Post by Wayne Land on Aug 3, 2013 12:08:12 GMT -5
To the 106 folks who have joined this forum I say thank you. I truly believe Brushy Bill Roberts was the real Billy The Kid and I deeply appreciate the opportunity to spread the information for any who are interested to be able to reach their own, informed, conclusions. Without the participation of so many the effort would hardly be worth the time spent and I just wanted to take a moment to express that to everyone.
I know it is certainly possible that Brushy was just a mixed up old man seeking notoriety, just as his acquaintance J. Frank Dalton had done. I've seen claims that Brushy didn't really know Dalton very well but there is a recording of Brushy saying he'd known him for seventy something years. Maybe Dalton was telling the truth himself, or maybe he wasn't. I'm inclined to think he was not. But if Brushy was just seeing the attention Dalton was getting and then decided he'd like some fame as well, I have a question I don't think anyone has ever answered. If Brushy and Dalton were both frauds, how, when and why did they meet in the first place? We know they both lived in Gladewater, TX for a time. If Dalton was a fraud, did Brushy know that? Or maybe Brushy was taken in himself and truly believed this to be the same man he had known as Jesse James 70 years earlier. People change a lot in 70 years. The naysayers want us to believe that those who identified Brushy in the late 1940's were either mistaken or intentionally lying. I believe people are very likely to recognize someone they haven't seen in many years even if that person has aged dramatically. There are so very many little nuances of facial expression, vocal characteristics and body language that are just as unique to the individual as DNA and those things don't change much with age. And our brains rely heavily on those things to remember and distinguish one individual from another. I've experienced that for example in attending my 50th high school reunion. Someone walks up to say hello and you recognize them immediately when they speak or smile or laugh. Even though their face is aged, it still has the same DNA and is always recognizable.
Didn't mean to ramble on so long. Just had some thoughts to share and wanted to say thanks. Let's get that membership up to 200. Pass the word about our forum and encourage your friends to check it out. It really doesn't matter what side of the issue they take or whether they take a side at all. The more the better. And yes, please post your thoughts any time.
Thanks again.
Wayne
I know it is certainly possible that Brushy was just a mixed up old man seeking notoriety, just as his acquaintance J. Frank Dalton had done. I've seen claims that Brushy didn't really know Dalton very well but there is a recording of Brushy saying he'd known him for seventy something years. Maybe Dalton was telling the truth himself, or maybe he wasn't. I'm inclined to think he was not. But if Brushy was just seeing the attention Dalton was getting and then decided he'd like some fame as well, I have a question I don't think anyone has ever answered. If Brushy and Dalton were both frauds, how, when and why did they meet in the first place? We know they both lived in Gladewater, TX for a time. If Dalton was a fraud, did Brushy know that? Or maybe Brushy was taken in himself and truly believed this to be the same man he had known as Jesse James 70 years earlier. People change a lot in 70 years. The naysayers want us to believe that those who identified Brushy in the late 1940's were either mistaken or intentionally lying. I believe people are very likely to recognize someone they haven't seen in many years even if that person has aged dramatically. There are so very many little nuances of facial expression, vocal characteristics and body language that are just as unique to the individual as DNA and those things don't change much with age. And our brains rely heavily on those things to remember and distinguish one individual from another. I've experienced that for example in attending my 50th high school reunion. Someone walks up to say hello and you recognize them immediately when they speak or smile or laugh. Even though their face is aged, it still has the same DNA and is always recognizable.
Didn't mean to ramble on so long. Just had some thoughts to share and wanted to say thanks. Let's get that membership up to 200. Pass the word about our forum and encourage your friends to check it out. It really doesn't matter what side of the issue they take or whether they take a side at all. The more the better. And yes, please post your thoughts any time.
Thanks again.
Wayne
