William Wharton
William Wharton, a nineteen-year-old psychopath who styled himself Billy the Kid, arrived on E Block at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in the fall of 1932, bringing chaos and violence to the Green Mile. A remorseless killer who murdered four people, including a pregnant woman and a state patrolman, Wharton immediately attacked guard Dean Stanton with his wrist-chain, nearly strangling him to death. His presence on death row set in motion a chain of events that would culminate in his own violent death at the hands of Percy Wetmore, after John Coffey transferred the brain tumor he had sucked out of Melinda Moores into Percy's mind, driving him insane.
Identity and Criminal History
William Wharton was a nineteen-year-old white man with a narrow, pimply face and long, tangly blond hair. He had the name "Billy the Kid" tattooed on his left forearm, and he insisted on being called by that outlaw's name, rejecting the nickname "Wild Bill" because he believed Wild Bill Hickok was "just another bushwhackin John Law." Curtis Anderson, the assistant warden, described him as "crazy-wild and proud of it" who had "rambled all over the state for the last year or so" before hitting the big time by killing three people in a holdup—one a pregnant woman—and a fourth in the getaway, a state patrolman. Anderson warned that Wharton "just doesn't care," underlining the sentiment twice. Wharton had a history of petty crime dating back to age ten, including vandalism, theft, and setting haystack fires. At fifteen, he spent eight months in reform school. At barely eighteen, a man in Purdom County caught him in a barn with his nine-year-old daughter, an incident the father described as "not much more'n stinkfinger." Sheriff Catlett and three deputies warned Wharton so severely that his head bled, his shoulder was dislocated, and his ass was "damn near broke." Three months later, Wharton began the spree that ended with the murders that brought him to Cold Mountain.
Arrival and Attack on Dean Stanton
Wharton was brought to Cold Mountain from Indianola General Hospital, where he had undergone tests for supposed "epilepsy spells" that the jury and judge had determined were faked. When the guards—Harry Terwilliger, Dean Stanton, and Percy Wetmore—went to collect him, he appeared completely docile, standing at the window in a hospital johnny, his jaw slack, eyes distant, shoulders slumped. He seemed so doped and compliant that the guards grew careless. The wrist-chain they put on him was too long. As Dean Stanton unlocked the door to E Block, Wharton came alive, voicing a screaming, gibbering Rebel yell. He lifted his arms, dropped the chain over Dean's head, and commenced to choke him with it, yanking it as tight as he could and whipsawing it back and forth. Harry Terwilliger landed on Wharton's back, but Wharton threw him off with astonishing strength. Percy Wetmore stood frozen, his hickory baton in hand, too scared to act. Paul Edgecombe came out of Wharton's cell with his .38 drawn, but Wharton turned Dean toward the gun, daring Edgecombe to shoot. Brutus Howell, arriving unexpectedly, saved the day by bringing his baton down on the back of Wharton's head with all his force. Wharton went down, but was only unconscious for three hours. When he woke, he stood at the bars and told Edgecombe, "Next time it'll be you. And I won't miss."
Behavior on the Block and the Restraint Room
Wharton proved to be a constant problem. He pissed on Harry Terwilliger's pants and shoes, saving it up all day for maximum effect. He crammed an entire moon-pie into his mouth, held it until it liquefied, and then shot a stream of chocolate sludge into Brutus Howell's face, laughing and calling him "Li'l Black Sambo." Each time, he was bundled into a straitjacket and thrown into the restraint room. He would promise to be good, then try something else. His sheer persistence was terrifying. He also grabbed Percy Wetmore through the bars, dragged him against the cell door, ruffled his hair, and kissed his ear, causing Percy to wet his pants. Delacroix laughed at Percy, and Wharton grinned, saying, "Somebody ought to buy the tough boy a didy."
The True Crime and Death
Unbeknownst to almost everyone, Wharton was the real murderer of the Detterick twins. In mid-May, a month before the murders, he had hired himself out to Klaus Detterick to paint the barn, giving his name as Will Bonney—Billy the Kid's real name. He ate dinner with the family, met the girls, and listened to their chatter about sleeping on the porch. He returned in June, charmed the dog with sausages, broke its neck, and abducted the girls. He raped them, then killed them by dashing their heads together. John Coffey, wandering nearby, found the bodies and tried to heal them, but it was too late. When the posse found Coffey holding the dead girls, they arrested him. Wharton's guilt was only discovered when, on the night of the planned escape to save Melinda Moores, Wharton grabbed Coffey's arm. Coffey, who had forgotten the crime until that touch, saw the truth and called Wharton a "bad man." Later, after Coffey had healed Melinda Moores, he transferred the tumor—the "poison" he had sucked out of her—into Percy Wetmore's mouth. Percy, now insane, walked up the Green Mile, drew his gun, and emptied all six shots into the sleeping Wharton, killing him instantly. The coroner said Percy had shot like Annie Oakley: one in the groin, one in the gut, one in the chest, three in the head. Wharton's death was the end of a man who had murdered the Detterick twins and then watched another man be condemned for his crime.
