Brushy Bill Roberts - Background

Background

In 1948, a paralegal named William Morrison located an elderly man named Joe Hines requesting the lands of his deceased brother. Hines had confessed his real name was 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 was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881, but he 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 began a correspondence with Roberts who eventually confessed to being the Kid and went into fine and intimate details of his exploits as an outlaw, filling in many details of the life of Billy the Kid. Furthermore, Roberts wanted Morrison's help in acquiring the full pardon he was promised by Governor Lew Wallace in 1879 but refused. He showed his ability to slip out of handcuffs, he also reported that Pat Garrett had actually shot and killed another gunslinger named Billy Barlow, passing his body off as the Kid, allowing him to vanish for Mexico. Five people who knew Billy signed affidavits that they identified Roberts and the Kid as one and the same.

Roberts told Morrison that he would agree to tell the "whole truth" in exchange for the full pardon he had been promised by the governor of New Mexico following the Lincoln County War, Lew Wallace. His sudden appearance and request for a pardon had a profound effect on Garrett's descendents.

Brushy Bill claimed to have been born on December 31, 1859, by the name of William Henry Roberts in Buffalo Gap, Texas near Abilene. Others claim that he was actually born in 1868, while United States Census records indicate that Roberts was born in 1879. Oliver P. Roberts' niece, Geneva Pittmon, was able to show that her uncle's (Oliver P., not Oliver L.) date of birth had been recorded in the Family Bible. However, the problem with her statement regarding the unknown birth date of Ollie L. Roberts is that Brushy Bill had disclosed that Oliver P. Roberts had been his distant cousin. After Oliver P. Roberts died, Brushy Bill had assumed his identity.

Because Billy the Kid was about twenty-one at the time of his death in 1881, if either of the later two birth dates are true, then it would be impossible for Brushy Bill to have been the Kid. Brushy had been living under the alias of Ollie L. Roberts, and from the time Geneva Pittmon was a little girl, she was told that Brushy Bill was her uncle Ollie. She never knew the truth of his identity, because her father, Thomas U. Roberts, had helped to hide Billy/Brushy.

Brushy Bill Roberts, could not convince his older half-sister, Martha V. Roberts that he was indeed Billy the Kid. She was born September 3, 1873, and she always said that she knew the difference between a brother and a cousin. She said that Ollie was not her cousin but her brother. Ollie, aka "Brushy Bill" would come to her house in Jacksonville, Texas wearing his boots and cowboy hat, and he would tell everyone that he had a secret, that he was Billy the Kid, but they did not believe him.

It is worthy of note that if Brushy Bill had been born in 1859, he would have been ninety at the time of his death from a massive heart attack in Hico, Texas. Had he been born in 1879, he would have been only seventy-one at the time of his death. In addition, Roberts had allegedly claimed to be a member of Jesse James' gang, before deciding to come out as the "true" Billy the Kid.

But Brushy Bill had each and every scar that Billy had (and more). It should be noted that the real Billy the Kid spoke Spanish fluently and could read and write (his letters to Governor Lew Wallace seeking a pardon still survive), but historians still argue over whether Brushy Bill was even literate or could speak Spanish at all. However, when Morrison took Brushy to visit with Severo Gallegos, Brushy spoke with Severo's Mexican neighbor, Josephine Sanchez, in perfect Spanish. Jim Tully signed an affidavit that he could speak Spanish as well as a native. Bob Young, Alton Thorton, W. F. Hafer, Jimmy Ramage, Ablo Norman, Tom Turner, and L. L. Gamble also said Brushy was fluent in Spanish.

On November 29, 1950, at a meeting with then New Mexico governor, Thomas J. Mabry, Brushy Bill was unable to convince the governor that he was Billy the Kid. Brushy, who had apparently suffered a mild stroke, could not even remember Pat Garrett's name. Gov. Mabry did not believe Brushy Bill to be the Kid, and so he did not issue a pardon. Disappointed, Morrison took Brushy to a local doctor, Stan Lloyd, and when he was well enough, he took him home to Hico.

In Hico, Brushy was reexamined by Dr. W. F. Hafer and told to get as much rest as possible. In the meantime, Morrison was to continue working on his case.

On December 27, 1950, When his wife said she needed to mail a package, Brushy said he would walk it down to the post-office. As he walked down the street, Brushy suffered a heart attack. He fell to the ground and died shortly afterwards.