photos of Billy the Kid

[dave spooner]

Do you believe that photos of Billy the Kid exist other than the Dedrick tintype which is the only authenticated image of BTK we know of??

[Steve McCarty]

Fred Waite looked a little like John Middleton.  I found two pictures of him. One in the photographer's album and the other in Sallie's collection.  Both men sported large black mustaches.  I have other evidence that this is Middleton and not Waite however.  Too much to write here.  I believe that this is a period tintype of John Middleton and I found it within Sallie' collection.

[Steve McCarty]

This tintype is not only John Middlton but one of the best Victorian portraits that I have ever seen.  Another Morgan tintype.  He was a skilled photographer and most of his pictures look astoundingly modern.

I've several portraits of men who wore their ties like we see here.  I think he is wearing a ruffled shirt!

[Steve McCarty]

Here's another picture of Middleton.  This one I found within the photographer's album in Wisconsin.  Same guy, guys.  A Morgan photo found in Wisconsin. He had painted on his goatee, just as McNab had done.  They were friends and for a while Middleton was  planning to become a cattle detective too.

[Polly Gulley]

Very nice collection of photos. Looks like you hit the jack pot finding Sallie's collection of photographs. I was wondering how you store such a valuable collection.

[Steve McCarty]

Hi again Polly:  The pics are locked tight in a huge safe.  There are a great many of them.  Book is in the works and I'm talking to a publisher now.  I follow, with some detail, how I discovered and identified the photos. 

They come from two sources, either Sallie Chisum or the photographer's collection, They are related.  Sallie's relatives live near me and own a great many Chisum related materials and they recall when Sallie's collection was sold. None of them knew the identities of the people on the photos. they had been forgotten. (It's a rather long story.)  So they sold them in a yard sale. They ended up in a local antique store and I came along and found them. I had already been to Lincoln and had read the standard BTK books. I recognized them.

Strangely I have a personal connection with the collection.  The kid may have been my great great grandfather's nephew and I knew Sallie Chisum's great granddaughter 40 years ago.  We nearly married and she looked just like Sallie.  She told me stories about her famous family.  I know many Chisum's and of course, I am a McCarty.

So I'm serious about this collection.  I feel close to the kid and to Sallie's family.  We go back a very long time.  Sallie's sister in law's brother was a close friend of my grandfather in 1919!  The book? It's titled Billy the Kid, Sallie Chisum and Me. 

[Chris Lampe]

I'm almost positive this picture is my scan of that image and other than a superficial resemblance, there is no reason to link it to BTK or the Regulators. 

 

This is in regards to the young cowboy sitting near a campfire photo.  The board shoved it way down below a different image.

[Polly Gulley]

[Polly Gulley]

[anthony martin]

 Polly,

   This is an 1850's image,probably an ambrotype in a very early style plain metal bezel.

[Polly Gulley]

Which photo are you talking about?

[anthony martin]

 Polly,

   I posted my replies right under each photo but the replies all scooted to the bottom!I was referring to the one with the gilt metal two part bezel that some anvil head wrote on in pen.

[Polly Gulley]

Do you mean this one???