billy once more

[Margaret-Anne Moore]

i never dreamed a simple historical question would get so crazy.  the book in question is available at a   few of our local libraries.  i believe the movies young guns with emilio claimed that brushy was billy the kid, and a number of recent books have also made the same claim.  i seem to remember an item in true west some years ago studied a number of the purported photos of the kid.  the myth that brushy was billy the kid should have died and been buried long ago.  but then, what would the city of hico, texas, do.  i understand the city has made hay with the brushy myth.  i even remember seeing a photo of pearl hart that was identified as a photo of billy the kid.   so long until next weekend.

[James Allder]

Margaret, I apologize, unreservedly.  This information is from my book Western Legend and gives a general answer to your question. 

  In the immediate years following his death, “The Kid” was seen and identified by a handful of persons who claimed to have known him during his lifetime.  Persons who may, or may not, have ever met him when he was alive.  Today, most historians believe this to have been the catalyst generating the myth that William Bonney either survived being shot by Pat Garret, or was simply never shot by Garret at all, and lived out the remainder of his life under an alias.  It’s a truly bizarre myth that has fascinated even educated scholars, as well as filmmakers, who retold the legend as a framing device for the motion picture Young Guns II.

  Nonetheless, Billy the Kid’s reincarnation, as it were, appears to have been nothing more than repeated fanciful attempts by aging men wishing to reclaim his identity in their golden years.  All instances of those claiming to be the aging Bonney were in time disproved using the advanced science of DNA analysis, good detective work, and basic rudimentary math.

Also, there are some Wikipedia articles that have been put together by people who've researched Billy the Kid, so you might want to try there as well.  Not a bad place to start on the internet. 

[Flying R]

Janice is back

[Buck Grizzly]

Most of these types of conversations get lost in the can't’s, couldn't’s, and wouldn't have happened. People make up their minds and at that point one way or the other their can only be one possible consideration. Except it is a very real reality that in this period of time in the countries development that men did in fact reinvent themselves as someone else. Taking on new totally different names, or altered names (how many immigrants changed/altered their names to be more adaptable, to fit in, too their new surroundings, their new home), as well as completely uncharacteristically original identities, with little to no resistance from outsiders, no intrusive questioning or reason to be questioned, and/or objection to that identity that is claimed. I mean it’s not like something that he had never done before.

Aliases, Monikers, and Nicknames of Billy the Kid

Henry McCarty

William Henry McCarty

Henry Antrim

Billy Antrim

William Antrim

Kid Antrim

Austin Antrim

The Kid

William H. Bonney

Billy Bonney

Billy Kid

Kid Bonney

Billy the Kid

Captain Kidd

Billy Coyle (questionable)

Billy Donovan (questionable)

Billy Conley (questionable)

El Chivato

El Bandito

Little Casino

The Young Kid

Bilitos

　

　

There were 'several' people over the years to make the claim that they were indeed the notorious outlaw, with little to no evidence to support a contrary belief. People insist that DNA has proven otherwise with a few, but DNA from what exactly? A 100 year old blood spot from a bench that could have been? A body from under a grave marker that isn’t the actual marker placed in a spot nobody can even confirm is the actual burial spot, in a grave yard where graves have been not only been relocated from but a relocation that was done by the government (when was the last time they were efficient at doing something??), some of the bodies of which we speak of are now located under a highway, or so the rumor is anyway?? A mother’s grave? Who’s mother? Is it even really his mother? How many aliases did this guy have again?? And a picture? A picture that could be just as much a red herring as the numerous names that were used, in fact it could be the biggest deliberate bit of deception within the entire story, yet so many are willing to place all their faith in that one image as the only true one? I mean if you are going to throw maybe’s around, then maybe that isn’t even a real picture of ‘Billy’ at all. Look at how many that are claimed to be him today for one reason or another?

　

There is so many inconsistencies, so much mud in the muddy water’s it’s rather amazing that anyone would make a definitive statement on the matter without having any amount of skepticism on their part. That to me is amazing.

　

Is it really so amazing on one hand that the notoriety of the individual was so great that it (the legend) couldn’t just be left alone to die a quite death? Or that in a time when there was no criminal data bases, computer technology, photo identifications, DNA libraries, or even certificates of birth that are on any form of electronic cataloguing that was kept on file for research purposes, that somebody/anybody couldn’t have just walked away? Slipped away out of the lime light? Camouflaged by the distractions created by others? Out of one life into another especially if a body was suddenly made available to take your place, and buried with the utmost expedience? Is it really so amazingly beyond belief that someone wouldn‘t cease the opportunity as a chance to actually free one‘s self?

　

Am I saying it happened? NO. And I am not trying to convince anyone otherwise. Am I asking is it a possibility if all the stars aligned just right, even for just a moment? Most definitely.

　

Given the chance to walk away, and find the situations you were dealing with completely dissolved away, never needing to be addressed or dealt with ever again. Just think how often that goes through the minds of so many people in their lives. But for him especially. Standing on the outside, seeing the news of his death unfold from the safety of hundreds of miles away, reading about the legend as it snowballs, as if it never really happened, mostly because you know hardly any of what they say did, but what did is just a distant memory. No matter the seed has been planted and now it is up to you to start anew. Finding a job, new friends and relationships. Taking a wife, creating a family, living a non-eventful dull existence, as an average Joe in a nondescript community, where little to nothing exciting rarely happens anyway, but finding yourself in such a situation, with everything to look forward too, and no cloud always hovering diligently overhead.

　

Just think of the implications. After all you had been through, cheating death under so many complicated challenges, and surviving, would you toss it all away, and throw yourself back into the caldron of boiling water by exposing yourself as what you were, or more to the point what people think you were? Or would it behoove you to just keep it to yourself and allow the past to be just that, the past with no connections to the present or your present self? Especially if there was others who would be effected? Could you bring yourself to be so selfish? Let’s be real who would believe you 20-30 years after the fact? Probably NOT!! Well nobody who cared about you anyway, but most anybody who would jump on the opportunity to exploit you, and make a buck at your expense. And what about the law? Would they be so forgiving? Or would there always be the score that needed to be settled?

　

What an interesting concept for a story? What an interesting set of possibilities?

[Oklahombre]

Good eye Flying R. I called her on another post. She has more aliases than BTK.

[Flying R]

She thinks we are dumb. Doesn't she realize this community wants her gone? That's why so many people got together and asked that she be removed. Why keep coming back when she knows she's not wanted? I don't understand this behavior. Its a need for attention we just don't understand... 

[Flying R]

She has another alias, its Arizona Mommy, I guess she forgot about her...

[Dirtrider]

Also known as Cherokee Rose