What’s the deal with Brushy Bill Roberts and his connection to Billy the Kid? I know that he claimed to be the kid, and that a few people who suposedly knew the Kid even stepped forward to back him, but what are the cold hard facts in this case?
If the Kid did change his alias to Brushy Bill, then how did he manage to stay out of trouble for such an extended period of time?
Answers anyone?
The question may be answered fairly soon
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4045199/ MSNBC site does a good job talking about the current status of the case. Basically – they know where Billy’s mom is buried and they want to get her DNA and compare the various Billy contenders.
MSNBC mentions that as part of the exhumation case there is a deposition from an older man (obviously) who knew Pat Garret’s wife who (the man claims) told her Pat and his friend Billy shot a vagrant in the face and then claimed the body was Billy and Billy skipped town.
AFAIK Brushy Bill appeared, claimed to be Billy and a (very) few folks in Hico believed him… Some folks who might know said “He sure looks like Billy would if he lived to be an old man”… not sure there was much more to it than that. But I’d love to hear it if I am wrong