Brushy Bill Roberts 1883-1888

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Brushy claimed that in this time frame he was arrested and later released in Kansas City because he was recognized (or thought to be) Billy The Kid. Certainly there would be articles from that time frame, about this event. Has anyone came across any?

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I will say, first and foremost, I do believe Brushy to be one of two things: A) He was The Kid, B) He was related to The Kid. The thing that I think is HUGE to his credability is that for a long, long time historians and researchers believed Catherine McCarty was Billy The Kid's mother. However, in recent years, such sites as Ancestry have uncovered that she was indeed The Kid's aunt. Something that Brushy stated, and no one believed. How was he privy to such information, unless he was The Kid or was related somehow to The Kid. Ancestry and other sites have also shown there was indeed a William Henry Roberts born in Buffalo Gap, Texas on the same date as Brushy said and to James H. Roberts and Mary Adeline. There is also concrete evidence that she did die in 1863 and that John H. Roberts was in the war in 1862.

Ancestry and other sites have shown in census records that "Ollie L. Roberts" (Ollie P. Roberts) never did leave the state of Texas, but we know that Brushy did on several occasions. So that, also, lends credability to the notion that Brushy did indeed adopt the name of Ollie from his dead cousin. Also, it must be noted, only ONE relative ever did claim Brushy and Ollie were the same person, the rest said that they were two different people.

What's also interesting is that virtually every story Brushy told, about being in the Rough Riders, etc. also has proven to be factually correct, when for decades critics said they were lies. Sure there have been hits and misses from both surpporters, and even from Brushy himself on some things--- but as time goes on and newspapers, marriages, census records, etc. are uncovered we find that the "silly old man" was telling a true story.

What I find most interesting, too, is the scarf Brushy owned that he said he got from Deluvina Maxwell when he gave her the tin type photograph. Everyone for a long time, thought this (too) was a story and nothing more. But it was later revealed that such a transaction took place between the two! Only one person knew of this to of happened. So how on Earth did Brushy know, unless he was The Kid or was related somehow.

But above all else, what I find to be a "smoking gun" if there is one, though circumstancial, is the fact that even in the 1880's researchers were convinced that The Kid didn't come from New York, and that all roads lead to Texas. Why this was forgotten, dismissed, and replaced with the New York to Indiana to New Mexico story is beyond me.

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Unrelated, but I think one of the 'smoking guns' to Roberts credability (at least in the sense that he claimed to be The Kid for a long time) was an overlooked newspaper article in a 1929 El Paso newspaper entitled "Is Billy The Kid Still Alive?" and told the story of a woman who happened to know The Kid and where he lived. Apparently it was federally investigated but the woman never would reveal who it was. Because it went nowhere, it was chalked up as nothing more than a tall tale some attention seeker invented.

If I am not mistaken, interestingly enough, is that Brushy Bill was living in the El Paso area in 1929. Which means he was known as The Kid (or a claimaint) even then, and gives pause to think that even long before 1929 he was claiming to be The Kid. So this indirect evidence, while not naming Brushy, connects Roberts to the Kid legend long before he was tracked down and interviewed in the late 1940s.

[Texas Truth Teller]

Brushy Bill advocates firmly believe that he was Billy the Kid, as Brushy himself claimed, or Oliver P. Roberts, as his niece, Geneva Roberts Pittmon said.  Viewed as a genealogical investigation, the continuity of Oliver P. Robert's life as documented by 6 census records, 4 marriage records, 1 divorce record, 2 Arkansas land records, 1 WWI draft registration card, 1 Texas death record, and 2 cemetery markers is overwhelming genealogical evidence that Brushy Bill was Oliver Pleasant Roberts.  Inconsistencies do exist in birthplaces, and the age of Brushy after 1930 in census, cemetery, and death records.

If Brushy Bill's claim were true, some records should exist that identify his relatives, and support his experiences in Mexico, Argentina, North Dakota, Texas, and elsewhere.  None of the individual's, and their exact relationship to Brushy as he indicated, have been found.  Brushy Bill, clearly identifiable as the son of "Wild Henry" Roberts, has not been found in any census or other record.  Viewed from a genealogical perspective, all information provided by Brushy Bill, can only be regarded as hearsay since corroborating records have not been found.