It happened
to Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so it was only a
matter of time till they got to Billy the Kid. In the summer of 2003 an announcement was made that there would be an
investigation on the mystery surrounding Billy the Kid's death and whether
or not he was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881. Those conducting the investigation are Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan, his crony Steve Sederwall
(the Mayor of Captian in Lincoln County) and the newly recruited Sheriff
Gary Graves of De Baca County. The trio's goal is to exhume the graves of
Billy the Kid in Fort Sumner and his mother, Catherine Antrim in Silver City
and compare DNA to that of any Billy the Kid claimant, such as Brushy Bill
Roberts and John Miller.
Well, sounds good to those of us that have been battling the Billy vs. Brushy war for years, but hold on...it won’t work. Unfortunately the last resting place of Billy the Kid is questionable, so to exhume his grave for DNA comparison would be pointless. It’s not that he was never buried in the Fort Sumner cemetery, it’s just that the gravesite was left unmarked for over 30 years after the cemetery was washed out in the great Pecos River flood in 1904. The cemetery was so badly damaged that there were even stories of skeletal remains surfacing from the muddy ground that had to be reburied. Basically the cemetery was a mess, so it’s impossible to know whose buried where. In 1932, a new headstone was placed in memory of Billy the Kid and the odds of that headstone being placed in the exact location of Billy the Kid’s grave is slim to none. Now it's possible that some bone fragments may be under that grave, but it’s doubtful that it will be Billy the Kid’s. Well of course the big boys figured that one at themselves, so they decided they’ll dig up Billy the Kid’s mother Catherine Antrim in Silver City and use her as a DNA sample. That way they can compare any remains they find in Fort Sumner to her and hope to find a match to Billy the Kid. They also plan to test her DNA to Brushy. Well, there's a few things wrong with this: 1) The idea of digging up the Fort Sumner cemetery until a match is found is not only a ridiculous thought but an expensive one and a bill that the taxpayers will get slapped with; not to mention, the disruption of other people’s graves. 2) Catherine Antrim’s grave was relocated in 1882 when the Silver City cemetery was moved outside of town limits. There is nothing to convince us that Catherine was indeed relocated and not just her gravemaker. The man that did the relocating was the buyer of the first cemetery and if he wanted the land he had to move the bodies and there is nothing to tell us that he did an appropriate job. There is even a possibility that others were buried on top of her or she’s not even buried at the current grave location, but elsewhere in the cemetery in a unmarked grave. So if an exhumation is done the likelihood of remains found being Catherine is -again– slim to none. 3) If they don’t find a match between the mystery DNA from Silver City compared to God only knows who in Fort Sumner, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Billy the Kid isn’t buried there, but they just didn’t find him or it could also mean they didn’t find Catherine Antrim. In a more practical sense, after 122 years the Kid’s remains (and that of his mother -129 years) have completely decompose and there is nothing left of him. 4) In the Brushy Bill Roberts claim, Catherine Antrim wasn’t his mother, but his half aunt. So DNA comparison wouldn’t work to discredit Brushy. So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the DNA test results will be negative or inconclusive, which will have an objectionable impact on the history of Billy the Kid (as if there isn't enough on him already). No matter what the results are either side will cry foul and absolutely nothing will be resolved. Just like with the Jesse James/J. Frank Dalton DNA investigation, all it will do is stir up the pot and fuel an already heated debate between the two sides. Although, not historians or archeologists, these investigators believe their experience in “law enforcement” qualifies them to pull this stunt off. But as “officers of the law” you think common sense would tell them that to find accurate DNA under these circumstances will be impossible, but instead could really foul things up. If DNA samples under these circumstances were used in a legitimate court case today, it would get thrown out, but in this case it's completely acceptable. There is another concern of mine, judging by the investigators' character and they have not only Pat Garrett’s reputation riding on this, but their own, how do we know they wouldn’t “fudge” the results in their favor. Yeah, that would help my side, but I still want the truth. It’s not that I don’t believe or have doubts that Billy the Kid was killed July 14, 1881, I just would want to know if Billy the Kid was truly buried at that particular spot they found and if that’s truly his DNA --I know what you’re thinking, always the skeptic, but at least I’m not gullible. Basically, those in favor of the DNA investigation see dollar signs, self-promotion, and a few actually believe it will bring tourism to New Mexico. Yeah, the DNA hype will bring media attention, those involved will have their moment in the spotlight, and people may flock to see the dig, but when it’s all over the general public won't care less, tourists will question the history of Billy the Kid, and there will be new debates to argue for historians, biographers, and Billy the Kid followers. Those of us that oppose the DNA testing (from politicians, lawyers, historians, journalists, and history enthusiasts from around the world) are NOT worried that Brushy Bill Roberts or any other claimant may turn out to be Billy the Kid. We KNOW Billy the Kid lies in the Fort Sumner cemetery killed by a bullet from Pat Garrett and there is plenty of proof that says so. We would love to end the debate once and for all, but we know the odds are against this DNA investigation and that it won’t end the debate but add to it. We know Brushy supporters won’t change their minds if the DNA test discredits their guy. We know the negative repercussion the DNA investigation will have concerning tourism and the history of Billy the Kid in New Mexico, particularly in Fort Sumner.
We aren't against solving the mystery
surrounding Billy the Kid's death, we're just against the exhumation and DNA
testing because it will only muddy the waters and resolve nothing at the
cost of damaging historical cemeteries and grave monuments. A quick outline of the latest:
*Since January 2004, both Silver City and Fort Sumner are fighting to
protect their historical grave sites and are preparing to fight it out in
court.
To join the
coalition to stop this publicity stunt that will damage old historical
cemeteries, visit the
Billy the Kid
Historic Preservation Society web site. You can also write to:
Office of the Governor *******************************************
Below is a letter to the
editor of the Ruidoso News by Fred Nolan (a reputable Billy the Kid
biographer and writer of many books) -dated June 12, 2003. I hate to be a party-pooper, but this whole project is a complete and utter nonsense and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sheriff Sullivan and Capitan Mayor Sederwall are already wishing they'd never got started on this benighted project. After 129 years in Catherine Antrim's case and 122 in the Kid's, there would be little if anything left of them, even if we could be sure of where the graves are. And as for digging up Brushy Bill, puh-lease! Surely, there cannot be anyone left on the face of the globe who still believes that pathetic old phony. Do we need, yet again, to go through the whole charade of "proving" to the wishful thinkers and the Young Guns nuts that the Roberts family bible shows his date of birth as 1879, and that he was exactly 2 years old at the time of the Kid's death? It's indicative of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office to complete ignorance of history that they talk about finding "family" who would be in a position to grant permission for exhumation of either the Kid or Catherine's bodies. The whole project is positively ludicrous; it doesn't seem to me they have anything even remotely resembling a raison d'etre -in fact, I think Capitan Mayor and Deputy Sheriff Sederwall is making it up as he goes along, reacting to events rather than taking predetermined action. Another question that I'd be asking if I were an American taxpayer is, why exactly is the Sheriff's Office of Lincoln County wasting time and money chasing these chimeras across three states and who gave it the authority to do so instead of doing what it is paid to do -combat crime and uphold the law? To me, all this stuff about "clearing Garrett's name" looks suspiciously like horse-feathers and I suspect the real reason for the "investigation" is so the boys in the LCSO can have what sailors call "jolly" i.e. a pleasure trip, in this instance providing not only merciful release from the boredom of the day job, but also an all expenses paid trips to Denver, Hico, Fort Sumner and Silver City, headlines in the papers, and 15 seconds of notoriety. Hey, it's all part of the job, right? Or is it perhaps, just the opening of the tourist season over there in New Mexico.
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