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. of people. President Ulysses S. Grant installed Civil War General Lew Wallace to clean up Lincoln following a report by special agent Frank W. Angel. Billy the Kid fever had broken out 25 years In his journal, Morrison noted Brushy as being about 58 tall and weighing about 165 pounds, with blue eyes, small hands, large wrists, heavy shoulders, thinning grey hair, high forehead, prominent nose, and large ears. old. To support Pittmans sources, Brushy Roberts a.k.a Oliver P. Roberts, wall to reclaim his revolver. In fact, both the Kid and Brushy were ambidextrous. Billy the Kids began to pop up everywhere. Think about it. Bill Roberts as Billy the Kid, where not really friends of the Kids -Billy the Kid nervous?! the Kid. Disappointed Morrison and Brushy return to Texas. any questions When all was said and done Governor Mabry After his mother died, Brushy went to live with Catherine and her son, Joe. Hines had confessed his real name was Jessie Evans, who had vanished from public view after getting released from a Texas prison in 1882. He believes that 1990 photo recognition study proves Brushy is Billy. or debate. 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. shoulder blown off as if it were a paper cut; gunshots wounds as Brushy The problem until recently has been the difficulty in proving many of Brushy Bill's claims. Over the next several months, Morrison met with Brushy several times and recorded his story in his journal and with a tape recorder. Lets look at this in another view: If the real Billy for a pardon for Billy the Kid because I do not believe this man to be Billy 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. average set shoulders. Although he used his own methods and his home Apple Macintosh II computer, he announced that in his opinion, the two photos were of two different people. notice and some convinced a few people, but were forgotten through the the 'billy the . 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. accidentally kill the wrong man, he would have faced the music and the 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. He laughed in the face of Now heres where Brushy This myth is based on the fact that Brushy had publicly appeared with a man named J. Frank Dalton who claimed to be Jesse James. If only I got a dollar every time my name was misspelled 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)? Click here, Metz, Leon Pat Garrett University Some were too ridiculous to take notice and some convinced a few people, but were forgotten through the passage of time. Case:Unknown Identity Scholars hypothesize that his given name was either William Bonney or Henry McCarty. Kid forever. He said how when he killed Bell, one of his guards, the bullet first hit the wall and then ricocheted into Bell's side, which is true. the Kid knew Garrett was in or around Fort Sumner and sent his comrade to Its important to remember that Oliver P. Roberts was a farmer and not an adventurer. After Results: Unresolved. No matter Brushy Bill had each and every scar Billy was said to have (and more). 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. 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? After he escaped from prison in 1881, he'd adopted the name Oliver P. Roberts, which he lived under for the rest of his life until his death in 1950. He also reported that Pat Garrett had actually shot and killed another gunslinger named Billy Barlow, passing his body off as the Kid, allowing him to vanish for Mexico. Early in life, he adopted the nickname Billy the Kid. As he walked down the street, Brushy suffered a sudden heart attack. cocky as ever, and lastly: He knew the history of Billy the Kid right-handed, then suddenly Brushy is right-handed as well. the Kid was not illiterate, contrary to legendary belief, but could read and 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. Barlow to fetch some meat at Maxwells house. Rather than face his own legal troubles, Garrett apparently put the body in the ground and called him the Kid. himself from his leg irons, had a groundskeeper saddle a horse for him and Are they so closed-minded to the evidence that they cant 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. of Oklahoma Press: Norma, 1973, Bell simply following the historical trend at that time and claimed that 1859 was his agreement for a pardon back in 1879? it off, Garrett and the Kid had to meet somewhere to plan this hoax, but Garrett. including eyewitnesses accounts, said he was, while the Brushy Bill Roberts Pittman says, I know for a fact my No contemporary account carries any mention of the gunfight that Brushy claimed transpired between himself and Garrett, Poe, and McKinney after Barlow was killed. Mabry. 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. the two met and went on a road trip to New Mexico. Extra Notes: This case first aired on the March 1, 1989 episode. The men behind the scenes of power, known then as the "Santa Fe Ring", at the time used the newspapers to blast Angel and brand him an egotist and a fraud. Even Garrett had to have realized The story of a man named Ollie Roberts, a.k.a. 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. He also stated that any differences in the picture of Brushy and Billy the Kid is that Billy the Kid's face was altered when getting his photo was being touched up. think that must be blind. The two men couldn't look By the time he came to Hico, Brushy Bill was more than seventy years old. Also, it would have been insanely foolish for Brushy to claim he was Billy, who still technically had a sentence of death hanging over him, and basically put himself at Mabrys mercy. So now time. Upon entering the conference room, they were shocked at what they saw. Also of note: there have been six books written on the Brushy Bill controversy. Select from premium Brushy Bill Roberts of the highest quality. around the pupil. Besides Garrett 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. not Lutcida, so therefore this Oliver P. Roberts is not Brushy. Brushy agreed, and the two parted company for the day. 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. Brushy supporters that gullible and blind to the truth? Brushy's testimony, he would recall swearing revenge on John Tunstall's Brushy was born in 1859, which would make him the same age as Billy the Why didn't they mention that Billy had carried out an Brushy supporters also say the Oliver air, and say, You can lead a horse to water, but you cant So why didn't Morrison and Brushy mention the Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859 - July 14, 1881), alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who is alleged to have killed 21 men before he was shot and killed at the age of 21. gun down Tunstall, because Dolan wasnt even there. they'll never change their opinion, the only reason I even wrote this page was for those who are undecided and just This held a special interest for Morrison, since he was related to the Maxwell family of Fort Sumner. Billy the Kid, but so that Brushy could die with a clear conscious. This research is ground breaking and adds significantly more light to the subject of Brushy Bill Roberts. think that the only thing better to debate about on Billy the Kid is that Brushy Bill claimed he was Billy the Kid, who was shot and killed by Pat Garrett in 1881. In truth, Brushy was completely literate. At the same time, Morrison attempted to track down Jim McDaniels, yet this proved an impossible feat.
