On the Use of Concealment/Cover:

“I have been portrayed in print and in illustrations as shooting the Kid from behind a bed, from under a bed, and from other places of concealment --- I was not behind the bed, because, in the first place, I could not get there. I’m not “as wide as a church door,” but the bed was so close to the wall that a lath could scarce have been introduced between.  I was not under the bed, and this fact will require a little more complicated explanation.  I could have gotten under the bed; but, you see, I did not know the Kid was coming. He took me by surprise—gave me no chance on earth to hide myself.  Had I but suspected his proximity, or that he would come upon me in that abrupt manner, I would have utilized any safe place of concealment which might have presented itself—under the bed, or under any article which I might have found under the bed, large enough to cover me.”

- Patrick F. Garrett, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid  (1882) (regarding his killing of Henry McCarty, aka William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid).