LOS ANGELES -- The pistol Sheriff Pat Garrett pulled from his holster and used to kill Billy the Kid more than a century ago has been stolen, and the owner is offering a 'substantial reward' for its return.
James Roberts, 44, an engineer who lives in the Los Feliz area, said Tuesday the nickel-plated .44-caliber Remington Model 1875 revolver was stolen last Friday in a break-in at his home.
He will pay a 'substantial reward' for return of the gun -- which he called priceless -- but he refused to specify how much.
'My interest is putting out the word on it so it will get a little too hot to handle,' Roberts said. 'I hope someone passes the word through whatever channel that this is not a Saturday Night Special.'
Roberts said he acquired the gun in 1965 from an uncle whose father, a doctor in El Paso, Texas, treated Garrett's granddaughter during the Depression. The gun was turned over along with a pair of matching pistols in the late 1930s in lieu of payment.
Roberts said the gun's authenticity was verified by Remington and through independent research, including identification by a New Mexico judge involved in legal proceedings that followed the slaying of Billy the Kid.
Police said the robber, or robbers, pried open a rear door at the Roberts home last Friday between 4 and 11 p.m. The gun was mounted on a wall in the Roberts' library with a plaque describing its history.
Billy the Kid, whose real name was William Bonney, was a notorious killer and cattle rustler of the 1870s who murdered several men by age 16.
After leading a gang in a Lincoln County, N.M., cattle war, Billy the Kid was captured, tried and sentenced to death. He managed to escape in April 1881 by blasting his way out of jail.
Garrett traced the outlaw months later to a Fort Sumner, N.M., farmhouse owned by Peter Maxwell. Garrett and Maxwell were in a darkened room discussing Billy the Kid when the killer walked in.
Garrett said he recognized the outlaw's voice, saw him draw a pistol, then shot and killed him. Billy the Kid died July 14, 1881, at age 21.
