthur Penn. Writ. Gore Vidal. Perf. Paul Newman. Warner Bro. 1958.

Trimble, Marshall. “Did Paulita Maxwell bear Billy the Kid’s Child?” True West Magazine.com, 11 Apr. 2016. https://truewestmagazine.com/did-paulita-maxwell-bear-billy-the-kids-child/

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About the Creator

Rachel Lesch

New England Native; lover of traveling, history, fashion, and culture. Student at Salem State University and an aspiring historical fiction writer.

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  • Brandie7 months ago

    Did you ever come across the name Angelita during the research on Billy the Kid?

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