Ollie P. Roberts
| Brushy Bill Roberts | |
|---|---|
Brushy Bill
|
|
| Born | c. 1860 |
| Died | December 27, 1950 (age ~90) Hico, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | United States of America |
| Other names |
William H. Bonney (alias Billy the Kid, allegedly) Oliver Partridge Roberts Oliver L. Roberts |
| Occupation | Prospector |
Brushy Bill Roberts (c. 1860 – December 27, 1950; claimed date of birth December 31, 1859) a.k.a. Ollie Partridge William Roberts, Ollie P. Roberts or Ollie L. Roberts, attracted attention by claiming to be the western outlaw William H. Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid. Roberts' claim has been rejected by almost all historians (and even his own niece), but there is circumstantial evidence suggesting his claim may have had some substance. Brushy Bill's story is promoted by the "Billy the Kid Museum" in his hometown of Hico in Hamilton County, Texas. His claim was further promoted by the 1990 film Young Guns II, as well as a 2011 episode of Brad Meltzer's Decoded on the History Channel. Robert Stack did a segment on Brushy Bill in early 1990 on the NBC television series Unsolved Mysteries.
In 2014 new information was published, which included military and genealogical records, that supported certain aspects of Brushy Bill's story. A new photographic comparison of a young Brushy Bill with the Billy the Kid ferrotype image was included.
In 1948, a paralegal named William Morrison located an elderly man named Joe Hines, who had requested the lands of his deceased brother. Hines had confessed that he was the outlaw Jesse Evans, who had vanished from public view after getting released from a Texas prison in 1882. Hines told Morrison of his experiences in the Lincoln County War with Billy the Kid, who had been killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881. Hines stunned Morrison by claiming that the Kid was still alive and living near Hamilton, Texas under the name Ollie P. Roberts (nicknamed "Brushy Bill").
Morrison then began a correspondence with Roberts, who eventually confessed to being the Kid, and who went into fine and intimate detail of his exploits as an outlaw. He filled in many aspects of the life of Billy the Kid and, furthermore, wanted Morrison's help to acquire the full pardon he had been promised by New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace in 1879 but then had been refused. He showed his ability to slip out of handcuffs, and he also reported that Garrett had actually shot and killed another gunslinger named Billy Barlow and had passed his body off as the Kid's, which had allowed the Kid to vanish and escape to Mexico.
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Wikipedia