Great article in this issue of True West mag about Billy's last day on earth....and the follow up after.
Some interesting things came to light. Billy was quite popular with the Mexican community in Fort Sumner, so much so that they gave him a nickname....El Chivato...which means "little goat". Most likely because of his buck teeth. Deluvina Maxwell, a former Navajo slave and the Maxwells housekeeper became Billy's surrogate mother.
Peter Maxwell, his girlfriends father tipped off Pat Garrett......
The Mexican community at Fort Sumner were also ready to do away with Pat Garret and his deputies the night Billy's shooting. The lawmen barricaded themselves in a house and kept guard all night.
His body was carried to the Fort Sumner carpenter shop where Hispano women washed his body in prep for his funeral, after which his body was displayed for several days so that respects could be paid.
With all of that said, it should dispel any thoughts that Billy somehow survived to live out his life. Everyone in Fort Sumner at the time would have seen the body and if it wasn't Billy, somebody would have said something at some time.
I'm sorry I can't post a link to the article at this time. I'm sure it'll come up in time, but the magazine likes to keep these things in house for a while after publication.
