B.T.K.O.G. False Statements
Billy The Kid Outlaw Gang
The following are comments made on the Website for Billy The Kid Outlaw Gang. Their quotes appear in italics. I will correct all false statements made on their site with the truth. About what was said and what happened.
http://www.nmia.com/~btkog/brushy2.htm
“To summed it up: "... how we know Brush Bill was not our Billy the Kid - to make it concise: (1) Brushy Bill was only 2 years old in 1881, (2) Billy the Kid was ambidextrous, an ability to use both hands equally well. Brushy was left-handed, he was not ambidextrous. (3) Billy could speak fluent Spanish, Brushy could not even understand Spanish, (4) Billy was literate and wrote a beautiful handwriting (Brushy was illiterate).”
“Brushy Bill Roberts couldn't speak Spanish, while Billy on the other hand was very fluent in both English and Spanish. During his meeting with Governor Mabry on November 29, 1950 in Santa Fe, NM. Supposedly Brushy was asked a question in Spanish and he couldn't even understand it. Does that sound familiar? ”
Brushy Bill spoke fluent Spanish. In fact while on a trip with William Morrison to New Mexico in 1950 Brushy spoke Spanish to quite a few people who could not speak English. According to Morrison’s notes Brushy spoke to some of the people he interviewed in Spanish. Brushy spent many years in Old Mexico as a young man. One does not live in Mexico for years and not speak the language.
“Brushy Bill Roberts was practically illiterate. Billy on the other hand was very literate and had an excellent handwriting, as can be seen in his numerous letters to Governor Lew Wallace seeking a pardon. According to author W.C. Jameson "Evidence suggests Roberts possessed only rudimentary reading and writing skills. His wife, Melinda, wrote letters for him. Examples of his penmanship in possession of the authors show a scrawl not unlike that made by a four year old child." This statement is further evidence against Brushy and is supported by most Hico locals as well.”
Brushy Bill Roberts kept many journals of his life. They were written by him in his own hand. The statement that his penmanship was a scrawl is just an outright lie. Here you can view a sample of Brushy’s Handwriting. http://web.mac.com/musicplay/Brushy/Documents.html . The only verified handwriting on Billy the Kid is on the Bill of Sale he gave to Dr Hoyt for a horse. That handwriting is very similar to Brushy’s. The letters That Billy wrote to Lew Wallace were rewritten by Gov Wallace’s son No one knows where the originals are.
“Brushy Bill Roberts had bluish gray eyes with tiny spots of brown in them. It is well documented that Billy the Kid had clear blue eyes. ”
The truth is there were many statements claimed to have been made about Billy’s eyes. Only one of them states that he had “Clear Blue Eyes”. The rest vary from light Blue to Blue Grey to Blue Grey with Brown specks. There are signed, notarized statements saying that Billy and Brushy are one and the same and that he has Blue Grey eyes with Brown specks.
“In 1940 Brushy Bill Roberts announced to the world that he was a member of the James Gang. Now is it just me or does he sound like he might have had an identity crisis?”
If you read up on Brushy’s history you will find that he did once live at the same ranch with The James’s, Younger’s, and Star’s. He did work for them that actually made him a member of their gang. That does not sound like an identity crises to me. Instead it sounds like the person making the above statement will stoop to anything to try to discredit Brushy.
“According to Brushy's niece Mrs. Geneva Pittmon Brushy Bill was born on August 26, 1879. She also said she has the family Bible records to prove it. There is a rumor circulating that Geneva Pittmon was actually Brushy's step niece. This is totally false! She was definitely his niece and was a Roberts before she got married. According to her family Bible records Oliver (Brushy) was her dad's (Tom Roberts) brother. If Brushy was born in 1879 then that would mean he was only two years old in 1881 when Billy the Kid was killed by sheriff Pat Garrett.”
Let’s start with the facts here. Geneva Roberts) Pitmon was in fact Brushy Bill Roberts Cousin. There is a rumor that Brushy Bill was Oliver P. Roberts. Oliver P. Roberts was Geneva’s uncle. Brushy started using the alias Ollie Roberts before Geneva was born. He was introduced to her as Uncle Ollie. Geneva actually never knew who Brushy really was. She was told he was her uncle and never had reason to doubt it. The Bible in question states Oliver P. Roberts was born on August 28, 1979. Oliver P. Roberts and Brushy Bill are two different people.
“Brushy- "We tried to get Tunstall to ride for it when we saw how big the posse was. They had us outnumbered, but John wouldn't ride away from it. He said they wouldn't do anything to him, but I knew better. Me and Brewer and Widenmann and Middleton rode off a safe distance to watch, leaving Tunstall with the horses. I could tell by the way that posse came galloping up on us that there was gonna be trouble. We sat our horses off in some brush watching when Dolan and his boys rode up on Tunstall. They formed a circle around him and then they shot Tunstall in cold blood."
Fact: Jimmy Dolan was not with the posse that killed Tunstall. ”
In the first place this is not what Brushy said at all. This is another outright lie told to try to discredit Brushy. On Page 26 Alias Billy the Kid by C.L. Sonnichsen and William V. Morrison it reads. “We tried to get Tunstall to ride for it as we were outnumbered. He didn’t want to leave his heard. He said that they wouldn’t do anything, but we decided to run for it. We stood off and watched them approach the heard. They killed Tunstall in cold blood and went into Lincoln.” No mention of Jimmy Dolan anywhere.
“Brushy- "Fred and I jumped over the wall and ran into the street where Brady was lying. I took my pearl-handled .44 off his body, the one he'd taken from me when he arrested me on cattle rustling warrants. I'd paid twenty-five dollars for that pearl-handled colt down in San Antone and I thought a lot of that gun. Matthews fired a rifle from behind the wall where he was hiding. The bullet caught me high on my hip, tearing the flesh when it went through me, then it clipped Waite through the leg. We got back over the wall, then we found our horses and rode hard away from Lincoln. I wasn't hurt much, but Waite was laid up for a few days. Brady and his men were armed with rifles and six-shooters. They would have killed us if they had gotten the chance."
Fact: It was Jim French who jumped over the wall with Billy, not Fred Waite. It should also be mentioned that Billy was retrieving his rifle that Tunstall had given him from Brady's body as well as any arrest warrants he might have been carrying for McSween or members of the Regulators, not a pearl-handled .44 like Brushy claimed. ”
As far as Jim French and Fred Waite are concerned, No one actually knows for sure who it was who jumped over the wall with Billy that day. Some say Fred, some say Jim. I tend to go by the one who was there, so it must have actually been Fred. It is true that Billy retrieved his Rifle from Brady. He also retrieved his pearl handled 44.
“Brushy- "Just down the street I saw Mrs. McSween and her lawyer Chapman, walk up to Evans and Dolan and Campbell. Words were said and then Dolan and Campbell pulled their six-shooters. They shot lawyer Chapman in cold blood. Me and Tom were standing right there and we saw the whole thing."
Fact: Susan McSween was not present when Chapman was killed. If Brushy were really present and had saw the whole thing like he claimed, then he definitely should have known this. ”
This once again is a complete lie about what Brushy said. On page 33 of Alias Billy the Kid it reads. “When we came out of the saloon that night in Lincoln we ran into Chapman, the lawyer for Mrs. McSween. Campbell and Dolan killed him in cold blood. I was standing there with them and saw who killed him.”
“Brushy- "Early the next morning, Charlie Bowdre went out to feed the horses. When he stepped through the opening where the front door had been, Garrett and his posse fired from ambush without any warning. Charlie wore a big hat like mine. I figure they thought Charlie was me since it was early and the light was bad. Bowdre took a bullet and called out to us. He ran back through the opening and fell dead right there at my feet with bullets flying him that were meant for me."
Fact: According to the first-hand accounts by members of the posse who were actually there, Charlie Bowdre fell dead in the snow outside of the cabin, not inside at Billy's feet as Brushy claimed. Brushy also later claimed that the fight with Garrett's posse took place in the panhandle. Not only did he mess up allot of important details, but he had his capture taking place in Texas instead of New Mexico! ”
This another intentional misquote aimed at trying to discredit Brushy. On page 37 of Alias Billy the Kid you can read the whole story as told by Brushy. He never once mentioned that they were in Texas. In fact he says it was Stinking Springs. Brushy never claimed Bowdre fell dead at his feet inside the Rock House as it was and not a cabin. He actually said “Charlie walked back in, but when he went back after them, he fell dead.”
“Brushy- "When we filed out the door (At Stinking Springs) I saw Tip McKinney, Tom's cousin, and I asked him how it went for Tom. He told me Tom was dead, and he sounded like he was proud of it."
Fact: Kip mcKinney's name was Kip, not Tip as Brushy said. It is also documented that Kip McKinney was not a posse member and was definitely not at Stinking Springs when Billy was captured, so how could Brushy have talked to him?”
This is just a complete and utter outright lie! Brushy never said any of this. In fact on page 37 taking about Tom O’Folliard h3 calls his cousin Kip McKinney. It gets ridicules when someone has to make up statements to support their claim.
“Brushy- "Mrs. Maxwell asked them to unchain me from Rudabaugh so I could go in the other room to be with the Indian girl. They refused to do it. They suspected it was a trick to let me escape, and they knew about the trick I could pull with handcuffs."
Fact: Mrs. Maxwell asked them to turn Billy lose so that he and Paulita could say goodbye. According to author Frederick Nolan, Paulita Maxwell was half French and one-quarter Irish on her father's side and one-quarter Hispanic on her mother's side. She was definitely not an Indian girl as Brushy said.”
Another intentional misquote. What Brushy said was that Mrs. Maxwell sent her Indian servant to ask if they could visit. Mrs. Maxwell also asked if he could be unchained to be alone with her Daughter. I suspect the Indian servant to be Deluvina Maxwell.
“Another big mistake Brushy made occurred during his interview with Governor Mabry, while seeking a pardon for the crimes of Billy the Kid. During this interview Roberts was asked if he killed deputies Bell and Ollinger when he escaped from the Lincoln County courthouse on April 28, 1881. He replied "I didn't do any shooting that day, I just got on my horse and rode off." How ridiculous! Even the most ardent Brushy supporters have to admit that the real Billy the Kid killed both Bell and Ollinger when he escaped.”
Since there is no transcript of what occurred at Gov. Mabry’s place. In Alias Billy the Kid Brushy clearly tell what happened the day he killed Bell and Ollinger. The day of the ambush at the Governors Mansion Brushy was greeted at what was supposed to be a closed meeting with the Governor, Morrison and Brushy, by many armed police officers. This frightened the 90 year old man and he begun having a stroke. Even though he was obviously sick he was questioned like a criminal by an audience of hostile people. Brushy had to lie down on a couch as his stroke took place.
“Another hole in Brushy's story is his fictitious character named Billy Barlow. He claimed that Garrett actually shot and killed a friend of his who looked a whole lot like him and then passed Barlow's body off as his. Even the most seasoned and respected Brushy Bill Roberts researchers/supporters admit that there is absolutely no concrete evidence to support that Billy Barlow ever existed. It should be noted that he has never been found in the Census records at the time. Brushy's friend and fellow fraud J. Frank Dalton made up a similar fairy tale by claiming that Bob Ford actually shot a man named Charlie Bigelow instead of Jesse James. Is it possible that Brushy Bill and J. Frank Dalton were just two old timers seeking fame? Yes it is, and very likely in my opinion. I wonder if they didn't dream up Billy Barlow and Charlie Bigelow together on one hot Texas afternoon over a couple of cold beers, Lol!”
Brushy stated that Billy Barlow was an alias name. Why would anyone expect to find an alias in any records unless the person used that alias for many years, as Brushy did with the Ollie Roberts alias? Billy Barlow might have just started using that name shortly before he was gunned down in cold blood by Pat Garrett. As always a last resort to try to discredit Brushy they seem to bring up J. Frank Dalton, who by the way was never proven to be a fraud.
