Book: "Billy the Kid, His Real Name Was..."

Above, the grave of Billy the Kid. Or is it? Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last year, I paid a visit to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Fort Sumner is famous as where outlaw Billy the Kid met his end at the hands of Pat Garrett and is buried there. 

Or was he?

I came across a book by Jim Johnson titled, "Billy the Kid, His Real Name Was..." 

Here's the Barnes & Noble summary:

He was gunned down at the tender age of twenty- or was he? You've probably heard the legend of William H. Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid, at one time or another. Most folks have. But when it comes to the Kid, few things are completely certain - not his real name, not his parents' names, not even where he was born or just how many people he killed. Sheriff Pat Garrett is commonly credited with killing Billy. He even wrote a wildly popular and somewhat sensational book about it. But there are many scholars who dispute the claim of this bartender and former buffalo hunter because the details of Garrett's story just don't add up. Add to this the fact that throughout the following decades old men from Mexico all the way to England were declaring themselves to be the real Billy the Kid, having cheated death that warm night in New Mexico. Among these many claimants, however, are two men with somewhat credible stories: John Miller and Brushy Bill. Both men seemed to be the right age, the right size, and had stories that certainly sounded authentic. But only one of these men could possibly be the real Billy the Kid. Author Jim Johnson has made an in-depth study of the outlaw's life, and presents here two very plausible accounts. Did Billy the Kid grow to be an old man, or was he killed by Pat Garrett? Read the evidence, and judge for yourself.

When I was in Fort Sumner, I visited Billy's grave and toured the Billy the Kid Museum. Was Billy actually buried there or was someone else (claimed to be Billy) buried there. The book sounds interesting enough. I just might get the book and see.