The Copy of an Imitation
By J.Young
Because Billy Wilson was wanted and chased by the feds in his day, his early vital records are elusive, as he, in the end, could have been two different people. Let me explain. After Billy Wilson escaped his prison sentence he became David L. Anderson as an alias. However some reports suggest the real Billy Wilson was in hiding the entire time and that David Anderson was pardoned as Billy Wilson but actually wasn’t him. Now how could that be? When the name Pat Garrett is mixed in with official reports, things get all out of whack. We will get to that later, let me try and stay on track here.
There are two different reports of William Harrison Wilson’s birth, as born on November 23, but years 1852 and 1861 are debated. His birth name also seems to be a mystery. Some say Billy Wilson was actually born David Lee Anderson in Trumbull County, Ohio and others say he was born William Harrison Wilson in Arkansas. That being said, he either moved with his family to Texas as a young child where he began rustling cattle and stealing as David L. Anderson, or if he was born as William H. Wilson ran away from home after a fight with his father and fell in with the wrong crowd in Arkansas. In Arkansas, after a man was killed during a bar fight, Wilson fled and turned up in Oklahoma where he accidentally may have killed a friend while hunting buffalo and eventually wandered into Dodge City, making new friends.

According to the book, Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal, Wyatt Earp had made a list of gunmen in the Dodge City area in the summer of 1877. The notes name familiar names like; Billy Wilson, Dave Rudabaugh, Louis Bousman, Jimmy Carlysle, Charlie Bowdre, Doc Scurlock and even Pat Garrett. Seems kind of suspicious doesn’t it? Did the men on the list all know each other before we thought or were they merely just in town wearing guns during that year and were put on a list? What is known is that Billy Wilson fell in with Dave Rudabaugh (Rodenbaugh), Tom Pickett and Mysterious Dave Mather. They gave Wilson the nickname “Buffalo Billy.”
Billy Wilson later followed his new friends to Las Vegas, New Mexico where they established themselves as the Dodge City Peace Commission.They were the police force in lawless Las Vegas. While Rudabaugh and Pickett were busy playing cops, Wilson moved south to White Oaks where he owned and operated a livery stable. It was likely here that Wilson became acquainted with Billy the Kid and his pals. The Kid and a few of his gang were the only ones left hanging around in the territory from the Tunstall side of the Lincoln County War and were forced to live on the run, as they did not want to settle down or leave. The Kid and his gang frequented White Oaks from their nearby hideout at Coyote Springs to gamble or take a roll in the hay with a gal, but mostly to visit their pals The Deitrichs. Sometime in early 1880, Wilson sold his Stable to Harvey West and Sam Deitrich for $400.00. It is commonly believed that this is where Wilson received the counterfeit bills, as a payment for the stable. He either knowingly or not, went about spending money.
On July 20th 1880, Billy Wilson passed a counterfeit bank note from the National Bank of New Bedford, serial number 517602. And again on August 5th 1880, a $100 counterfeit bank note from the National Bank of New Bedford, serial number 517617 to James J. Dolan.
(Possibly for a couple of horses)
On September 1st another $100 dollar note appeared in Lincoln County passed by Billy Wilson. Similar notes also appeared in several locations throughout the territory in Tularosa, White Oaks, Anton Chico and Fort Sumner.
When these bills made it to the banks, they were noticed and caught the attention of the secret service. In the last week of September 1880 Secret Service special agent Azariah Wild from Louisiana was assigned to NM to track the bills and locate the suspects involved in the counterfeit case. Wild made his headquarters at Captain Lea’s in Roswell.
When agent Wild arrived in Lincoln he met with Dolan, who was eager to give his testimony on Wilson who had been riding with Billy Bonney.
Agent Wild next set out for White Oaks. When he arrived, he posed as a miner, wearing miners gear and talking the lingo. He blended in White Oaks poking around trying to get information on where Wilson and the gang was. The local law enforcement was informed of Agent Wilds intentions and was on standby if needed.

While agent Wild was busy shucking and jiving with the folks in White Oaks, 3 masked men held up the Cosgrove Stage line that was running between Las Vegas and Fort Sumner. The men were Billy Wilson, Dave Rudabaugh and Tom Pickett. They made off with about 40 dollars and 2 mail bags. Rudabaugh later admitted this in court and maintained that the reason for doing so was to intercept any mail to or from agent Wild who had been investigating the counterfeiting problem.
On October 31, 1880 a newspaper, The Santa Fe New Mexican stated that on October 16, 1880; “Three men stopped the buckboard and robbed the driver and Mrs. Deolatere, who was the only passenger he had, of all the money they had and also cut open and rifled two mail bags…. Only one man approached the buckboard. He was on horseback, and two other men who remained a little off from the road were backing him. All three men were masked and the two who stayed back wore only their underclothes.”

On November 2nd 1880 Pat Garrett was elected sheriff of Lincoln county. Garrett however could not officially take over as sheriff until January. But because of the two Billys, Sheriff Kimbrell deputized Pat so he could get to work. He was also appointed as US deputy Marshal in order to travel across country and state lines through the efforts of Secret service agent Azariah Wild, and U.S. Marshall John Sherman, who I’d like to add, declined to help, due to “the dangers of apprehending Billy the Kid”. Garrett was tasked with bringing in Wilson, Billy the Kid and the gang. He enlisted his friend Barney Mason as an informant. Barney previously told Agent Wild that Wilson, Harvey West, The Deitrick brothers and Tom Cooper were behind every transaction and all conspired together in the counterfeiting scheme one hundred percent. Agent Wild later called Mason an incompetent. But Barney did have reliable information that the men were at Dan Dietrich’s ranch, at Bosque Grande about 50 miles west of Santa Fe.  


In mid November 1880, the Kid with Dave Rudabaugh, Billy Wilson and a few others were on a trail between Las Vegas and White Oaks and stopped by Jim Greathouse’s ranch to rest.
“Whiskey” Jim Greathouse bought some of the 16 horses they were traveling with, probably stolen from Alexander Grzelachowski or west Texas as some suggest. Jim Greathouse was also an old acquaintance of Wilsons. 

A few days later the crew pulls into White Oaks and places the remaining horses at Dietrich’s Livery stable. A story or two will tell you that the gang went into a general store at White Oaks for supplies and left without paying. On November 20, 1880 Barney Mason, was sent into town as a spy for Garrett. He saw the boys at West and Deitrchs stable and went straight to U.S. deputy marshal J.W. Bell but the law was too slow as the wanted men had already rode out. Two nights later in the darkness of night, Bell’s horses at his home were stolen. In the morning Sheriff Will Hudgens gathered a posse, including JW Bell and James Carlyle. Hudgens deputized them for the event.The posse tracked them to their hideout at Coyote Springs, just north of White Oaks. The posse snuck up and opened fire on the outlaws while they were setting up camp, killing 2 of their horses. The gang fled riding doubles. A few days later the gang was spotted near White Oaks and were shot at by Carlyle and Bell. The gang returned fire but left the area. A tipoff leads the lawmen up to the Greathouse station about 40 miles from White Oaks led by Sheriff Hudgens and constable T.B. Longworth, in company of about 12 possemen, including Carlyle. They quietly surrounded the house in the early hours of the morning. Joe Steck, the cook, stepped out of the ranch startling the Posse. They raised their guns and Joe surrendered himself. Sheriff Hudgens hands the cook a note to take to Billy

The Cook Joe Steck recalls;“I took the note in and delivered it to the one I knew to be Billy the Kid, “He read the paper to his compadres, who all laughed at the idea of surrendering.”

…long story short, Carlyle was killed and the posse left in fear. The boys then rode out freely. The odds were quickly stacking up against both Billys. From the killing of Carlyle, the unstoppable heists, robberys and lootings to the counterfeit bills, and not to forget Rudabaugh was wanted for a murder he was involved in. It was time for the law to bring “The Rustlers” down. The outlaws felt that pressure. A posse from Lincoln burned Greathouses place down as well as a neighbor named Spencer whom they thought was also connected to the gang. Big cattle interests in Texas were also tired of being ripped off by The Rustlers and had several possemen tracking the outlaws movements back into NM.



Meanwhile, Agent Wild had gathered sufficient evidence and requested warrants for the arrests of Billy Wilson, The Deitrich brothers, Tom Cooper and Harvey West but was having trouble getting the warrants issued. As of December 1st 1880 there were still no warrants issued. But the posse set out anyway. With Dolan’s eye-witness testimony they figured they at least could write up their own warrant for Wilson and have it signed later. Even though Agent Wild named The Dietrich boys and W.H. West the leaders of the counterfeiting ring, the posse set its sights on The two Billies.

The Posse gathered and raided Dietrick’s ranch. They did not find the Kid or the counterfeiters but arrested JJ Webb on a murder charge and George Davis for horse theft. After Garrett turned the prisoners over to the San Miguel sheriff at Las Vegas, they rode towards the Yerby ranch about 20 miles N.E. of Fort Sumner, as this is where the Kid and Wilson might be. After they were less than 10 miles out from Yerby’s Ranch, they stumbled across Tom O-Folliard. A member of the Kids’ gang. They tracked him for miles through the rough but eventually lost him.

In mid-December of 1880, Garrett got word that the two Billys were near Fort Sumner and on the 19th, Garrett and Posse went there and hid under a porch. As the gang approached, they killed Tom O’ Folliard. The rest of the men got away. A couple days later, Garrett, Deputy East and others tracked the gang to a rest area known as Stinking Springs. The posse killed Charlie Bowdre and captured the two Billys, Tom Pickett and Dave Rudabaugh.

The posse first took Bowdre’s body back to Fort Sumner and then off to Las Vegas where they fought off a mob wanting to lynch Dave Rudabaugh. The Posse loaded the prisoners onto the train and headed to Santa Fe.
During their stay at Santa Fe jail, they were treated poorly including starvation. During the first week of April 1881, the boys were sent to Mesilla for trial. When they were retrieved from their jail it was discovered they had nearly succeeded in digging themselves out, and escaping. Along the way they were guarded by a few deputies including Tony Nies and Francisco Chavez. A large group of people gathered to gaze upon the “hardened criminals” as they passed through Rincon and again when they reached Las Cruces.
In court Billy the Kid was in the hot seat for the killing of Sheriff Brady and Billy Wilson for counterfeiting and robbing the U.S. Mail. Wilson pleaded not guilty. The robbery charge was dismissed and Wilson was sent back to jail to await trial on February 28, 1882 for 2 counts of fraud against The United States government. The bail was at $2,000 which he was not able to foot. Later at trial, Wilson’s Attorney William Thorton, who was an old partner of Thomas Catron, was unable to get Wilson off the hook and after two and a half days of court, Billy Wilson was convicted of “uttering counterfeit one hundred dollar bank notes” and sentenced to 7 years in federal prison in Missouri. While Wilson awaited transfer in the Santa Fe jail, he reportedly contracted smallpox. 
On the night of September 9th 1882, Billy Wilson, Milton Yarberry, George Pease and another prisoner overpowered the guard for the key to their shackles and from the rooftop made their escape out of the Santa Fe jail by dropping off the side of the building and wandering off into the darkness. The escapees’ trails were tracked and lost in the Pecos mountains.

Wilson made it to Arizona where he reunited with Tom Pickett who was working for The Hash-Knife Outfit. The politicians who controlled certain big name New Mexico media outlets, began to hype up their mindless readers. The Las Vegas Morning Gazette falsely claimed that the killers of four Mexican irrigation workers were none other than Billy Wilson and Tom Pickett, even calling them “howling blood thirsty rustlers.” Lucky for them Sheriff Poe called them out by writing to another paper, which was printed in The Golden Era, out of White Oaks. Poe cited that Wilson and Pickett were nowhere in the country at the time of the killing and went on to say that such reckless statements from news outlets would ruin this country.
Wilson eventually moved on to old Mexico in 1884. After some time passed, Wilson crossed back into Texas where he became or became again, Mr. David L. Anderson. A new name for a new man and also married Maggie Fitzmorris at Sanderson, Texas where they settled. The couple soon had a newborn daughter named Ella Mae. Anderson at first worked a few ranch hand jobs taking care of horses, which he was very good at and earned him the nickname “Doc” amongst the locals. Wilson soon after took a job as a customs agent at Piedras Negras. Anderson worked the crossing station at the border and moved his family to a home in Spofford, Texas, just 15 miles south of Brackettville. 

By 1891 Pat Garrett had been living at Uvalde, Texas, which is just east of Brackettville. One day Garrett was traveling with John Meadows looking for some racing horses to purchase in Brackettville. While there Meadows spotted Garrett gabbing away to “Doc” Anderson and when he had the chance, he mentioned to Garrett in private that the man he was talking to looked identical to Billy Wilson. Garrett shrugged it off and replied “No, I guess not.” But whether he really knew at the time or not they had indeed likely ran into Wilson, who was living his best life as a well liked family man and customs inspector. The two old adversaries met again and talked. Garrett became or was convinced that Anderson was Wilson and that he had changed and got his life together. Garrett also used his influence and his celebrity status and got Wilson pardoned by President Cleveland on August 25, 1896.

In May of 1898, Billy Wilson (Anderson) was in a disagreement with a man named James Brooks. During an argument the two pulled the guns and fired at each other. An innocent bystander was the only one hit and killed. He was known only as Mr. Simmons. Both were arrested by Sheriff W.G. McAfee and brought in front of judge Frank W. Parker. Wilson and Brooks both shared Mr. JJ Mars as their legal representation and were both dismissed from charges on November 29, 1898.
In September 1901 Wilson was arrested again along with Kid Shannon and Bud Davis. They were arrested by Sheriff A.S. Goodell, and charged with assaulting a local man named John Hedderman and stealing his money on the evening of July 17th 1901. The men were playing dice with John Hedderman and later invited him to a sporting house. For whatever reason when Hedderman refused they grabbed him and restrained him while Wilson emptied the man’s pockets, relieving him of thirteen dollars. When the trial for this came about, the only witness could not be located and the judge was forced to dismiss the charges on March 4, 1902.
Wilson was later elected Sheriff of Terrell County Texas still using the name David Anderson. He was very well liked by the citizens who nicknamed him Doc because he was very good with horses.
On June 4th 1918, Wilson (Anderson), was responding to a disturbance at the train depot in Sanderson, Texas (some reports suggest he was holed up in a saloon). From inside the station Ed Valentine was drunk and shooting at anyone coming near.

When Wilson approached, Valentine darted out and into a nearby shed. As Wilson pleaded with Valentine to stand down and give up he was shot in the chest. Wilson died about an hour later in pain and agony. The citizens formed a mob, captured and lynched Valentine. 

Billy Wilson, (AKA David Anderson), was buried at Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Cemetery at Brackettville Texas…or was he?
Much later in the 1980s Jim and Beverly Martin claimed that their grandfather was actually the real Billy Wilson. Ray Martin, the son of William Martin supplied evidence that his father was the real Billy Wilson. Judges and other experts have contributed to the investigation in this matter. I personally have not seen ANY of this. The family including Martha McNeal (a niece) have given recorded testimony and other evidence that seems to be missing. A book was written about it called Wilson and The Kid. Their claim is that after Wilson returned to the states from Mexico he went to Missouri where he became Robert Levi Martin and lived out the remainder of his life in hiding.
So the question remains…did Billy Wilson die as Doc Anderson or Robert Levi Martin? If he was Martin, then the question would be why did Garrett secure a pardon for Anderson, and why would Andrson go along with it? The only other conclusion I would have is that The Martins could have been frauds. Not to mention there is no grave for Robert Levi Martin that I could find.