Billy The Kid was born Frank McCarty in New York City in 1839...the son of a Catherine (McCarty) Antrim of Ireland.  Due to her asthma, she moved to Silver City New Mexico with a new husband and Billy changed his name to William H. Bonney.  In the 1870's, Lincoln County in New Mexico was involved in 'cattle wars' and Billy earned a reputation as a man to be feared.  New Mexico was then a territory and Lew Wallace (author of Ben Hur) was the territorial governor.  He wanted to end the 'wars' and promised Billy a Pardon if he would turn himself in and testify against two men who were also his political rivals.  Billy agreed and went to a 'safe house' in Stinking Wells to await his pardon.  He was in a back bedroom with his Mexican girlfriend when Sheriff Pat Garrett burst into the room and opened fire.  The official version is that the Sheriff had him buried immediately afterwards in Fort Sumner.

     Maybe.

     A second version is that The Kid and Garrett were long time drinking buddies and he was allowed to escape into the surrounding hills and that a transient at the 'safe house' was the person killed and hastily buried.  A third version is that Billy escaped to Texas and lived as a ranch hand under the name of 'Brushy Bill' Roberts.  He died in 1950 but before his death he traveled to Santa Fe and tried to obtain the Pardon from the then Governor but died a month later and is buried in Hico Texas.  The movie "The Young Guns" was based on his life.  Another person claiming to be The Kid was a John Miller of Prescott Arizona who died in 1937 and stated on his deathbed that he was The Kid.

     Billy's great-grandson, Elbert Garcia, had petitioned the State of New Mexico to honor Governor Lew Wallace's promise to grant Billy a Pardon.  Catherine Antrim, Billy's mother who died in 1874, was buried in a Silver City cemetery.  A few years ago, Governor Bill Richardson requested that her body be exhumed and DNA extracted.  He also requested that DNA samples be obtained from the bodies of the three 'Billy Claimants' and compared to that of Catherine Antrim.

     However, the towns of Fort Sumner and Silver City in New Mexico, Hico in Texas, and Prescott in Arizona have retained legal counsel to prevent any exhumation.  I wrote to Governor Richardson about how I had obtained posthumous exonerations from Governor Michael Dukakis for Dominic Daley and James Halligan , two Irish Immigrants, who were wrongly hanged in 1806 and suggested a play written by school children of New Mexico might today obtain the same for The Kid.


     John Daly, host of the old "What's My Line' television quiz program might well ask...'will the REAL Billy The Kid rise up and sign in...please!

     Today...June 29th 2008...would be the 108th birthday of Antoine Saint Exupery, the author of "The Little Prince"  "Night Flight"  and others.  But it is for "The Little Prince" that he will forever be remembered and untold generations to come will be mesmerized by the allegory of a pilot shot down in the Saharan Desert who meets a young prince from a tiny asteroid who reveals to him the secret of life.  "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly: what is essential is invisible to the eye."  He wrote "The Little Prince" at Asharoken, Long Island during the summer of 1942.

     He returned to France and flew reconnaissance for the Free French Forces when he was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea offshore from Toulon on July 31, 1944.  In 1998, a fisherman netted his silver ID bracelet and in 2004 the remains of his P-38 Lightning was recovered off the coast of Marseilles. 

     In March of 2008, a former Luftwaffe pilot, 85 year old Horst Rippert, claimed it was he who shot down the author who had been a childhood hero.  This has yet to be verified.


     A posthumous birthday toast to Antoine Saint Exupery.  The author of my favorite book.  A book and story that changed my life.

     June 5th 2008 was the 202nd anniversary of the hanging deaths of Dominic Daley and James Halligan.  I was privileged to attend this event and was asked to place flowers at the base of their memorial stone.  They were two Irish Immigrants to Massachusetts who were accused of murder.  The atmosphere in Massachusetts at that time was anti-Irish and anti-Papist.  On that day 25,000 people gathered in Northampton to witness the double hangings.  Their bodies were taken down from the gallows and dissected and their bones strewn in the woods unburied...as was the punishment in those days for heinous crimes.  Ten years later a local farmer was said to have confessed to the murder on his death bed.

     I researched this true story and in 1984 my play "THEY'RE IRISH!  THEY'RE CATHOLIC!!  THEY'RE GUILTY!!!" was presented for the first time to pressure Governor Michael Dukakis into granting them posthumous Exonerations  This was successful and the pardon was granted to them on March 16, 1984.

I enjoy the 12 meter boats when they were in competition.  Especially...Courageous.

I am interested in Formula 1 Racing and tomorrow is the Turkish Grand Prix. I've been a fan of McLaren Motors since 1962 when Bruce McClaren won the Monaco Grand Prix. The current World Champion Kimi Raikkenon formerly raced for McClaren but now races for Ferrari. The race tomorrow will probably be between Raikkenon and Lewis Hamilton of McClaren. I raise my glass to Hamilton.

I like movies of the Fifties and would like to discuss others likes and dislikes.

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