But it was pretty clear to Fort Sumner residents that where Graves was heading was economic destruction, since their village depends on Billy the Kid … The answer to this incautious question - "Who is it?" L.A. County’s COVID-19 vaccine supply is expected to tighten just as more people become eligible, because of a shortage of Johnson & Johnson shots. Whoever paid for the stone figured they would honor two other members of Billy's gang who were also killed by Pat Garrett and his posse: Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard. 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? He has fond memories of her standing on the beach watching him surf. The Hico story is that Garrett did not kill Bonney in Maxwell’s home. Billy Bonny, alias Antrim, alias Billy the Kid, the twenty-one year old desperado, who is known to have killed sixteen men, and who boasted that he killed a man for every year of his life, will no longer take deliberate aim at his fellow man and kill him, just to keep in practice. In his biography Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman, Leon Metz brings up the possibility that passing off any body as that of Billy the Kid could easily have been done “since neither…Poe nor…McKinney recognized the Kid, and both would be inclined to accept almost any body that Garrett claimed was Billy’s.” Garrett could then petition for the reward, says Metz, as well as the … Once again, Billy the Kid ended up in custody. But Hefner says both states would benefit even if Hico is acknowledged as the Kid’s resting place. “When he went to see Governor Mabry, he destroyed everything in his possession that might have tied him to the past because he was still afraid they might accept his confession, not grant a pardon, and he would still be hung.”. Read more. Evidence that could have proved his identity was destroyed by Roberts himself, Hefner says. By 1877, when he became a cowhand in the Pecos Valley of New Mexico, 12 murders had been charged to his account. The third is that the Fort Sumner Chamber of Commerce erected the stone to take advantage of tourists, which seems especially likely in the wake of a recent movie release. History tells us that the outlaw known as Billy the Kid … Its' called the Billy the Kid Museum but there is much more to it than just Billy. As he and Maxwell were talking, Billy the Kid entered the darkened room; not realizing the sheriff was there. Lincoln County Sheriff Patrick F. Garrett, who had once worked with Billy on the Maxwell ranch, was hiding in the darkness in Maxwell’s bed. "When the deputy United States Marshal that was with Pat Garrett … Perhaps wishing to explain why the three men were commemorated with one tombstone, the word “Pals” was engraved on the new stone. Two years later, he was eventually captured, tried and sentenced to hang for the death of Jim Carlyle in 1881. So now the investigators are targeting Billy the Kid's grave in Fort Sumner (unless they can dig up Billy the Kid, it would be no use to start digging up Catherine Antrim). “It does not minimize what New Mexico has at all,” Hefner says. The real Kid lived to a ripe old age in their town, they say. Billy had a passion for surfing as a kid, and his mother was very supportive of him. B illy The Kid was born in the slums of New York City in 1859. Billy the Kid was given a big reputation by pat Garrett for the purpose of Glorifying himself. Don Sweet, who owns the Billy the Kid Museum on the main street in town, agrees. For starters, Billy the Kid’s name wasn’t Billy and he wasn’t born in the western United States. Read more. Another posits that actor Johnny Mack Brown coughed up some cash after playing Billy in a 1930 movie. By most accounts, Billy the Kid was William H. Bonney, who was born in New York City on Nov. 23, 1859, and grew up in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. ''See Billy the Kid's Real Grave," reads the sign leading down the lonesome road off U.S. 60 west of Clovis, N.M. Yeah, these folks have heard about the other Billy, and they don't much like it. He answered the question with a bullet. Little of substance is known about Billy's life during this period, and myth has replaced fact to shroud the early years of Billy the Kid … The ghost of Billy the Kid, the notorious Old West outlaw shot to death by a former friend at age 21, is provoking a feud between two tiny towns over his bones. Garrett spared the Kid “in exchange for him leaving the country.”. “Not a word has been disproved.”. On July 14, 1881, 21-year-old William Bonney, better known as the outlaw Billy the Kid, was famously shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He died a month later, in Hico, of a heart attack. The Kid testified as promised, but the pardon was never granted. Billy's evidence was enough to convict at least one major bad guy, but the district attorney refused to follow Wallace's orders that he be released afterward. Garrett mounted yet another posse to bring in the Kid. Then there’s farming and ranching and that’ll about do it.”. Date of experience: February 2020. Wallace promised to grant Billy the Kid amnesty for murders he committed during the so-called Lincoln County War if he would testify about a killing he had witnessed; the Kid testified, but Wallace’s men reneged on the deal. His became an orphan at age 15 after the death of his mother of tuberculosis. Later he led a gang of 12 cattle rustlers. He was quickly buried the next day, his final resting place marked by a simple wooden board with his name crudely carved on it. Neil eventually married Susan Mayfield, mother of Max Mayfield, who was introduced to … Ft. Sumner for years has advertised that Billy the Kid and a couple of his saddle pals are buried here. But the local folks appreciate the value of the controversy. “He’d kind of drop in and eat. The ghost of Billy the Kid, the notorious Old West outlaw shot to death by a former friend at age 21, is provoking a feud between two tiny towns over his bones. “Billy’s the big money-maker here,” says Jeff Wooten, director of the Ft. Sumner State Monument, an old Army fort which attracts 2,000 to 3,000 tourists a month, most of whom want to see where the Kid is buried. He went by the name William Henry Roberts, but most folks just called him Brushy Bill. One says that the four men who served as Billy's pallbearers pooled their money together to make sure William Bonney was remembered. In the 1940s, according to the Hico tale, the man then known as Brushy Bill hired an El Paso, Tex., lawyer, W. A. Morrison, to research his claim and present a case for clemency to the governor of New Mexico. Well, it’s not the kind of range war and gunfighting that put Sheriff Pat Garrett on the trail of William Bonney in the 1880s, but civic pride is at stake--as well as tourist dollars. Why hike in Los Angeles? Two years later Pat Garrett, the sheriff of Lincoln County, shot and killed the outlaw. Billy the kid- the man whom was shot by Billy the kid (as his gravestone reads) as well as some noteable townsfolk are buried here. Two … Some Texans say they have the explanation. So, the Kid escaped custody and eluded the law for the next two years. Billy the Kid’s grave is in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He escaped jail on April 30, however, killing two deputies, and remained at large until tracked down and ambushed by Garrett, who shot him dead on the evening of July 14 at the ranch home of Pete Maxwell. yeah right, Billy the Kid was the greatest gunman that ever lived, but i beat him. Billy the Kid Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. They seemed very open with him, very honest with him.”. Billy is the son of Neil Hargrove and an unnamed mother in California. Hico's Billy the Kid Museum speculates that Billy moved to Texasin 1883, two years after his supposed death in New Mexico. “Garrett, to further his own political ambitions, made a trade-out with old Billy,” says Hefner. He tried to stay out of trouble but it seems he made friends in the wrongs crowds. When the range war erupted in Lincoln County in 1878, he readily accepted leadership of one of the warring factions. - was abullet to the heart. Use our guide to navigate 50 trails in Southern California, plus tips on gear and treats for the trail. Answer: Unfortunately, DNA testing cannot be done since Billy the Kid's grave marker was washed away in the Pecos River flood in September of 1904 and the grave was left unmarked for years until a new headstone was placed. During the Kid’s time as an outlaw, Pat Garrett was elected Sheriff and sent after him. The right sandwich for 22 different hikes in L.A. From movies to gyms to eateries, here’s what will reopen in L.A. County as early as Monday. He rode with some of the Wild West shows then popular, all the time keeping his secret. One of two confirmed photographs of Billy the Kid (left), playing croquet in New Mexico, 1878. “They have Billy the Kid the warrior--they have the entire legend and legacy of the young man.”. In later years, the townsfolk of Ft. Sumner took quiet pleasure in the presence of the Kid--William Bonney, or Kid Antrim, or Henry McCarty, or whatever his name really was--in a grave next to the original Army fort south of town. There is Billy's grave and his stone is protected from theft after two robberies. Billy the Kid died in the early morning hours of July 14, 1881. The Duchess of Sussex complained to British broadcaster ITV about comments by “Good Morning Britain” anchor Piers Morgan regarding her mental health. He explained that many people considered the Kid a kind of Robin Hood of the Wild West. As the story goes, Billy—just 21 years old, but already a murderer who had escaped from jail and killed two guards in the process—made the mistake of walking into a … This began a time of increased criminal activities for Billy the Kid. When Chisum refused to pay the Kid for service in the Regulators, the Kid decided to help himself to some of Chisum's livestock. Eventually the war ended and the Regulators disbanded. “After he broke out of jail in Lincoln, he came to Ft. Sumner, which was a place where he was very well acquainted with the people, particularly the Spanish people,” says John McMillan, who heads the local chamber of commerce. *In early March 2004 a petitioned was filed in Fort Sumner to exhume Billy the Kid and the investigators went as far as listing Billy the Kid as one of those petitioning to have his own corpse exhumed. Locals still wonder why Billy didn’t shoot first and ask questions later. By 1904, it had been destroyed. He was buried later in the day at the Old Fort Sumner Cemetery between two of his friends, Tom O’Folliard and Charlie Bowdre. And because Billy's grave was unmarked for decades, his exact burial location is now unknown. McCarty was orphaned at the age of 15. Thomas Mabry in November, 1950, but his request for clemency was denied. In fact Billy seems to be just a small piece of the whole thing. Photographer unknown/Public Domain. Question: To put an end to the controversy of Billy the Kid living to be an old man, why not exhume Billy the Kid’s grave (or even his mother’s grave) for DNA testing? After the death of his father, he traveled west with his mother ending up in Silver City, New Mexico Territory in 1873. Why You Should Pay a Visit: The skinny, bean pole scoundrel who killed Billy the Kid, Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett got a sullied reputation after folks suggested he might have killed the Kid without any warning. A Colorado stonecutter named James Noah Warner (1892-1962) read about the Fort Sumner cemetery and decided that Billy the Kid needed his own gravestone. As a child, Billy the Kid … O'Folliard and Bowdre are buried in separate graves nearby, but their graves are unmarked. Roberts met with Gov. “It doesn’t make sense to me that with that many generations, somebody didn’t say something,” McMillan says. Billy, along with John Middleton, Henry Brown was indicted for the murder of Sheriff Brady in April 1878. L.A. County COVID-19 vaccine supply will tighten due to Johnson & Johnson shortage. Kids really enjoyed it. “We can either keep this thing alive and build it bigger and bigger, and see if New Mexico can profit,” McMillan says, “Or we can try to prove it in people’s minds, settle it, and just go back to nothing.”. His first arrest was for stealing food, at the age of 16, in late 1875. “He was still under a murder indictment,” says Hefner. Whoever paid for the stone figured they would honor two other members of Billy's gang who were also killed by Pat Garrett and his posse: Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard. Legendary Outlaw. No one bothered to replace the gravestone until 1932—and, like many of the tales that surround the legend of Billy the Kid, there are different versions to this story. He has published a pamphlet suggesting that Billy the Kid was, in fact, Ollie L. (Brushy Bill) Roberts, who died in 1950 at about the age of 90. “We’ve made some efforts to do some other things, but that’s kind of limited,” Sweet says. Billy's mother abandoned him some time later, due to Neil's behavior. It mattered little to the locals whether Bonney killed 21 men or just five; whether he was a real-life Robin Hood or a shiftless outlaw who wrangled, gambled and rustled cattle on the Staked Plains, or whether his exploits were being embellished beyond belief. ‘Primarily here in town it’s Billy the Kid. To avoid confusion with two Williams in the family, Billy the Kid’s mother started calling him by his middle name, Henry, and the boy took on his stepfather’s last name. Billy the Kid was by now a much wanted fugitive.After the end of the war, Billy spent the next two years eluding the law. It was apparently a popular object for target practice, but flooding in the cemetery may have also played a part. Garret recognized Billy and fired. Helpful. After two days, he escaped from jail and began a life as a fugitive from the law. The two eventually met (Billy came heavily armed because he wasn't stupid) to discuss a deal, and the Kid agreed to be arrested for show, then spend time in jail until he testified at the trials. He fled from New Mexico Territory into neighboring Arizona Territory, making him both an outlaw and a federal fugitive. There is a separate Jewish cemetery nearby with some markers restored, and there are also marked graves of Chinese. Born Henry McCarty, he was the first of two boys raised by a small Irish Catholic family in New York City. There have always been nagging questions about the night of July 14, 1881, when the Kid entered rancher Pete Maxwell’s bedroom and asked Pete why there were two men outside. This was due to some people (especially Chinese and Jewish immigrants) being buried without record. Tourists looking for complete authenticity may be disappointed, however—it's likely none of the men are actually buried under the tombstone. His father was physically abusive to him and his mother. Hico, pronounced high-coe, is the home of Bob Hefner, a justice of the peace who has made the claim for Billy the Kid’s final resting place a personal crusade. Nobody is sure of the exact date he was born but it seems to have been sometime in September 1859 because there’s a baptism record for … He Died As He Had Lived." Two weeks before his scheduled execution, Billy escaped, killing two guards in the process. Lots of reasons. Not so, says a faction in the Texas town of Hico, claiming a cover-up by their New Mexico neighbors. “Now, then, 40 years later, no one has disproved one thing that old Brushy said,” Hefner says. Billy the Kid's legend has hovered over the landscape of the American West for 125 years, a Hindenburg of hype and fantasy, always there to nourish those who merely look up. Born on November 23, 1859, he engaged in several crimes until Sheriff Pat Garret gunned him down on July 14, 1881, at age 21 in Fort Summer. Ten days later, he robbed a Chinese laundry and was again arrested, but escaped shortly afterwards. If Hico prevails, Ft. Sumner is likely to lose a lot of money. In 1877, McCarty began to refer to himself as "William H. Bonney". Billy the Kid was an American notorious outlaw and gunfighter. Founded in 1953 the museum is now operated by the founder's son who has been retired from the railroad for a number of years. The people of Ft. Sumner befriended Bonney when he was on the run from the law, having killed two guards and escaped from the Lincoln County jail, where he was under a death sentence for killing two lawmen during a bloody range war in the 1870s. As is the case with so many mythologized historical figures, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. Located on the northwest corner of the town, the graveyard is believed to hold over 300 persons, 205 of which are recorded. “He was the classic kind of anti-hero,” says Bob Parsons, a native and prominent historian of this eastern New Mexico community of about 1,400 people.
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