supporters deny that Oliver P. Roberts, in the above census, is not their In the words of the analysts, the study "irrefutably shows that Roberts and the Kid are a very close match" and that the similarity between the two is "amazing." Furthermore, Roberts wanted Morrison's help in acquiring the full pardon he was promised by Governor Lew Wallace in 1879 but refused. During his testimony, Brushy's niece Geneva Pittman mentioned that Brushys birth is recorded in In fact, both the Kid and Brushy were ambidextrous. 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. heart attack and died, but his claim to fame did not go with him; today some Billy the The theory that he was illiterate sprang from a quote C. L. Sonnichsen wrote in his book, that Roberts was "not a literate man." on December 27th, while walking to the post office, Brushy suffered a massive One day in the 1940s, Brushy was walking down a street in Hico. He fell to the ground and died instantly. No one is claiming that Oliver P. Roberts was Billy the Kid. First of all, Brushy appears to have had some Hispanic descent due to 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 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. When a historians personal agenda and biasness is pushed, or something from a subjective topic is declared as ridiculous, the historian loses their objectivity. Also how would Garrett know that Bob Young, a native of Round Rock, Texas, visited Hamilton, Texas in 1930 and first met Brushy Bill. Morrison believed for the rest of his life that Roberts was really Billy the Kid. When he went to return the man's belongings to his mother, she took him for her son and he claims he went along with the deception and kept the identity. didnt really kill the real Billy the Kid, but allowed him to escape? Morrison believed for the rest of his life that Roberts was really Billy the Kid. This research is ground breaking and adds significantly more light to the subject of Brushy Bill Roberts. Also if not, why would Geneva Pittmon say they were? Wallace and that Billy was not killed in 1881 and still deserved his pardon. how old and senile Billy the Kid would not have forgotten Pat Garretts name gun down Tunstall, because Dolan wasnt even there. He completely forgot basic information about himself , and, when he was asked a serious question regarding the past of Billy the Kid, he forgot that as well. the way while Morrison ate up anything he said with a spoon. 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. Kid. It seems unlikely that he came forward in order to achieve fame, as other claimants had in the past, due to the way he and Morrison insisted upon secrecy in their dealings with Gov. It has been claimed that Brushy Bill was illiterate, and therefore could not have been Billy the Kid. has surfaced or proved that Billy Barlow ever existed in or around Fort Oliver was a real person that was born in 1879. William Brady were in attendance. Jim Tully signed an affidavit that he could speak Spanish as well as a native. Not one person who was at the meeting ever mentioned this happening. I'm just as passionate that Billy the Kid IS NOT Brushy Bill Roberts as Maxwell, who not only visited his grave regularly, but at the time of the But as we learned over the years, the real Billy Kid was very bitter and angry towards the sheriff, not only for the We also have Frank Lobato before Governor Thomas Mabry to request a pardon for Brushy Bill Roberts the same man, but yet his name is not listed in the cemetery records. However, although documentation of Billy the Kids life during this period is sparse, the documentation that. McNeil and Grinder, both impartial observers and both experienced in handling and making determinations on evidence, stated that, based on the study, the case for William Henry Roberts and Billy the Kid's being the same man was "strong", "substantial" and "excellent." from the Billy the Kid Outlaw Gang's web site this video demonstrates the undeniable sameness between four 'billy the kid' photos and four pictures of william henry 'brushy bill' roberts. he must be Billy the Kid. Im sorry but people who time as we learn more about the real Billy the Kid. Brushy Bill had each and every scar Billy was said to have (and more). After tracking him down, been shot by Pat Garrett in 1881 and that would have made him two years He had several diaries when Morrison found him, he wrote several letters to Morrison and other people, and he had thought for a time to write his autobiography, but later decided not to, fearing the press he might get. The Kid was reckless but he wasn't stupid! up in Walter Noble Burns bestseller "The Saga of Billy the Kid" in On November 29, 1950 Morrison arranged a There are those who believe that after he escaped, he became a performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Parade under the name of "Brushy . Billy the Kids headstone in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. supposedly received, would have immobilized him for days. Morrison Sheriff Pat Garrett is a legendary lawman who served his community well. Brushy talked with them all about events from his past as Billy the Kid and all three signed affidavits attesting to the fact that Billy the Kid and Brushy Bill were one and the same. In reality, the basis that Pat Garrett killed the Kid boils down to the fact that he and his cohorts said so, and that Bill the Kid never revealed himself publicly to dispute Garrett's claims, at least not until 1950. Blindsided by its unexpected fame, Hico tried to forget Brushy Bill -- but couldn't. Decades passed. Brushy supporters also say the Oliver Jessie Evans, or Joe Hines as he was later known, confirmed to Morrison that Brushy Bill was the Kid. -Hell, who didnt at that time! Moreover, there is no DNA support. Brushy was not In the meeting with current Governor of New Mexico, Thomas J. Mabry, Roberts was badly overwhelmed by the press and media and had a small stroke, which affected his ability to prove he was really Billy the Kid. killed the Kid on the spot, not concocted such a plan. -Billy the Kid nervous?! including eyewitnesses accounts, said he was, while the Brushy Bill Roberts 41 in 1920 again in Van Zandt. alias Billy the Kid for his past crimes, not only to clear the reputation of Brushy is literate! 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? losing his trust for the governor and fearing conviction, the Kid escaped Location: Hico, Texas. 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. The photo of Brushy at age 90 had a 93% match to the famous tintype. Pittman says, I know for a fact my stated that Brushy was almost entirely illiterate and had terrible chicken that. couldn't depend on the entire population of Fort Sumner to go along with (the night the Kid was killed), Brushy recalled that he was warned that around the pupil. Brushy Bill lived out a peaceful life in the central Texas. P. Roberts was dead and buried in 1939 at Alto, Texas, so again, he can't be And, finally, if Brushy was really Oliver P., then what happened to the real William Henry Roberts? If after Thomas McKinney, and the vast majority of everyone else who claimed to have seen the body of the man Garrett killed agreed to this. The Kids fame definitely did not end in July 1881 and he fascinates the public up to this day. accounts. Therefore, Oliver's birth date would have no bearing whatsoever on Brushy Bill's claims. But one had caused quite a stir and gained nation wide attention and even to this day his claim is being talked Mabry. An attempt to separate myth from fact. Brady held the Kid and Fred Waite captive, so how could the Kid swear Further intrigued, Morrison probed Hines for the Kids name and address and the old man finally consented. left-handed and illiterate, but like Billy the Kid, he was literate and I came across an interesting exchange between a researcher and Professor Alan Bovik, who performed the 1990 photographic comparison done on the photos of Brushy Bill Roberts and Billy. - December 27, 1950 It is worthy of note that if Brushy Bill had been born in 1859, he would have been ninety at the time of his death from a massive heart attack in Hico, Texas. If not, then when exactly did Brushy step into the life of Oliver and begin using his name (it would have had to have been sometime between the census reports)? In recent times, much younger distant members of Oliver P. Roberts have come forward to claim that Brushy Bill Roberts, who they either did not know personally or that they had only known remotely was not Billy the Kid. face, but yet when you look at photos of Brushy, there's no scar at all. after passing another corpse off as the Kid, he wasn't going to turn up Edwards finds a trail of aliases and notable wild west characters that appear and disappear from history at precisely the times and places that Brushy Bill Roberts claims to have been, and doing the things that he claimed to do. No contemporary account carries any mention of the gunfight that Brushy claimed transpired between himself and Garrett, Poe, and McKinney after Barlow was killed. Was Brushy Bill really Oliver P. Roberts? Hines then told Morrison of his experiences in the Lincoln County War and with Billy the Kid. For example, he knew that Colonel Dudley's soldiers that entered Lincoln on July 19, 1878 were black, he knew all the details of how the Kid had to pay his lawyer for his services in his trial, he knew that Billy the Kid wrote a letter to Gov. The Kid also would have vengeance over his employers grave during the funeral if he wasnt even Early in life, he adopted the nickname Billy the Kid. If a themselves, without computer technology, the two are not the same man. According to a museum in Hico, Texas, there's one more name to add to the list of the Kid's aliases: "Brushy" Bill Roberts. No, there has been no DNA study of either Billy the Kid's body or the body of Brushy Bill Roberts. Kid. So in other words, its purely coincidental that Since 1881, many people have claimed to be Billy the Kid, and in the decades that followed the Kids death, they popped up everywhere across the United States. The truth about Brushy either, he wrote like a child, or the Kid at Stinking Springs, Garrett took his prisoners to Fort Sumner, The Roberts family has denied there is any possibility that 'Brushy Bill' could have been Billy the Kid. the Kid swearing an oath to avenge Tunstall's murder at the funeral was made has a heck of a lot more holes and discrepancies in his account than Pat There is some dispute over the claim thatPat Garrett is the man who killed the Kid or if in fact, he died that day. Somewhat disappointed, Morrison decided to leave, but asked Brushy if it might be possible to take a trip to Mexico some day soon to interview his brother. still other bits of evidence that squashes Brushys claim ( I would Brushy clearly stated highly recommend visitors to To find them, search the collection on Billy the Kid. cocky as ever, and lastly: He knew the history of Billy the Kid Also during Severo Gallegos, Jose Montoya, and Martile Able, all surviving friends of Billy the Kid, met with Brushy Bill separately. Now lets talk about the Kid's friends. Did thefamed gunslinger Billy the Kidfake his owndeath? Brushy agreed, and the two parted company for the day. 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. Witnesses said that Brushy whirled around and reached for an imaginary pistol. In the fall of 1949, Morrison took Brushy with him to New Mexico for the purpose of having Brushy meet with some surviving acquaintances of Billy the Kid, to see if they could verify or deny his claim. Here's another claim that flip flops: due to the reverse image of the Kid's authentic photo, photo of Brushy) According to Brushy, Oliver left home at one point and was killed on the trail. Brushy also said that he doubted that Billy Barlow was the man's real name. ambidextrous. Brushy Bill Roberts (August 26, 1879 [1] - December 27, 1950; claimed date of birth December 31, 1859) also known as William Henry Roberts, [2] Ollie Partridge William Roberts, Ollie N. Roberts, or Ollie L. Roberts, was an American man who attracted attention in the late 1940s and the 1950s by claiming to be Western outlaw William H. Bonney, also that, and he couldn't count on the Kid seizing the opportunity of having If he was really Oliver P., then how did Brushy come by so much knowledge of Billy the Kid, when he would have been far too young to have even participated in the Lincoln County War? Brushy was Hines told Morrison of his experiences in the Lincoln County Wars with 19th-century American frontier outlaw and gunman, Billy the Kid who was allegedly killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881, but he stunned Morrison by claiming that the Kid was still alive and living near Hamilton, Texas under the name Ollie L. "Brushy Bill" Roberts. Brushy did say that he had known Dalton as Jesse James, but that is a separate issue from whether or not he was Billy the Kid and a separate issue from claiming to be in his gang. time. few letters to Several of the things he knew were known to only a few people at the time, including historians. The oath-swearing actually was Dick Brewer, not the Kid. Barlow to fetch some meat at Maxwells house. Included with the report were various documents related to Billys life and the affidavits from Gallegos, Able, and Montoya, along with affidavits from two of Brushys friends, DeWitt Travis and Robert Lee, detailing other aspects of his life. for a pardon for Billy the Kid because I do not believe this man to be Billy Jameson and Fred Bean, who researched the Brushy Bill Roberts claim, they the 'billy the kid' photos (some not yet verified) had to have the same long, snakelike fingers billy and brushy were known to have. When Brushy told of his days as Billy the Kid from 1877 to 1881, Morrison determined that Brushy knew way too much about the history of the Kid and the Lincoln County War to have read all about it. Photographs of Brushy Bill Roberts at age fourteen seemed to resemble the well known Dedrick-Upham tintype of Billy The Kid. Just got on his horse and Brushy said that when he went to trial, his first indictment was for the murder of Buckshot Roberts and he was represented by Ira Leonard. Although this is not technically evidence in support of Brushys claim, and in no way connects him directly to Billy the Kid, it does indicate he was a man used to danger. Marshal investigating train robberies; joined the Rough Riders and went to Cuba; briefly operated his own Wild West Show; fought for Villa and Carranza in the Mexican Revolution; worked as a plainclothes policeman in Gladewater, Texas; married four times; and used a dozen aliases. Are you going to During the meeting Brushy gave his weak and The 2014 book, "Billy the Kid: An Autobiography" by Daniel A. Edwards, tells the story of how former Hico resident William H. "Brushy Bill" Roberts came to have his picture taken. ", Copyright 2015-2017 Creative Texts Publishers, LLC, , , , Copyright 2014-2021 Creative Texts Publishers, LLC. He began by studying photos of Brushy Bill Roberts and conducting a facial comparison between the two, which is provided in his book. The photographs were digitized and image improved then searched for similarities and differences by a computer recognition system which criminologists employ in their identification of suspects. Mary Roberts died in 1862 while James was off fighting with Quantrill in the Civil War. certainly would have brought that up. He believes that 1990 photo recognition study proves Brushy is Billy. On July 14, 1881 Brushy Bill registered for the WWI draft and signed his original name as Oliver Pleasant Roberts. Garrett and the Kid were not the good friends that legend claims. Boze, Bell Author: Asagan CC BY-SA 3.0. After Barlow was killed, Brushy continued, he fled Fort Sumner. All the while, the pair were careful to make sure that Mrs. Roberts was kept in the dark over the entire proceedings, as Brushy didnt want her to learn his true identity and be disgusted with him for his reputation. His parents were James H. and Mary Adeline Roberts. The story of Brushy Bill Roberts begins in 1948 when an attorney named William Morrison heard that Sheriff Pat Garrett never actually managed to gun down Billy the Kid, who was safe and sound and living in the town of Hico, Texas, under his latest alias of Ollie Roberts, but most folks in the town knew him simply as Brushy Bill. 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. We must keep in mind that Brushy Bill Roberts worked very hard for many years (since about 1910 onward) to convince people he was Oliver P. Roberts so it is natural that those who knew him by that name may believe that to be true. The story of Brushy Bill Roberts begins in 1948 when an attorney named William Morrison heard that Sheriff Pat Garrett never actually managed to gun down Billy the Kid, who was safe and sound and living in the town of Hico, Texas, under his latest alias of Ollie Roberts, but most folks in the town knew him simply as Brushy Bill. Several months later, after completing the Hines case (in which Hines was given his brothers land), Morrison struck up a written correspondence with Brushy Bill. testimony was shaky because he was very nervous. A little fuzzy! Author: Caknuck. For If Brushy Bill's story is true, then it would mean that Pat Garrett had shot a different person and had allowed Billy the Kid to escape. A few hours later, Brushy and Morrison arrived at Mabrys mansion. Storied Billy the Kid claimants 'Brushy' Bill Roberts of Hico, TX and John Miller of Prescott, AZ will finally get their day in court to prove their claim to being legendary outlaw Billy the Kid. 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. when Garrett was passing Billy Barlows body off as the Kidright? Prospector, also known as William Henry Roberts, Ollie Partridge William Roberts, Ollie N. Roberts, or Ollie L. Roberts, attracted . It also saddens me to Kid's death, she was one of the first to find him lying on the floor of Pete The reader can make up their own mind on this matter, but according to Brushy Bill Roberts, "Garrett would rather climb up a tree and tell a lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth. so. accidentally kill the wrong man, he would have faced the music and the Governor Lew Wallace to turn state evidence for a full pardon. To have pulled Besides Garrett He was fearless and professional, and always treated the Kid well, even in captivity. In reality, at the time of Tunstall's funeral Sheriff Fact vs. the family bible as August 26, 1879. He laughed in the face of Mabry, to which Brushy couldn't respond. Billy the Kid: Beyond the Gravetraces the life of this famous desperado through his role in the Lincoln County War, the alleged killing by Sheriff Pat Garrett, Billy's escape, and his life for the next sixty-nine years. This got me thinking: why cant just one website show both sides of the argument equally, without letting personal beliefs affect the matter? myth to his testimony. At the same time, Morrison attempted to track down Jim McDaniels, yet this proved an impossible feat. No. Read The Real Billy the Kid Revealed by Jim Johnson with a free trial. evidence clearly speaks for its self. Pat Garrett's account of what happen on July 14, 1881 is sketchy, but the faces were then superimposed in a number of ways.\ri do not own any of the imagery assembled herein, only 'share' them for my own selfish purpose, which is to be considered the premier edutainer to the lowly masses, aka you people. So, here is the new Brushy Bill Roberts section of my website. Brushy Bill Roberts claimed he'd been born William Henry Roberts, in Buffalo Gap, Texas. From time to time, he would share with some that he "had a secret", but he never revealed to anyone that he was the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid until he was discovered by researcher William V. Morrison in 1949. Come He then researched the more mundane aspects of Brushy Bill Roberts' story and found numerous corroborations to his account in the historical record. Read millions of eBooks and audiobooks on the web, iPad, iPhone and Android. Billy the Kid and/or his death was a hoax, then I shake my head, throw my hands up in the friends pitched in and bought a headstone for his unmarked grave in the nowhasnt anyone else had their name spelled incorrectly? Finally, in 1987, Hico erected a Brushy Bill monument and opened the Billy the Kid Museum -- and Billy turned out to be good for Hico. -then Hallelujah! How did Brushy do the things he said he did after fleeing Fort Sumner (almost all of which have been proven either through official documentation, objects Brushy had in his possession, or by personal recollections of others who shared in his experiences), when the census records for Oliver P. show he never ventured far from eastern Texas for a prolonged period of time? In November of 1950 Morrison and Brushy went According to Brushy, this was the name of a cousin of his that was killed and he had merely taken his name. this video demonstrates the undeniable sameness between four 'billy the kid' photos and four pictures of william henry 'brushy bill' roberts. Why did many Roberts family members say Brushy was not Oliver P.? On another point to ponder, let's not forget that the birth date November "Alias Billy the Kid," by C. L. Sonnichsen & W. V Morrison, 1955, "Billy the Kid & Me Were the Same," by Dr. William A. Tunstill, 1988, "The Trial of Billy the Kid," by Judge Bobby E. Hefner, 1990, "Billy the Kid: Killed in New Mexico---Died in Texas," by Dr. Jannay Valdez & Judge Bobby E. Hefner, 1995, "The Return of the Outlaw Billy the Kid," by W. C. Jameson & Frederick Bean, 1998, "The Real Billy the Kid AKA: Brushy Bill Roberts," by Brett L. Hall, 2004. 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. The reason people think he was non-fluent in Spanish is because a myth started that Jarvis Garrett (or Oscar Garrett or Arcadio Brady, depending on which version of the myth you heard) asked Brushy a question in Spanish at the meeting with Gov. In conclusion, I would just like to state that I hope I have accomplished my goal of providing all the facts as they are and checking my own biasness. old. To support Pittmans sources, Brushy Roberts a.k.a Oliver P. Roberts, that Brushy was ambidextrous too. resemblance. Several of the things Brushy told Morrison, though at first glance may have seemed trivial, actually were very important, as few people, historians included, knew of them. as Marcella or Marcel. After all, they supposedly looked the other way 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. Now if they knew it wasnt him, why would they waste their Links: Unsolved Mysteries Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. Rather than face his own legal troubles, Garrett apparently put the body in the ground and called him the Kid. his dark hair and complexion, but he did have gray eyes with yellow specks This photo of Brushy Bill is also alleged to have been made when he was a teenager, supposedly within the same time frame as the above photo, though his age certainly seems more advanced here. tell me that Lutcida and Louticia are not the same woman just over a returning to places where he shouldn't be. Maxwell's because he was suspicious, then upon hearing shots being fired, Billy the Upon entering the conference room, they were shocked at what they saw. and grew up with the stories. didn't write this web page to argue or pick a fight with supporters, I know That alone is more than enough proof that Brushy and Billy himself from his leg irons, had a groundskeeper saddle a horse for him and In 1948, William V. Morrison, a probate investigator working in St. Louis, Missouri, was sent to Florida to work on the case of an elderly man named Joe Hines. on July 14, 1881 by Pat Garrett, but was alive and well, living in Hico, Texas under the alias of Some were too ridiculous to take notice and some convinced a few people, but were forgotten through the passage of time. In reality, the Kid gunned down both his guards, used a pick axe to free He said that Catherine McCarty was not his mother, but his maternal half-aunt. up again at the age of 52 with a wife named Lutcida. Disappointed, Morrison took Brushy to a local doctor, Stan Lloyd, and when he was well enough, he took him home to Hico. think he would've left and stay gone? Billy the Kid on the other hand, had an oval-shaped of people. Oliver was a real person that was born in 1879. again in Ft Sumner or New Mexico? dying day she was extremely bitter towards Garrett for killing Billy the Kid and Yes, that was their goal, but here's some food for The results of the University of Texas photo-comparison study, with other evidence,were presented to Andre McNeil, chancery judge of Arkansas' Twelfth Judicial District, and noted Arkansas attorney Helen Rice Grinder. He gave Billys current name as Ollie L. Brushy Bill Roberts and his address as Hamilton, Texas. Shortly thereafter, Gov. 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. Author Daniel A. Edwards does not call Garrett a liar, but believes that, like many in his day, Garrett was a pragmatist. Brushy Bill Roberts. Brushy Bill Roberts, who claimed to be the notorious outlaw Billy the Kidhere wearing mustaches well as a wide-brimmed hat, neck scarf, and coat. Brushy Bill Roberts never claimed to be a part of Jesse James' gang and there is absolutely no evidence to support this allegation.