Here's something you don't see everyday...
An article in the left-leaning NY Times about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid...
There's even a picture of a local sheriff in the article, who is packing a "a turquoise-handled .357 magnum on his right hip..." (see attached photo at the very bottom of my post)
----------------------------------------------------------------
122 Years Later, the Lawmen Are Still Chasing Billy the Kid
June 5, 2003
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
LINCOLN, N.M., June 3 - For more than 120 years, Pat
Garrett has enjoyed legendary status in the American West,
a lawman on a par with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, even Matt
Dillon. As sheriff here in Lincoln County in 1881, Garrett
is credited with shooting to death the notorious outlaw
known as Billy the Kid, a killing that made Garrett a hero.
For years, a patch bearing his likeness has adorned
uniforms worn by sheriff's deputies here.
But now, modern science is about to interrupt Garrett's
fame in a way that some say could expose him as a liar who
covered up a murder to save his own skin and reputation.
Officials in New Mexico and Texas are working out plans to
exhume and conduct genetic tests on the bodies of a woman
buried in New Mexico who was believed to be the Kid's
mother and a Texas man known as Brushy Bill Roberts, who
claimed to be the Kid and died in 1950 at the age of 90. If
test results suggest that the two were related, it would
add new evidence to a long-held alternative theory that
Garrett shot someone other than the Kid and led a
conspiracy to cover up his crime.
Such skepticism is hardly uncommon. Disputes over major
events in the Old West have engaged historians almost since
they happened. The debate over Billy the Kid is one of the
longest-running.
Beyond renewing interest in the Kid saga, the possibility
that testing could enlarge Garrett's reputation or destroy
it has even caught the fancy of Gov. Bill Richardson of New
Mexico, who has offered state aid for the investigation and
a possible pardon that an earlier New Mexico governor had
once promised to the Kid for a murder he committed.
"The problem is, there's so much fairy tale with this story
that it's hard to nail down the facts," said Steve
Sederwall, the mayor of Capitan, N.M., who is working with
Lincoln County's current sheriff, Tom Sullivan, to resolve
the matter. "All we want is the truth, whatever it is. If
the guy Garrett killed was Billy the Kid, that makes him a
hero. If it wasn't, Garrett was a murderer, and we have egg
on our face, big time."
No matter what the genetic testing may show - and it might
not show much of anything - it is hard to overstate the
prominence of Garrett and the Kid in Western lore,
especially here in southeastern New Mexico, where their
lives converged during and after the gun battles for
financial control of the region that were known as the
Lincoln County War. The Kid's notoriety grew after he and
friends on one side of the conflict killed several men in
an ambush, including Garrett's predecessor, Sheriff William
Brady. For that, the Kid was hunted down, captured by
Garrett, found guilty of murder and taken to the Lincoln
jail, where he was placed in shackles to await hanging. He
was only 21.
Today, the tiny town of Lincoln, population 38, is a
memorial to what happened next. More than a dozen
buildings, including one that housed the jail, have been
preserved as a state monument that attracts as many as
35,000 visitors a year.
Historians generally agree that the Kid, born Henry McCarty
and known at times as William H. Bonney, escaped after it
became apparent that Gov. Lew Wallace had reneged on a
promise to pardon him in exchange for information about
other killings in the county war. On April 28, 1881, the
Kid managed to get his hands on a gun, kill the two
deputies assigned to watch him and leave the area on
horseback.
But then stories diverge, providing fuel for two major
theories of where, when and how the Kid's life ended.
The version embraced here and supported by numerous books
and Garrett relatives is that the Kid made his way to a
friend's ranch in Fort Sumner, about 100 miles northeast of
Lincoln. The ranch owner, Pete Maxwell, was also a friend
of Garrett's and somehow got word to Garrett that the Kid
was in the area. After arriving, Garrett posted two
deputies at the door.
As the Kid approached on the night of July 13, he spoke a
few words in Spanish to the deputies, who did not recognize
him. But Garrett, waiting inside, knew the voice. When the
Kid walked in, Garrett turned and shot him in the heart.
William F. Garrett of Alamogordo, N.M., who is Garrett's
great-nephew, said years of research, including
conversations with his cousin Jarvis, the last of Garrett's
eight children, convinced him there is "no question about
it" that his great-uncle killed Billy the Kid at Maxwell's.
"He was hired to get the Kid, and he got the Kid," Mr.
Garrett said in an interview. "Uncle Pat was a person of
integrity who did his job. He was a law abider, not a law
breaker."
But just as the story of Garrett as hero has flourished
over the years, so have others, including the tale of
Brushy Bill of Hico, Tex. His trip to New Mexico in 1950 to
seek the pardon he said he was denied nearly 70 years
before gave new life to an alternative possibility, that
Garrett had not killed the Kid at all, but a drifter friend
of the Kid's named Billy Barlow.
This story holds that Garrett and the Kid may have been in
cahoots for some reason and that Garrett had stashed a gun
in the outhouse at the jail that the Kid used to kill the
deputies. Even if only part of that is true, it would
strongly suggest that Garrett killed the wrong man.
Jannay P. Valdez, curator of the Billy the Kid Museum of
Canton, Tex., said he had no doubt that Garrett killed
someone else and that Brushy Bill was the Kid. "I'm
absolutely convinced," he said here on Monday after meeting
with Mr. Sederwall to discuss theories and how to begin the
kind of genetic testing that has been used to ascertain
lineage of other historical figures, like Thomas Jefferson
and Jesse James. "I'd bank everything I have on it."
As longtime friends, Mr. Sederwall and Sheriff Sullivan
decided they wanted to settle the matter once and for all
but could do so only through scientific analysis. To
justify an effort that would require much of their time
and, perhaps at some point, taxpayer money, they needed an
official reason. So in April, they opened the first-ever
investigation into the murders of the two deputies shot in
the Kid's escape, James W. Bell and Robert Olinger, to
examine what happened.
As Mr. Sederwall said, "There's no statute of limitations
on murder."
The goal now, he said, is to compare genetic evidence of
Catherine Antrim, believed to be the Kid's mother, who died
of tuberculosis in 1874 and is buried in Silver City, N.M.,
and of Brushy Bill, who lived out his life in Texas. A
Dallas firm has agreed to help, and a spokesman for
Governor Richardson said the state would assist by clearing
any legal hurdles to gain access to the mother's body. The
Kid was buried at Fort Sumner, N.M., although the
whereabouts of the grave are uncertain; he has no known
living relatives. Mr. Valdez said he had already secured
permission to exhume the body of Brushy Bill, who is buried
20 miles from Hico in Hamilton, Tex.
But solving the mystery might not be so simple. For one
thing, Mr. Valdez said he was certain that the woman buried
in Silver City was not the Kid's mother but "a half aunt."
And even if tests disqualify Brushy Bill as the Kid, other
<object.title class="Movie" idsrc="nyt_ttl"
value="134786">"Kids"</object.title> have emerged over the
years, including a man named John Miller, who died in 1937
and is buried in Prescott, Ariz. Mr. Sederwall said efforts
would be made to exhume his body, as well.
The investigators conceded that much is riding on their
quest. Sheriff Sullivan, a tall, strapping man who carries
a turquoise-handled .357 magnum on his right hip, said he,
like so many others in the West, revered Garrett for
gunning down the Kid. The uniform patch with Garrett's
likeness was his design. Now, the legend is threatened.
"I just want to get to the bottom of it," said Sheriff
Sullivan, who is retiring next year. "My integrity's at
stake. So's my department's. So's what we believe in and
even New Mexico history. If Garrett shot someone other than
the Kid, that makes him a murderer and he covered it up. He
wouldn't be such a role model, then, and we'd have to take
the patches off the uniforms."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/05/national/05BILL.html?ex=1055818755&ei=1&en=c23d1eddacde76f0
---------------------------------
An article in the left-leaning NY Times about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid...
There's even a picture of a local sheriff in the article, who is packing a "a turquoise-handled .357 magnum on his right hip..." (see attached photo at the very bottom of my post)
----------------------------------------------------------------
122 Years Later, the Lawmen Are Still Chasing Billy the Kid
June 5, 2003
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
LINCOLN, N.M., June 3 - For more than 120 years, Pat
Garrett has enjoyed legendary status in the American West,
a lawman on a par with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, even Matt
Dillon. As sheriff here in Lincoln County in 1881, Garrett
is credited with shooting to death the notorious outlaw
known as Billy the Kid, a killing that made Garrett a hero.
For years, a patch bearing his likeness has adorned
uniforms worn by sheriff's deputies here.
But now, modern science is about to interrupt Garrett's
fame in a way that some say could expose him as a liar who
covered up a murder to save his own skin and reputation.
Officials in New Mexico and Texas are working out plans to
exhume and conduct genetic tests on the bodies of a woman
buried in New Mexico who was believed to be the Kid's
mother and a Texas man known as Brushy Bill Roberts, who
claimed to be the Kid and died in 1950 at the age of 90. If
test results suggest that the two were related, it would
add new evidence to a long-held alternative theory that
Garrett shot someone other than the Kid and led a
conspiracy to cover up his crime.
Such skepticism is hardly uncommon. Disputes over major
events in the Old West have engaged historians almost since
they happened. The debate over Billy the Kid is one of the
longest-running.
Beyond renewing interest in the Kid saga, the possibility
that testing could enlarge Garrett's reputation or destroy
it has even caught the fancy of Gov. Bill Richardson of New
Mexico, who has offered state aid for the investigation and
a possible pardon that an earlier New Mexico governor had
once promised to the Kid for a murder he committed.
"The problem is, there's so much fairy tale with this story
that it's hard to nail down the facts," said Steve
Sederwall, the mayor of Capitan, N.M., who is working with
Lincoln County's current sheriff, Tom Sullivan, to resolve
the matter. "All we want is the truth, whatever it is. If
the guy Garrett killed was Billy the Kid, that makes him a
hero. If it wasn't, Garrett was a murderer, and we have egg
on our face, big time."
No matter what the genetic testing may show - and it might
not show much of anything - it is hard to overstate the
prominence of Garrett and the Kid in Western lore,
especially here in southeastern New Mexico, where their
lives converged during and after the gun battles for
financial control of the region that were known as the
Lincoln County War. The Kid's notoriety grew after he and
friends on one side of the conflict killed several men in
an ambush, including Garrett's predecessor, Sheriff William
Brady. For that, the Kid was hunted down, captured by
Garrett, found guilty of murder and taken to the Lincoln
jail, where he was placed in shackles to await hanging. He
was only 21.
Today, the tiny town of Lincoln, population 38, is a
memorial to what happened next. More than a dozen
buildings, including one that housed the jail, have been
preserved as a state monument that attracts as many as
35,000 visitors a year.
Historians generally agree that the Kid, born Henry McCarty
and known at times as William H. Bonney, escaped after it
became apparent that Gov. Lew Wallace had reneged on a
promise to pardon him in exchange for information about
other killings in the county war. On April 28, 1881, the
Kid managed to get his hands on a gun, kill the two
deputies assigned to watch him and leave the area on
horseback.
But then stories diverge, providing fuel for two major
theories of where, when and how the Kid's life ended.
The version embraced here and supported by numerous books
and Garrett relatives is that the Kid made his way to a
friend's ranch in Fort Sumner, about 100 miles northeast of
Lincoln. The ranch owner, Pete Maxwell, was also a friend
of Garrett's and somehow got word to Garrett that the Kid
was in the area. After arriving, Garrett posted two
deputies at the door.
As the Kid approached on the night of July 13, he spoke a
few words in Spanish to the deputies, who did not recognize
him. But Garrett, waiting inside, knew the voice. When the
Kid walked in, Garrett turned and shot him in the heart.
William F. Garrett of Alamogordo, N.M., who is Garrett's
great-nephew, said years of research, including
conversations with his cousin Jarvis, the last of Garrett's
eight children, convinced him there is "no question about
it" that his great-uncle killed Billy the Kid at Maxwell's.
"He was hired to get the Kid, and he got the Kid," Mr.
Garrett said in an interview. "Uncle Pat was a person of
integrity who did his job. He was a law abider, not a law
breaker."
But just as the story of Garrett as hero has flourished
over the years, so have others, including the tale of
Brushy Bill of Hico, Tex. His trip to New Mexico in 1950 to
seek the pardon he said he was denied nearly 70 years
before gave new life to an alternative possibility, that
Garrett had not killed the Kid at all, but a drifter friend
of the Kid's named Billy Barlow.
This story holds that Garrett and the Kid may have been in
cahoots for some reason and that Garrett had stashed a gun
in the outhouse at the jail that the Kid used to kill the
deputies. Even if only part of that is true, it would
strongly suggest that Garrett killed the wrong man.
Jannay P. Valdez, curator of the Billy the Kid Museum of
Canton, Tex., said he had no doubt that Garrett killed
someone else and that Brushy Bill was the Kid. "I'm
absolutely convinced," he said here on Monday after meeting
with Mr. Sederwall to discuss theories and how to begin the
kind of genetic testing that has been used to ascertain
lineage of other historical figures, like Thomas Jefferson
and Jesse James. "I'd bank everything I have on it."
As longtime friends, Mr. Sederwall and Sheriff Sullivan
decided they wanted to settle the matter once and for all
but could do so only through scientific analysis. To
justify an effort that would require much of their time
and, perhaps at some point, taxpayer money, they needed an
official reason. So in April, they opened the first-ever
investigation into the murders of the two deputies shot in
the Kid's escape, James W. Bell and Robert Olinger, to
examine what happened.
As Mr. Sederwall said, "There's no statute of limitations
on murder."
The goal now, he said, is to compare genetic evidence of
Catherine Antrim, believed to be the Kid's mother, who died
of tuberculosis in 1874 and is buried in Silver City, N.M.,
and of Brushy Bill, who lived out his life in Texas. A
Dallas firm has agreed to help, and a spokesman for
Governor Richardson said the state would assist by clearing
any legal hurdles to gain access to the mother's body. The
Kid was buried at Fort Sumner, N.M., although the
whereabouts of the grave are uncertain; he has no known
living relatives. Mr. Valdez said he had already secured
permission to exhume the body of Brushy Bill, who is buried
20 miles from Hico in Hamilton, Tex.
But solving the mystery might not be so simple. For one
thing, Mr. Valdez said he was certain that the woman buried
in Silver City was not the Kid's mother but "a half aunt."
And even if tests disqualify Brushy Bill as the Kid, other
<object.title class="Movie" idsrc="nyt_ttl"
value="134786">"Kids"</object.title> have emerged over the
years, including a man named John Miller, who died in 1937
and is buried in Prescott, Ariz. Mr. Sederwall said efforts
would be made to exhume his body, as well.
The investigators conceded that much is riding on their
quest. Sheriff Sullivan, a tall, strapping man who carries
a turquoise-handled .357 magnum on his right hip, said he,
like so many others in the West, revered Garrett for
gunning down the Kid. The uniform patch with Garrett's
likeness was his design. Now, the legend is threatened.
"I just want to get to the bottom of it," said Sheriff
Sullivan, who is retiring next year. "My integrity's at
stake. So's my department's. So's what we believe in and
even New Mexico history. If Garrett shot someone other than
the Kid, that makes him a murderer and he covered it up. He
wouldn't be such a role model, then, and we'd have to take
the patches off the uniforms."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/05/national/05BILL.html?ex=1055818755&ei=1&en=c23d1eddacde76f0
---------------------------------
