Say, was that 'Billy the Kid' in Gladewater?
By Van Craddock
Did famed outlaw "Billy the Kid" live in Gregg County, decades after he supposedly was gunned down in New Mexico?
The accepted story, of course, is that Sheriff Pat Garrett shot down the Kid - whose given name was William H. Bonney - on July 14, 1881, thus ending the life of one of the Old West's best-known bandits.
But not so fast, pardner. Some folks will tell you those aren't Billy's remains in the New Mexico graveyard.
Gregg County old-timers remember a character named Ollie L. "Brushy Bill" Roberts, who came to East Texas in the 1930s to work in the oil patch.
"Brushy Bill" became a familiar sight and popular storyteller around Gladewater and Longview. Clad in cowboy hat, boots and buckskin jacket, he regaled folks with his wild tales of Old West adventures.
He worked a while for the city of Gladewater and on occasion gave shooting demonstrations. It seems the old fellow was mighty handy with a six-shooter.
Then one day, "Brushy Bill" was gone, relocating to the Hamilton County town of Hico. It was there in early 1950 that he announced to the world he was, in fact, "Billy the Kid."
No, he said, somebody else was buried in his New Mexico grave. It was part of the plot for Billy to fake his death and hightail it to safety in Texas.
In November 1950, Roberts appeared before New Mexico Gov. Thomas Mabry, seeking a pardon and presenting a 17-page brief and 22 documents as evidence that he really was the Kid.
After leaving New Mexico, Roberts told the governor, he'd become a stagecoach guard and then joined up with Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. He tried his hand at rodeo in Wyoming, operated a ranch and then labored in the East Texas Oil Field.
The New Mexico governor listened to "Brushy Bill" and then turned down his request for a pardon.
In December 1950, the 91-year-old "Brushy Bill" Roberts dropped dead at high noon on a Hico street. Among the pallbearers was L.L. Gamble of Longview.
The newspaper in Hico, writing about the funeral, noted that DeWitt Travis of Longview, who also attended the services, was a lifelong friend of Roberts. The paper said Travis had "journeyed here frequently from Longview to visit his old friend."
Travis told the paper, "I am 62 years old. I have known who Billy was as long as I have known anything. Our fathers fought together in the Civil War, and we have made it a point not to discuss this man's past until just recently."
While the New Mexico governor turned Billy down, the good citizens of Hico embraced the old codger's tale. The little town began holding a "Billy the Kid Day" celebration. In 1987, a monument was dedicated to "Brushy Bill" and proclaimed Hico as the final resting place of "Billy the Kid."
So, was "Brushy Bill" really "Billy the Kid"?
A wire service story noting the cowboy's December 1950 death straddled the fence on the question. The United Press article said:
"HICO, Texas -- If Billy the Kid, the fabulous outlaw, wasn't killed in New Mexico in the 1880s, then he died here with his boots on."