Billy the Kid Faces The Law... Again

Jason Raddin writes "MSNBC.com has an interesting story about a new showdown in the Old West. It seems as if Billy the Kid can still cause problems for the law-men of New Mexico, even as he rests in his grave. Several small New Mexico towns claim to possess the "true" grave of Billy the Kid (a.k.a. William H. Bonney, Henry McCarty, Kid Antrim). Two sheriffs in Capitan, New Mexico have proposed that this mystery be solved using modern DNA testing. The proposal was made in June to exhume the remains of Bonney's mother and the two reported graves of Bonney. This has spurred a hot legal debate raising an interesting question: which is more important, tourist dollars or the truth?"

Whoa! 5 Aces!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just grab a time-traveling phone booth and find out the easy way:

Are you cheatin' us, Kid?

He is dead??

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought he was still alive. I mean Young Guns just came out a few years ago.

Are they sure he is dead????

Now I am confused!

A showdown, eh?

[Faust7]

But the mayors of Fort Sumner and Silver City say they won't let the bodies buried in their towns be disturbed, and that sets the stage for a legal showdown in December when New Mexico District Court Judge Jim Foy is to consider the matter.

Mayor Lopez: Draw.
Sheriff Graves: No!
(Lopez pauses)
Graves: I thought we could settle this like men!
Lopez: You thought wrong, dude.
*BLAM*

(Back to the Future ref for those of you in the sad sad dark.)

What about RIP?

[Karadryel]

This has spurred a hot legal debate raising an interesting question: which is more important, tourist dollars or the truth?

Whatever happened to the whole "rest in peace" notion? Let me get this in writing right now: if someone comes diggin' me up in a century or so, I am *so* gonna haunt that guy!

Re:Possible problem with the truth...

[psykocrime]

What if they do the DNA tests and it turns out that Billy the Kid isn't in either of those graves?

An even better question is... what if he turns out to be in BOTH graves???

Re:What about...

[Weaselmancer]

You forget, this is America, where the dollar reigns supreme. Not only will they dig them up, they'll broadcast it live with Heraldo Riviera doing the commentary. And I'll betcha there will be at least 2 made-for-tv movies out of this before it's all over.

All that being said, you're exactly right.

Weaselmancer

Kill Bill?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, not a spoiler, but how does this relate to Kill Bill? And why is her name censored. And do we see Bill's face in Vol 1? I think we do (hint, rings and swords).

Re:You think that's a problem?

[after]

This leads to the obvious conclusion that they are both Billy the Kid(s).

Re:This is not

[ChickenAintDone]

Not to mention the poor sap in the other grave who will be given the attitude: "ah shit, no one cares about you, do we even have to bury you again?"

Re:Obligatory Predictable Response

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the Obligatory Predictable Response (tm) was:

You'll never take me alive coppers!

Oh, wait.

Re:How about respect?

[monkeyfinger]

If you learned that a corpse were buried under the house you just finished building by hand after countless hours of painstaking labor, would you tear it down to return the land to its "last authority?"

I would if I'd built my home on a native american graveyard. I've seen what happens in the movies.

Re:Better Question

[teamhasnoi]

I would think that more important question to be raised here is how moral/ethical it is to dig out graves for tourists' money.

As long as the tourists keep hiding their money in graves, why shouldn't I dig it up?

Hey, this could be fun.

[Gulik]

And, after they figure out who (if anybody) has the remains of Billy the Kid, I think they should gather together a bunch of relics from cathedrals, do some DNA comparison between them, and figure out once and for all if John the Baptist really did have four skulls, six hands, and three tongues.

We all know Billy the kid isn't dead

[Bendebecker]

He's still alive: last time anyone saw him, he was coaching the mighty ducks!

Springfield

[Vorgo]

Everyone knows that he's buried in Springfield!

It was on the Simpson's. It _must_ be true!