The study used the most advanced photo comparison equipment around as well as the best scientists. again in Ft Sumner or New Mexico? Five years later, in 1955, noted historian C. L. Sonnichsen, with information supplied by Morrison, wrote a book entitled Alias Billy the Kid, which fully detailed the case of Brushy Bill Roberts. According to Brushy, this was the name of a cousin of his that was killed and he had merely taken his name. His parents were James H. and Mary Adeline Roberts. Some who have studied the case are scornful, saying that Brushy Bill was not old enough, and he was illiterate while Billy the Kid had beautiful handwriting. Of course this story of By 1950, the story of Billy the Kid was well known and most facts more different. Throughout this early correspondence, Morrison was careful not to reveal what exactly Hines had told him about his true identity. Mabry, to which Brushy couldn't respond. here for more information. the late 1920s. Location: Hico, Texas. He said that Catherine McCarty was not his mother, but his maternal half-aunt. He also said that Leonard was able to get the case thrown out. Brushy Bill Roberts simply assumed Oliver's identity. Was Brushy Bill Roberts Billy the Kid? The missing seven percent can be explained due to age and dental work, so said Dr. Bovik and Dr. Acton. With the help of Ted Andress, a lawyer from an El Paso law firm, Morrison drew up the papers necessary for Brushys pardon. This isnt a Hollywood Western where men walk around with half their 33 of 38 34 of 38 A former New Mexico lawman is seeking permission to exhume the body of ``Brushy Bill'' Roberts, a Billy the Kid claimant who died in 1950. He meant to say he was not a. Brushy Bill Roberts: Alias Billy the Kid - The Notorious Outlaw of the West man, his memory was a little fuzzy. Brushy Bill, was different. Details: In 1948, William Morrison was a St. Louis, Missouri probate investigator who was handling the case of an elderly man named Joe Hines requesting the lands of his deceased brother. Morrison did indeed return the following day and Brushy admitted to him that he truly was Billy the Kid, only he didnt want to say so in front of his wife. famous outlaw are divided and argue so bitterly about Brushy being Billy the The University of Texas photo-comparison study, the only valid one commissioned to date, adds another layer of evidence in support of the notion that Roberts and the Kid are the same person. think that must be blind. Hines then told Morrison of his experiences in the Lincoln County War and with Billy the Kid. It's disappointing for me to make it drink. In closing, (just as Oscar Garrett had said) I do not wish it's not because he faked Billy the Kid's death, but more likely that he Opinions vary on whether Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the Kid. However, the life of the man known as Brushy Bill Roberts is documented by census, marriage, divorce and WWI registration records from his birth in Sebastian County, Arkansas in 1879, where he was born to parents, Henry Oliver Roberts and Sarah Elizabeth Ferguson, until his death in Hico, Hamilton County, Texas in December 1950. His Brushy Bill Roberts didn't have any immediate family that was living at the time he came forward as Billy the Kid other than his wife, Melinda Allison Roberts, and she believed he was Billy the Kid. ", Copyright 2015-2017 Creative Texts Publishers, LLC, , , , Copyright 2014-2021 Creative Texts Publishers, LLC. Brushy clearly stated Early in life, he adopted the nickname Billy the Kid. turning up like a bad rash. CREATIVE. However, although documentation of Billy the Kids life during this period is sparse, the documentation that. After meeting some of the Kids contemporaries, ones who personally knew the gunslinger and told Morrison that they were positive that Brushy Bill was indeed Billy the Kid, Morrison decided to go to Hico to meet him in person and put an end to all the rumors. as Marcella or Marcel. Brushy claimed that throughout 1871-1874, he left the care of Catherine McCarty a few times to visit his biological father, James Roberts, in Texas, and ended up staying with him a total of two years. Mabry. Kid was very bitter and angry towards the sheriff, not only for the Corroborations, for example, that the person Pat Garrett killed from ambush was a Mexican with a beard, and not Billy the Kid. -then Hallelujah! on July 14, 1881 by Pat Garrett, but was alive and well, living in Hico, Texas under the alias of The oath-swearing actually was Dick Brewer, not the Kid. Therefore, I have retooled my particular website, in an attempt to accomplish the difficult feat of removing as much biasness as possible and simply providing the facts, which I believe is the true job of a historian. Besides Garrett Brushy Bill Roberts' claim that he was Billy the Kid was depicted in the 1990 movie Young Guns II. If a They base this on the fact that, according to the Roberts' family records, Oliver Partridge Roberts was born in Coleman County, Texas, in 1879. Brushy Bill Roberts - Interesting stories about famous people For example, Brushy said that John Selman fought on the McSween side in the Lincoln County War. his death was the greatest hoax in Old West history. Mary Roberts died in 1862 while James was off fighting with Quantrill in the Civil War. had a square-shaped head, squared jaw line, large but long hanging ears and Also if not, why would Geneva Pittmon say they were? When a historians personal agenda and biasness is pushed, or something from a subjective topic is declared as ridiculous, the historian loses their objectivity. In reality, the Kid gunned down both his guards, used a pick axe to free THEN he got on his horse and rode off. The two became friends and Brushy informed Young that he would like to accompany him on his return to Round Rock. Brad Smithfield is one of the authors writing for The Vintage News, Join 1000s of subscribers and receive the best Vintage News in your mailbox for FREE, Wuzhen: The Ancient Chinese Water Town with a history of more than 7,000 years, Before establishing Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard claimed to be a decorated WWII hero, Police arrest a 72-year-old suburban grandfather suspected of being the Golden State Killer, Im not dead yet: some Buddhist monks followed self-mummification, Project Azorian: Howard Hughes secret mission, 1960s U.S. satellite that started transmitting again in 2013, The Walk of Shame in Game of Thrones historical inspiration, The only unsolved skyjacking case in U.S. history might have a break, Kurt Gdel became too paranoid to eat and died of starvation, Little Ease: One of the most feared torture devices in the Tower of London, The humble English girl who became Cora Pearl, Walt Disney softened the original Snow White story. By looking at Its said that he was buried in Fort Sumner Cemetery the following day alongside two other members of his gang. Brushy was not Prospector, also known as William Henry Roberts, Ollie Partridge William Roberts, Ollie N. Roberts, or Ollie L. Roberts, attracted . the way while Morrison ate up anything he said with a spoon. 15 Brushy Bill Roberts Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images But as we learned over the years, the real Billy Mr. Cool-headed! It also saddens me to His parents were James H. and Mary Adeline Roberts. Upon hearing this, the old man looked as if he had been badly frightened. himself from his leg irons, had a groundskeeper saddle a horse for him and At this request, Brushy took off his clothes, exposing twenty-six bullet and knife scars on his body, several matching known locations of wounds Billy the Kid allegedly had. Now heres where Brushy slip out of Fort Sumner), discredited all such claims and firmly stated that Since Brushy was so young and Catherine moved around so much, everyone just assumed that Brushy was her son. face, a narrow chin, small mouth, round ears and very narrow slopped shoulders. Still, Brushy asked Young to look up an old friend of his, Jimmy McDaniels (a former member of the Jessie Evans Gang and veteran of the Lincoln County War), who also lived in Round Rock. The problem until recently has been the difficulty in proving many of Brushy Bill's claims. Untitled Billy the Kid/Brushy Bill Roberts: Examination of Billy the Kid's, the outlaw known from the Lincoln County Wars, life. Scholars hypothesize that his given name was either William Bonney or Henry McCarty. Although I prefer not to give any attention to this controversial topic, I'm forced to discuss Brushy Bill Roberts who keeps Billy the Kid on the other hand, had an oval-shaped The Old Man Who Claimed to Be Billy the Kid - Atlas Obscura They are as follows: Brushy Bills knowledge of the Lincoln County War and the life of Billy the Kid was too extensive to have all been read. Links: Unsolved Mysteries Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. This is only a handful of the most obvious of proof According to Brushy Bill Roberts, in Ft. Sumner Garrett shot a third man from ambush without warning, only this time it was an innocent Mexican, a fact corroborated by the Las Cruces Sun Times and other local newspapers just five days after the shooting. Billy The Kid - General Message Board - The Sign Syndicate After Brushy realized his name wasn't being called, he hurried away. before Governor Thomas Mabry to request a pardon for Brushy Bill Roberts wall to reclaim his revolver. He obviously came to know the traditional history (one way or another) of the Kid, so what would be his motive for saying he was born in Texas and that Catherine McCarty was his half-aunt? When the time came for Young to return home, Brushy regretfully said he couldnt accompany him, since his wife was sick. Thomas J. Mabry, governor of New Mexico, agreed to a private hearing with Morrison and Brushy, along with one or two historians of Mabrys choosing, to be held on Nov. 29. The old man said he had nothing to lose and hoped that Morrison would help him gain the pardon that he had beenpromised some 70 years agoby New Mexicos Governor Thomas J. Mabry. Untitled Billy the Kid/Brushy Bill Roberts - IMDb Billy the Kid and/or his death was a hoax, then I shake my head, throw my hands up in the He gave Billys current name as Ollie L. Brushy Bill Roberts and his address as Hamilton, Texas. time. the 'billy the . Brushy Bill Roberts No sooner was Billy the Kid's body laid to rest in Fort Sumner bogus Billy the Kids began to pop up everywhere. Brushy supporters also say the Oliver In truth, Brushy was completely literate. Most historians would say that he didnt, but a legend of the Old West like Billy the Kid doesnt go down easy. All in all, No one is claiming that Oliver P. Roberts was Billy the Kid. Brushy Bill Roberts on the other hand Brushy Bill stated that Jesse James was in Lincoln county and for years and years historians claimed bullshit but it was until fairly recently that they have found documents proving Jesse James was in Lincoln County and had been operating a counterfeit money system there with Billy. Brushy Bill Roberts AKA Billy The Kid: Physical Similarities & Facial Recognition Study Brett Hall 2.81K subscribers Subscribe 1.2K Share Save 79K views 1 year ago In This video, I. Why must a person looking for information on Billy the Kid via the internet have to visit two different sites, made by two different people with two very different opinions, just to get all the facts? So the Story starts that in 1948 A man named Joe Hines, came up to a Lawyer named William V Morrison to claim the property of Outlaw Jesse Evans" recently deceased brother. We also have Frank Lobato Earlier, Morrison had been given the names Billys remaining acquaintances by other respected historians such as Maurice Fulton and William Keleher. In the courthouse in Lincoln, Brushy detailed to Morrison how he, as Billy the Kid, made his famous escape and killed deputies Bob Olinger and James Bell. Some were too ridiculous to take He concluded, however, that the man in front of him, just as his contemporaries claimed, was actually Billy the Kid. killing of Sheriff Brady, Brushy said that Fred Waite and he jumped over the Then historians/biographers This got me thinking: why cant just one website show both sides of the argument equally, without letting personal beliefs affect the matter? the two met and went on a road trip to New Mexico. certainly would have brought that up. Regardless, when Brushy came out as Billy the Kid in 1950, no close family members came forward to contradict his claim. photo of Brushy) Most were not taken seriously and just a few of them managed to convince anyone else that they were Billy the Kid. around the pupil. After capturing Billy where Brushy recalled how Mrs. Maxwell asked if he could be unchained from So Brushy was death was mourned for years by his friends and one of his loyal admirers was Deluvina old. To support Pittmans sources, Brushy Roberts a.k.a Oliver P. Roberts, Brushy also claimed that after he fled Silver City in 1875 up until fall 1877, he basically traveled over the entire West (Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Oregon), making a living as a bronc rider. After tracking him down, However, Sonnichsen later said he wished he never wrote that because he meant that Brushy wasn't the type of person who would sit around all day reading history books. McDaniels, along with Severo Gallegos, Martile Able, Jose Montoya, and Bill and Sam Jones, all of whom had known Billy the Kid, signed affidavits claiming to verify that Roberts was in fact Billy the Kid. lines of defense is: Brushy wasn't illiterate -but he wasnt literate Their mission to gain the pardon proved to be unsuccessful, and additionally, it was treated as a joke. Even so, At the same time, Morrison attempted to track down Jim McDaniels, yet this proved an impossible feat. Wallace proclaiming his innocence in the murder of James Carlyle, and he knew exactly how the McSween house was set up before it was burned. shot him in the jaw it would've left a very nasty disfiguring scar on his resemblance. Not one person who was at the meeting ever mentioned this happening. Kid biographer and my goal is to educate people that Billy the Kid was Although many Roberts relatives state that Brushy and Oliver were two different people, there is at least one who says they were in fact the same. Instead, even though he had every opportunity to reveal his claim, he continued to secretly work behind the scenes with Morrison to obtain a pardon from Governor Thomas Mabry and insisted that no one know. air, and say, You can lead a horse to water, but you cant Further, William V. Morrison discovered five living witnesses that were willing to sign sworn affidavits under oath that Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the Kid. In 1882 a notorious outlaw by the name of Jesse Evans, a childhood friend of Billy the Kid and a participant in the Lincoln County War, walked out of jail after serving a sentence for killing a Texas ranger. He went by the name of William Henry Roberts and he died in Hico, TX in 1950, though this account of the Billy the Kid conspiracy theory says Brushy Bill went by Ollie P. "Bill" Roberts even though the grave marker says William Henry Roberts. This really did happen, but only posse member Jim East knew of it and he only spoke of it in a letter he wrote to fellow lawman Charlie Siringo. Myth page, Istill get emails from visitors who want more proof misfortunate accident during the line of duty; after all, if some police officers However, when Morrison took Brushy to visit with Severo Gallegos, Brushy spoke with Severo's Mexican neighbor, Josephine Sanchez, in perfect Spanish. There were no unbiased websites that merely presented the facts as they were and left it up to the reader to decide for his/herself who Brushy really was. Brady held the Kid and Fred Waite captive, so how could the Kid swear only one-quarter. slipped away unseen with the help of Frank Lobato. meeting with Governor Thomas Mabry of New Mexico to request a pardon for his Oliver P. Roberts and Brushy just happen to marry women with similar to Now is this the right attitude for a woman who knew Garrett In addition, thereis evidence in the historical record that seems to support the claims of Brushy Bill Roberts that he took on his cousin's identity around 1910. that Brushy was ambidextrous too. While Morrison and Hines talked, Hines admitted that he was Jessie Evans, who, after he had been released from prison in Texas in 1882, had by all accounts disappeared. This relative is Geneva Pittmon, who claims that Brushy was really named Oliver Pleasant Roberts, and that he was born on Aug. 26, 1879 in eastern Texas. Click here, Metz, Leon Pat Garrett University Rudabaugh and go in the other room with an Indian girl. Lets look at this in another view: If the real Billy The Kid was reckless but he wasn't stupid! has a heck of a lot more holes and discrepancies in his account than Pat Oliver was a real person that was born in 1879. for a pardon for Billy the Kid because I do not believe this man to be Billy Billy the Kid's true identity is still a matter of speculation. William Brady were in attendance. Billy the Kid: An Autobiography: The Story of Brushy Bill Roberts $18.00 Paperback $25.00 Hardcover In 1882 a notorious outlaw by the name of Jesse Evans, a childhood friend of Billy the Kid and a participant in the Lincoln County War, walked out of jail after serving a sentence for killing a Texas ranger.