Modern researchers have linked Brocius with a man known as William "Curly Bill" Bresnaham, who was convicted in a robbery attempt in Texas in 1878, along with another known cowboy of the Tombstone area named Robert Martin. The men were convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, but both escaped, presumably to the southwest Arizona Territory. Since both Robert Martin and Curly Bill became known as leaders of the rustlers in Arizona Territory, they are likely the same Robert Martin and Curly Bill of the Texas crime.