It’s a legend that’s big like Texas legends ought to be. Popularized in movies like Young Guns 2 and television shows like Decoded and Unsolved Mysteries, the legend of Brushy Bill Roberts teases the imagination.
It’s a long way from Fort Sumner, New Mexico to Hamilton, Texas - 457 miles to be exact. Across the vast stretch of the west, the landscape changes from high desert grasslands on the western side to live oak mottes and mesquite trees near Hamilton. At first glance, the two may not seem related but if you believe the legend, they are inextricably connected through time and history.
Just southeast of Fort Sumner a grave lay amongst other graves beneath broad cottonwoods that protects them from the bright sun high in the New Mexican sky. The old Fort Sumner Cemetery is small and is surrounded by a low fence. Inside the cemetery, one of the graves is surrounded by metal bars to protect it from looters and vandalism. William H. Bonney is buried here… Supposedly.
Famous outlaw and protagonist in the Lincoln County [New Mexico] War, Bonney’s body was delivered here for burial after being killed by Sheriff Part Garrett on a nearby ranch house in July of 1881. Or was he?
That’s where the story is muddied. If you believe the legend.
In 1948, a paralegal began corresponding with William “Bill” Roberts, also known as Brushy Bill. Brushy Bill claimed to be Billy the Kid and told of his exploits in the Lincoln County War. He detailed how, while being held in a New Mexican jail and awaiting hanging, he slipped out of his handcuffs and escaped the confines of the jail. Over the next few years he roamed New Mexico, evaded law enforcement, and eventually settled in central Texas.
While there are some holes in Brushy Bill’s story and some historians doubt the authenticity of his claims, Brushy Bill and Billy the Kid are celebrated in a museum in Hico - the town where Roberts lived until his death in 1950. Twenty miles away in Hamilton, you can see the grave of Roberts as he’s buried right next to the highway that longitudinally bisects the town. The grave is adorned with coins, shotgun shells, and a horseshoe laid in tribute on the makeshift shrine to a western legend.
In the ensuing 50 years after Roberts’ death, a number of research projects to substantiate the voracity of the story were conducted. The University of Texas researchers conducted facial comparison studies and determined that there was a 90% probability that Roberts and Bonney were the same person. Nine years ago, DNA analysis was attempted but the legal and scientific challenges haven’t yielded any conclusive results.
Whatever the true identify of the person in the grave in Fort Sumner or Hamilton is open to debate. As legends go, this one is a winner and I doubt that it matters to some if the truth is ever discovered.
That’s the way legends are supposed to be.
Any questions or comments? Contact Russell at russell@russellgraves.com or visit his website at www.russellgraves.com