Another Billy the Kid Thread

[THE PILGRIM]

just when you think you have heard everything about Billy the Kid, it turns out you haven't.
An Arizona college prof wants a Death Certificate for Billy the Kid.
In fact he's gone to court and asked the judge to issue one.
I guess I'll have been pretty comfortable that Pat Garrett actually shot him,
But some folks aren't and have disputed it.


Historian requests death certificate to end Billy the Kid dispute | Fox News

 

[mtrvl]

What will it matter? I guarantee he is really dead, by now, lol.

 

[shouldazagged]

Unless he's living with Hitler in Argentina.

 

[Roadtrash]

I heard he and Elvis just opened a new Handy Mart in Phoenix. Yeah he's old but he wasn't around with a good job so he could get social security.

 

[steveno]

did they even issue a death certificate back in those days?

 

[THE PILGRIM]

did they even issue a death certificate back in those days?

Good question. The official action was a coroners jury.
They concurred that the deceased was in fact The Kid and signed a document saying so.
They all knew The Kid.
Pat Garret collected his reward based on that document.
A NM judge has it now. His clerk told reporters that he was gonna use the weekend to think it over.
He's probably calling judges-lawyers all over the place right now.
If he really gets desperate, he might call Eric!
Maybe even The Cajun.

 

[the ringo kid]

just when you think you have heard everything about Billy the Kid, it turns out you haven't.
An Arizona college prof wants a Death Certificate for Billy the Kid.
In fact he's gone to court and asked the judge to issue one.
I guess I'll have been pretty comfortable that Pat Garrett actually shot him,
But some folks aren't and have disputed it.


Historian requests death certificate to end Billy the Kid dispute | Fox News

Sounds to me like said college dude wants to rewrite history. He cant change the fact that--Billy the Kid--is still dead. However,ill bet that Brian Williams can.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Just flip flop it the next time............

By the way, a beaver would take the stake !!

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

If I was the Judge, I would say the officials of the day have the final word and rule that no modern death certificate will be issued! Case closed, until some other fame seeker has $12 to file another worthless action. Ivan

 

[James&theGiant1911]

I have read a bunch on this and have even looked through a lot of threads over at CAS. I believe that Roberts (who claimed to be the kid) was connected to the area as he was Sallie Chisms husband. So, he would have known the characters and people of the time. Some, researchers dug up the suspected remains of Billy the Kid's mother and did a DNA test. That test was compared to the table that the kid was laid on after the shooting, and it was also compared to a suspected Billy the Kid claimer known as Jim Miller. Those results were never released.

I do believe, that more than likely, the kid was killed that night but it probably did not go down as Garrett claimed in his book. It was funny at the time as many believe Garrett to be a coward shooting an unarmed man in the dark, and Garrett himself could never escape his outlaw ways and friends. As Teddy Roosevelt had him removed from government positions for which he was appointed.

At the time William Bonney was nothing more than a juvenile delinquent who made a name for himself for stealing and killing. It was only 50-100 years after the fact that many created a Robin Hood type character fighting against the corrupt establishment. At the time, most everyone in the territory was like good riddance.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

If Pat Garrett did shoot somebody other than The Kid, he knew it as soon as somebody brought out a light.
He knew The Kid and did a sound shot, shooting when he thought he heard Billy's voice.
The other local folks like the members of the coroner's jury also knew Billy.
So if it was faked, there were a bunch of folks in on it.
The max number for keeping a secret is how many?

 

[rburg]

I have a buddy who's mother was a Garrett. His uncle worked for Randall Knives down in FL. He finds all this stuff amusing.

 

[James&theGiant1911]

If Pat Garrett did shoot somebody other than The Kid, he knew it as soon as somebody brought out a light.
He knew The Kid and did a sound shot, shooting when he thought he heard Billy's voice.
The other local folks like the members of the coroner's jury also knew Billy.
So if it was faked, there were a bunch of folks in on it.
The max number for keeping a secret is how many?

I have read basically all the books on the subject and according to him he ran out of the room. He had no idea who he shot other than that he recognized the voice. He was a scared rabbit, as his account stated but did it happen that way?

I have no doubt that he killed Billy the Kid but there is also a story about how he tied up his girlfriend to a bed. Waited for the kid to come to her room and then stepped out from behind the bed and gave the kid both barrels of his shotgun. This is more plausible for something that actually would have happened. The kid was a great shot, and told many of the locals that Garrett did not have the sand to come and get him. I believe Billy was brash and brave with no care in the world or concern for the law that was going to come after him.

I have seen census records were Billy stated his age as 23 or 24 and his business as cattle so I also believe he was a little not much older than 21 as stated in Garrett's book. Pat Garrett was never thought of in the same regards as Wyatt Earp. Even though he was appointed to several key posts, he was never able to gain any more fame off of Billy the Kid than he did. In later years, he was viewed as a mean, course coward of a man who had lots of enemies and he was even killed close to Wayne Brazels farm (Roswell alien fame). He died penny less, while Billy's name has lived on as the main character of the Lincoln County war. Billy was loyal, honest (to those he trusted/ respected) and cool under pressure. He was probably the best and most notorious known outlaw of the old west not for his crimes but for his fight for right in a lawless frontier. Had Billy not been so young, portrayed as a fair fighter, and had such a likeable personality then he would have been forgotten to history forever.

 

[AZretired]

I don't think the Judge will order any death certificate issued. New Mexico likes the mystery and will leave well enough alone.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I don't think the Judge will order any death certificate issued. New Mexico likes the mystery and will leave well enough alone.

I agree. AZ has their OK Corral, we have our Das Kid.
The Billy The Kid last escape town of Lincoln, NM is a must see for Western Buffs.
It's not commercialized like Tombstone. But it has been set up as a 'spread out' museum.
I was just thinking, I had a really good cup of coffee the last time I was over at Tombstone. You can probably get a cup at the hotel in Lincoln.
Maybe.

 

[model70hunter]

Please quit blowing my cover.

Don't make me come over there.

Sincerely;

William Bonny.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Please quit blowing my cover.

Don't make me come over there.

Sincerely;

William Bonny.

We working on it.
You do know that you can't call your town Santa Fe unless your coyotes wear bandanas?

The Judge announced today that he would not issue a Billy the Kid death certificate based only on the request submitted.

 

[williamlayton]

Good coffee conversation---Facts ? Lies ?
Like the Roman History---it changes by generation and nobody KNOWS.
Blessings