Investigating History's Mysteries The assassination of Sheriff Pat Garrett, one of the most notorious lawmen of the American West, remained one of the most puzzling and perplexing unsolved mysteries for more than a century. As a result of sophisticated forensic analysis of the historical crime scene, as well as the discovery of new evidence, the mystery has been solved. Most know Pat Garrett as the self-proclaimed slayer of the outlaw, Billy the Kid, on the night of July 14, 1881, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The event propelled Garrett into regional and national headlines and generated a momentum that led the lawman to consider seeking higher political offices. Garrett's plans were thwarted by his self-destructiveness, however. In spite of his notoriety, he was a bumbling lawman, a debtor, an alcoholic, an adulterer, and addicted to gambling. After being removed from his position as sheriff, he retired to a ranch in Uvalde, Texas, only to be summoned back to New Mexico to investigate the disappearance of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain. In this pursuit, he failed once again. Garrett's downward spiral created a sense of desperation in the lawman, and his continuing difficulties caused him to lose what few friends he had and generate numerous enemies. In time, his enemies had had enough of him and decided he had to go.

One of the most colorful parts of American History is the time of train robberies and the daring outlaws who undertook them in the period covering from just after the Civil War to 1924. For decades, the railroads were the principal transporters of payrolls, gold and silver, bonds, and passengers who often carried large sums of money as well as valuable jewelry. For the creative outlaw, trains became an obvious target for robbery. Willis Newton has never enjoyed the recognition and fame of the better known train robbing outlaws such as Frank and Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, the Daltons, and the Doolins, but he was the most prolific and successful train robber in the history of North America. Newton stole more money from the railroads than all of the others put together. During his lifetime, Newton robbed six trains and an estimated eighty banks, pulled off the greatest train robbery ever, netting $3,000,000, yet remains virtually unknown. So unknown was he that, despite all of his success as a robber, he was rarely identified as a suspect. Following his greatest heist, Newton and his gang member, composed of his brothers, were arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to serve long terms at Leavenworth Prison. When they were granted early release for good behavior, they lost no time in returning to robbing banks. Willis Newton’s life and times as America’s greatest, and last, train robber has been gleaned and developed from extensive interviews he granted during the 1970s when he was in his eighties. In addition, newspaper reports of his numerous train and bank robberies have been obtained and researched for precise details of robberies and pursuit.

In early 2003, three sheriffs set out to prove that Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid, thereby also proving that Brushy Bill of Hico, Texas was not the real Kid. Along their way, the sheriffs enlisted New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's support and took two communities on a wild ride through court battles to dig up Billy and his mother. Governor Richardson found an attorney willing to work free and provide Billy with a voice. Follow "Billy" as he speaks for himself in court, requesting that he and his mother be dug up to examine the DNA in their dusty remains for evidence that they were related. And follow the small towns of Fort Sumner and Silver City, New Mexico as they fight to retain the integrity of their municipal cemeteries and keep the legend of Billy the Kid from crumbling away. Author Jay Miller followed the strange unfolding of events, digging to find the source of the money that financed an official murder investigation and the court action against two courageous small towns struggling to prevent the exhumations.

“So richly detailed, you can almost smell the gunsmoke and the sweat of the saddles. ” —Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers No outlaw typifies America’s mythic Wild West more than Billy the Kid. To Hell on a Fast Horse by Mark Lee Gardner is the riveting true tale of Sheriff Pat Garrett’s thrilling, break-neck chase in pursuit of the notorious bandit. David Dary calls To Hell on a Fast Horse, “A masterpiece,” and Robert M. Utley calls it, “Superb narrative history.” This is spellbinding historical adventure at its very best, recalling James Swanson’s New York Times bestseller Manhunt—about the search for Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth—as it fills in with fascinating detail the story director Sam Peckinpah brought to the screen in his classic film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

In this series, private investigators pick up where the historians left off, taking on a series of major cold cases in history, starting with the mishandling of evidence relating to the life and times of Billy the Kid.Cold Case: Billy the Kid tackles the myths and legends about the notorious outlaw one by one, considering the evidence from contemporary sources and looking at the physical evidence still extant today to consider the veracity of historical claims and considering the evidence through the lens of a legal investigation. In this first book, the writers tackle the evolution of an outlaw in myth and lore, claiming that Billy the Kid as a notorious outlaw is a manufactured concept. They offer evidence that the Kid was little more than one of several small time cattle and horse thieves whose rustling netted him only a small amount of intermittent income. He killed no fewer, and probably no more, than four or five men. For the most part he worked on ranches, notably those of John Chisum and John Henry Tunstall. The Kid, as a cattle thief, was known to many in southern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle, along with a number of other troublesome rustlers.

Many years after the death of Billy the Kid, Deputy John William Poe, who was just outside the door when Sheriff Pat Garrett killed Billy, wrote out the whole story, which was published in a small edition. While certain statements made in the book by Poe are controversial, his account is a valuable document for anyone interested in Billy the Kid.

As a law enforcement officer for over fifteen years, Detective Kenneth L. Mains has investigated thousands of cases. Although he has been called a modern day success story, it wasn¿t without failure. This book will take you on a journey from a struggling kid who barely graduated High School to a teenager who joined the Marine Corps and finally to a man who put himself through college in order to accomplish his lifelong goal of being a Detective. Mains has held a distinguished career in law enforcement which has included working undercover with the FBI, solving cold cases, investigating the Mafia and later leading one of the greatest cold case organization ever assembled. Because of his innate ability to solve cases, Mains is routinely sought out by law enforcement and victims¿ families to help solve cold cases. He will take you through some of his very own cold case investigations to give the reader an insight on how he solves cases by using the art of deduction. Through triumph and tragedy you will see that he has succeeded by staying focused on his goals regardless of the obstacles placed in front of him. Yet, this is a story about success as much as it is a cold case instructional by someone who has been referred to as One of this Country¿s Greatest Detectives. He will show you how he has succeeded in law enforcement but more importantly he will show you how he has succeeded where it matters most...in life.

In 1882 a notorious outlaw and a childhood friend of Billy the Kid was released from prison where he had been serving time for killing a Texas Ranger. His freedom finally secured, the outlaw disappeared and was never heard from again. Never, that is, until 1948 when he came out of hiding after almost 70 years. In the course of proving his identity to a court of law the outlaw revealed that his friend Billy the Kid was not killed by Pat Garrett but was still alive even to that day. After a period of research and persistence the young lawyer was finally led to a destitute old man in Texas who was named not William H. Bonney but William H. Roberts, although Bonney had been an alias that he had used. Roberts agreed to reveal himself as Billy the Kid if the lawyer would help him obtain a pardon so he could die a free man. You see, the Kid was still wanted for murder so to come forward was to risk being sentenced and put to death, but this was a risk that William H. Roberts was willing to take. He told his story only one time, to one man. This is his story, now presented for the first time with new photographic evidence and research that supports his claim that he was the one true Billy the Kid of legend.

"The evidence pointed at three men, former deputies William McNew, James Gililland, and Oliver Lee. These three men, however, were very close with powerful ex-judge, lawyer, and politician Albert B. Fall. It was even said by some that Fall was the mastermind behind the plot to kill Fountain. Forced to wait two years for a change in the political landscape, Garrett finally presented his evidence to the court and secured indictments against the three suspects." "The trial took place in the secluded town of Hillsboro. The murders of the Fountains became an afterthought as the accused men, defended by their attorney Fall, pleaded innocence. Missing witnesses plagued the prosecution, and armed supporters of the defendants, who packed the courtroom, intimidated others. The verdict: not guilty.".