George B Danner

[MissyS]

In the Stephenville Empire-Tribune Vol 81 #1 Jan 5, 1951 George B Danner son of George M Danner who was once Deputy Sheriff of Lincoln County, had yet another account of the shooting, in so many words, his father the elder Danner was there when the shooting occurred and was friends with Pat Garrett, what makes George B Danner’s account different to me is that he states that Billy was in a nearby woods with a daughter of Maxwell’s when Garrett entered the Maxwell house at dusk, Billy heard voices and called “Who’s there?” Garrett fired three times and Billy put six shots in the roof when he fell. It kinda sounds like from that scenario that the shooting could possibly have happened outside the house?? Billy shooting six shots in the roof and Garrett shooting three times= a total of nine shots if the account is true, that makes it sound more like a shootout that took place. The article was meant to address that Brushy Bill could not have been the Kid, due to Danner’s Father witnessing the shooting and helped dig the grave, but sounds somewhat like Brushy’s account to me.

[kerry]

Oct 4, 2021 23:01:32 GMT -5 MissyS said:

In the Stephenville Empire-Tribune Vol 81 #1 Jan 5, 1951 George B Danner son of George M Danner who was once Deputy Sheriff of Lincoln County, had yet another account of the shooting, in so many words, his father the elder Danner was there when the shooting occurred and was friends with Pat Garrett, what makes George B Danner’s account different to me is that he states that Billy was in a nearby woods with a daughter of Maxwell’s when Garrett entered the Maxwell house at dusk, Billy heard voices and called “Who’s there?” Garrett fired three times and Billy put six shots in the roof when he fell. It kinda sounds like from that scenario that the shooting could possibly have happened outside the house?? Billy shooting six shots in the roof and Garrett shooting three times= a total of nine shots if the account is true, that makes it sound more like a shootout that took place. The article was meant to address that Brushy Bill could not have been the Kid, due to Danner’s Father witnessing the shooting and helped dig the grave, but sounds somewhat like Brushy’s account to me.

Another strange mix on events that night.
If BTK fired six times - he would have had to be armed with two pistols (the two
.44's taken from Lincoln Court House)
Brushy said he was armed with two pistols and fired them only after being wounded in order to cover his escape...
If a man is lying shot on the floor of a bedroom and claimed to be BTK - then Pat Garrett could not then logically have a gun battle going on outside on the porch with the real McCoy...

[RonBk]

The number of rounds being fired is perhaps the most interesting part of Danners account. It may be the only part that is consistent with what really happened. Obviously there are a lot of inconsistencies among the various testimonies from this event, so we can surmise that a good deal of the information from these testimonies is indeed false. One plausible explanation for this is that many of the folks who were in Fort Sumner saw little of the actual events and then when they gave their account they filled in the blanks of their own experience with what others had told them. However the number of rounds fired would be something that a larger amount of persons close by should have been able to distinguish.

So if there were approximately 9-10 rounds fired, that would indeed be consistent with Brushys recollection of the event. Two shots from Garretts revolver, one through the chest of Barlow/Miller. 2-3 shots from McKinleys rifle, injuring Brushy. Then 4-6 shots blazing from Brushys two 44 cal revolvers.

[MissyS]

Since George B Danner was retelling his father’s accounts some of the story may have changed for sure. It does seem that many folks that were in Fort Sumner didn’t see much of the actual event and makes me wonder why?, Fort Sumner looks like a close knit community and seems when strangers come in people would naturally take notice, especially a sheriff and a couple deputies, I can imaging a little crowd may have been lurking around to see what’s up, I imagine people peering through doors and peeping through windows, especially if they were watching for strangers to alert Billy, the article said it was dusk perhaps enough light at that time to see, but at midnight (Garrett’s timeline) it would be more difficult to watch comings and going’s in the town, the timing could have played a big part, also re-reading that article I noticed some words in Danner’s account that sounds like the shooting may have happened at a different location, and  that could also help explain the lack of hearing nine shots and not seeing a gunfight, the wording that hints at this for example is the mention of nearby woods, there was an orchard in the vicinity from reading the many accounts including Garrett’s, but I don’t know about woods close to Maxwell’s house?, also George Danner mentions finding Billy at Pete Maxwell’s ranch, in the woods, the Maxwell’s owned a lot of land and also a Pig Pen ranch that Billy was said to have been working at in another account I believe it was located some distance from the location, and then there’s a mention of where Danner was in the article, it was mentioned he was a short distance from the cabin when it happened, a cabin doesn’t really describe the house that Pete’s bedroom was located nor does it describe the adobe structures, or units surrounding it, a cabin is a more rustic structure often constructed of wood. These descriptions could all be just a poor retelling of detail, but looking at the old photos of Fort Sumner a lot of the site is not shown in them, so I don’t know if there were some woods nearby, or a cabin type building in the vicinity? the woods and the cabin may be just be a poor description of Pete Maxwell’s house and orchard, because it was a retelling over time those descriptions may have changed, I guess it’s what one wants to make of it. If memory serves Brushy mentioned a dance sometime before, I wonder where that dance was held?, maybe most of the people were still there, and that may also help to explain why a lot of people didn’t see much of the event or hear nine gunshots? This is just a thought.