Statement adds twist to Billy the Kid saga

MSNBC - Statement adds twist to Billy the Kid saga

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Legend has it that Billy the Kid was gunned down by a sheriff in 1881. But was he?

Homer Overton will tell you that the dead man was an unwitting impostor, a drunk shot point-blank in the face by two unlikely chums — the lawman and the legendary gunfighter himself.

Overton learned this some 63 years ago, at age 9, from the widow of the sheriff, Pat Garrett.

Overton’s sworn statement was offered as evidence for exhuming the body of the Kid’s mother, Catherine Antrim, to compare her DNA with that of a Texas man who claimed until his death in 1950 that he was William Bonney, known in Western lore as Billy the Kid.

Authorities in Lincoln County, where the Kid was convicted of killing a sheriff in the 1870s, want to know if that man — named Ollie “Brushy Bill” Roberts, of Hico, Texas — was the real Billy the Kid.

A hearing on the exhumation petition is set for Jan. 27 in Silver City, where Antrim is buried. Town officials oppose disturbing the gravesite.

Comments

[T. Russell Joplin,mo]

I am also at a Loss with Why the Will Not do the DNA. WIth All the Questions going on , I am sure like All other People that Where Famous their are Questions that are Asked.. We will Probable Never Really Know, But the Story On
Ollie “Brushy Bill” Roberts is seen In Many Web Site. I Love reading the Info given on Items Like this..It keeps our Minds Wondering as to What Did Happen ... But the Same can be Said of to day when Something Big Happens , People Start asking Questions Right away But the Story Changes from people to people as the Story goes Along... If People keep Write these Info Web Sites ,, there are many of Us who Will Stop and Read and Keep Pondering the Truths....

[Gary Adkins]

Do the DNA test - I hope that "Brushy Bill" is the real "Billy The Kid." They proved that Jesse James was shot and killed as written in history and didn't live on in life - I feel cheated about that - I hope "Billy" lived on.

[Ben Dodson]

There should not be any doubt about who William H. Roberts (aka 'Brushy' Bill Roberts) was. He was Billy the Kid. There is too much evidence that shows he was...and old Pat rufusing to sign that affidavit swearing he shot Billy the Kid by just saying 'I know who I shot.'? Come on people...I've investigated every little corner (within my means) of William H. Roberts life and there leaves little question to who he was. What the state of New Mexico ought to be finding out is who it was that Pat murdered that July night back in 1881.

[William H. Bonney]

PATS DAUGHTER WHO WAS A BLIND PIANO TEACHER, WHO GAINED NO FAME OR RICHES WAS AND I QUOTE AS SAYING, MY FATHER DID NOT KILL BILLY, WHAT WOULD A BLIND WOMAN HAVE TO GAIN BY LYING? AGAIN SIR SHE GAINED NO FAME, NO BOOKS WRITTEN, JUST A SIMPLE STATEMENT, PLUS ALL YOU WANNABE HISTORIANS, FACT, THE RIVER FLOODED OUT THE CEMETARY, THEN THE ARMY DISINTERRED MOST OF THE BODIES AND BELIEVE ME THE OLD US ARMY KEPT PISS POOR RECORDS BACK THEN, SO TELL ME IF OL PATSY DID " KILL ME" MY BODY SHOULD BE THERE, RIGHT? SOMTHING FOR ALL OF YOU TO THINK ABOUT, GO AHEAD DIG UP MY GRAVE I AIN'T THERE!

[Wayne Land]

Check out this website. There are numerous comparisons of the face, hands, physique, etc. plus some eyewitness verifications and even a recording of Brushy's voice. Brushy Bill was indeed the one and only "Billy The Kid" also known as William Bonney, Henry McCarty, Kid Antrim, Texas Kid, Hugo Kid, and eventually "Ollie Roberts".

[billyfan]

It puzzles me as to WHY no one would want to know the truth about Billy the Kid! Why would a man seek a PARDON from a GOVERNOR for crimes he never committed? And if Ollie Brushy Bill Roberts was not who he said he was....then who was he???? If it was anyone else trying to PROVE their identity, it would be DONE! What harm could it do to exhume Brushy Bill's body and his mother... except answer a HOST of historians some answers as well as ALL OF US in America that have learned about the famous out law Billy The Kid. If the history was false, then why not bring forth the truth for this man??? It will either prove or disprove his theory and put alot of questions to rest!