Irregular Routines
Garrett and Maxwell took charge of the body and the events that followed Garrett shooting Billy The Kid. Their actions are tainted by serious irregularities. Maxwell is said to have written the coroner’s report and the verdict for a coroner’s inquest. The local postmaster signed the inquest verdict as foreman the following morning. The jurors never met as a group. The Justice of the Peace who allegedly impaneled the jury, made no official record of having done so. The coroner’s report and inquest verdict were entrusted to Garrett to file at the Lincoln County Courthouse. Neither document has ever been found. Is it possible Garrett ‘lost’ documents he feared wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny?
A facsimile of what appears to be the inquest verdict was discovered decades later. Misspellings and the use of ‘marks’ witnessed by Pete Maxwell suggest that some of the jurors signatures may have been falsified. Then there is the facsimile itself. The technology wasn’t invented until decades later. If a photocopy was made of the original, what happened to that document? Could the original have been a forgery disguised by facsimile to prove the Garrett claim?
The body was buried the following morning. No photos were taken of the body or Garrett with the body as was the custom with high profile outlaws. Public display of the body, also the custom, is subject of some dispute. While a few people claim to have seen the body, I have never found any evidence of a full public viewing. All these irregularities circumstantially favor the appearance of a cover up.
If Garrett killed the wrong man, he had motive enough for a cover up. That begs the question why would Pete Maxwell help him? History tells us the Kid was romantically involved with Pete’s younger sister, Paulita. Pete’s motive for participating in a cover-up might have been to get the Kid out of Paulita’s life.
If the Kid was hiding in the area when the shooting occurred, he could easily have had a ‘Mark Twain moment’, and decided that an exaggerated report of his ‘death’ was better than the pardon he sought. Could he have escaped that night and assumed some new identity? It seems a reasonable speculation.
Next Week: If Not, Then What?
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
A facsimile of what appears to be the inquest verdict was discovered decades later. Misspellings and the use of ‘marks’ witnessed by Pete Maxwell suggest that some of the jurors signatures may have been falsified. Then there is the facsimile itself. The technology wasn’t invented until decades later. If a photocopy was made of the original, what happened to that document? Could the original have been a forgery disguised by facsimile to prove the Garrett claim?
The body was buried the following morning. No photos were taken of the body or Garrett with the body as was the custom with high profile outlaws. Public display of the body, also the custom, is subject of some dispute. While a few people claim to have seen the body, I have never found any evidence of a full public viewing. All these irregularities circumstantially favor the appearance of a cover up.
If Garrett killed the wrong man, he had motive enough for a cover up. That begs the question why would Pete Maxwell help him? History tells us the Kid was romantically involved with Pete’s younger sister, Paulita. Pete’s motive for participating in a cover-up might have been to get the Kid out of Paulita’s life.
If the Kid was hiding in the area when the shooting occurred, he could easily have had a ‘Mark Twain moment’, and decided that an exaggerated report of his ‘death’ was better than the pardon he sought. Could he have escaped that night and assumed some new identity? It seems a reasonable speculation.
Next Week: If Not, Then What?
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
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