Ollie P. Roberts

Encyclopedia : O : OL : OLL : Ollie P. Roberts

Ollie P. Roberts, nick-named Brushy Bill, claimed to be the actual Billy the Kid. He claimed he indeed had not been shot and killed by Pat Garrett in 1881, and claimed to be born on December 31 1859. Although this claim is generally rejected, it is still a heated debate, with evidence both in favor and against.

Contents

1 'The Whole Truth'?

1.1 Date of Birth
1.2 Court case
1.3 Photograph

2 Hico
3 External links

'The Whole Truth'?

Reportedly, Ollie P. Roberts never confirmed or denied his identity as being William H. Bonney until the passing of his wife, at which time he contacted Morrison and agreed to tell him the "whole truth".

Date of Birth

Brushy claimed to be born on December 31, 1859. Others claim that Brushy was actually born in 1868, whereas a relative and various census records appear to confirm that he was born in 1879. As Billy the Kid was aged around 21 years old at the time of his death in 1881, if either of the later two dates are true then it is not possible that Brushy was Billy the Kid.

It is perhaps worth noting that if Brushy had been born in 1859, then he would have been aged 91 at the time of his death from a massive heart attack in Hico on December 27, 1950.

Had he been born in 1879, he would have been 71 at the time of his death.

Court case

Brushy appeared in court just a few months before his death and the judge was not convinced by his claim.

Photograph

A photograph of Roberts appears to some people to match the only known tintype of Billy.

Hico

Brushy was buried in the town of Hamilton, about 20 miles south of Hico. The town of Hico, Texas (Brushy Bill's residence) has capitalized on the Kid's infamy by opening the Billy The Kid Museum.

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.