Texas, New Mexico both claim Billy the Kid gravesites

Any fan of outlaw lore needs to visit the graves of both Billy the Kids or, if you prefer, Billies the Kid. Only one is Billy, of course; the other's just kidding. New Mexico and Texas will eternally feud over which is which. One grave is just outside Fort Sumner, N.M., where one William Bonney was buried after being shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1881. The other is in Texas -- in Hamilton, just down the road from Hico, the hometown of one "Brushy Bill" Roberts, who claimed that Garrett shot the wrong guy and he, in fact, was Billy the Kid. This Billy the Kid died of a heart attack in 1950 while walking down the street in Hico. ''See Billy the Kid's Real Grave," reads the sign leading down the lonesome road off U.S. 60 west of Clovis, N.M. Yeah, these folks have heard about the other Billy, and they don't much like it. Down the road is the gravesite and the Billy the Kid Museum (3501 Billy the Kid Road, billythekidsgravesite.com; $3.50), which contains cowboy memorabilia, wanted posters, news clippings, posters of the many Billy the Kid movies and, of course, a stuffed two-headed calf. Outside is the gravesite, which contains the remains of Bonney and his pals Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre. The names of all three are on one marker. A second is dedicated just to Bonney, inscribed: "Billy the Kid. Bandit King. He died as he had lived." A sign next to the grave says that this tombstone was stolen in 1950, turned up in 1976 in Granbury (yes, the one in Texas) and was stolen again in 1981 and found in Huntington Beach, Calif. Now it's inside an iron fence, shackled firmly to the ground...more