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Billy the Kid - a mystery solved? PDF Print E-mail
Written by DeadGirl   
Friday, 31 March 2006
BY ROBERT HANKINS The Orange County News


 
Just who was Billy the Kid? Jim Johnson says he knows.

The former Southeast Texas resident, now of Allen, has published a book through Coloradobased Outskirts Press called "Billy the Kid: His Real Name Was ..."

Johnson, 65, was born across the Sabine in Starks, La., and later worked at the Mobil plant in Beaumont, now called ExxonMobil. He was there during the refinery's big fire of 1972.

"I was one of the last people out," he said by phone from Allen. "I had to stay and 'back-up' a lot of computer software. When I finally left, I could feel the area was getting pretty hot."

Johnson said his book separates facts from myth, the culmination of his longtime fascination with The Kid and Western genre in general.

"Growing up in Starks, there was a little movie house and they'd show black and white movies every Friday night," he said. "And almost every week, it was a western. I wouldn't doubt that I've seen just about every western ever made.

"Back in the 1940s,we still had people in and around Starks that rode horses to town dressed in Western duds, including a Western hat. Of course, they never wore guns. But, we did have three or four old Western-type saloons and a few fights."

A portion of the book deals with "Brushy Bill" Roberts, who died in 1950; and John Miller, who died in the 1930s.

Both claimed they were Billy and had not been killed by lawman Pat Garrett at Fort Sumner in 1881.

For the most part, Johnson said he believes the common historical account of Billy's life: born in New York, moved to the MidWest, wound up in Silver City, N.M., with his mother and stepfather. Billy had minor brushes with the law, and once escaped from jail by climbing through a chimney. When Billy's mother Catherine McCarty died of consumption, the stepfather wanted nothing to do with the boy. So Billy traveled around at various odd jobs, eventually hooking into the Lincoln County Wars that resulted in the death of Sheriff William Brady. Although Billy didn't kill Brady and his role was relatively minor, he was the only gang member who ever stood trial. He was sentenced to death by hanging. Billy's legend was cemented when he escaped from jail and killed two lawmen. Garrett caught up with Billy and fatally wounded the 22-year-old.

Obviously, Johnson chose not to give his ending away, but added, "I can tell you this. Billy was more than one man."

Outskirts Press is a selfpublishing operation. While most authors wince at vanity publishers, Johnson said Outskirts is a top-notch operation.

The group provides clients a large array of Web services, and several national distribution sites such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.

For more information on Johnson's book, e-mail him in Allen at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it The Outskirts Web site is www.outskirtspress.com. Johnson is also working on a project about Sam Bass, thought to be the first train-robber in Texas. Bass was a regular around many locations in Allen.

As for Billy the Kid, he made headlines in 2003 when two New Mexico sheriff's thought it would be nice to exhume Catherine McCarty's body and extract DNA from her skull.

They would then compare it to blood stains on a carpenter's bench where The Kid's body was said to have rested after his death.

Then they could see if it matched DNA from the bodies of Roberts and Miller.

However, officials in Silver City, where McCarty's grave supposedly lies, wouldn't allow the exhumation.

The theory was, were it discovered the body was not McCarty's, there would be a negative impact on Silver City's tourism industry.

http://www.theorangecountynews.com/news/2006/0329/Front_Page/004.html
 
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