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]

Oh, I guess one finds his jollies where one can.  I know some idiots  who have spent thousands of hours studying a faded picture of a long dead sorta thug.  Really stupid.

[Murray A. Gewirtz]

LOL! Now there's an image for BBB (Brushy Bob) to illustrate! No wonder he was called the Kid! No doubt he wore Billy the Kid brand T shirts and overalls over his diapers.

[Steve McCarty]

As I recall BB was born in 1879.  W.C. says otherwise, which would have made him around 96 when he died.  BB did not look 96 when he died.  There are so many other reasons; he was a lefty, illiterate, couldn't speek Spanish (W.C. says he could), his teeth were wrong. Nor did he have Billy's bubbling outgoing personality.  He refused to confront George Coe.  The real Billy would have been excited to have a reunion with his old buddy. 

Billy died that night in July 1881 with a bullet through his heart.  He never knew what hit him and was dead, or nearly so, when he hit the floor.

[Polly Gulley]

Absolutely agree with you. Brushy's reaction when he walked into the governor's office is a prime example. Old Brushy got so nervous he almost had a heart attack there and then. Getting nervous wasn't like Billy at all. The excuse for Brushy forgetting some facts about Billy's life was that he got nervous seeing all the people in the governors office. All I can say to that is it's just B.S.

[Steve McCarty]

I do not think that Billy had "jug" ears.  In the Upham picture he had jammed an old top hat on his head which pushed his ears out.  I think he had pushed in the top of the hat on one side and plopped it on  his head as a joke.  That endire image was considered as a joke to the kid.  He is kind of "hamming" for the camera.

Of course one of the copies of the tintype ended up in Dan Dedrick's family's stuff.  Did the kid and Dan exchange pictures?  Here is my picture of Dan Dedrick.  It is very similar in size, style and pose as the Upham picture.  This picture was within Sallie Chisum's collection, so I believe it.

 

[Polly Gulley]

Buck teeth, jug ears, don't exactly conger up a vision of boyish good looks or ladies man. I have a hard time with these descriptions. I do see Billy hamming it up for the camera because that is how people described him. I think he would be horrified if he knew that he is being remembered by this photo.

[dave spooner]

In my humble opinion, the photo found by Luz Jaramillo has some pretty stout provenance as it traces directly back to Paulita Maxwell and her scrap book that was passed down to her great great grandaughter (Luz).

We can all kick around our various perceptions of ears, noses etc on subjects in old photos but provenace, at least to me speaks volumes.

[Polly Gulley]

Very possible Dave. It looks like Billy and it belonged to Paulita.

[Steve McCarty]

My pictures of the kid go directly back to Sallie Chisum, but I sure can't get any truck with them. I found mine with pictures of: McSween, Middleton, the Coe cousins and their wifes, Scurlock, Bowdre, Folliard, Widenmann, Patron, Olinger, McNab, Ballard, Dolan, Tunstall, Rudabaugh, Wilson, Sallie, her husband, her sister, her father and mother, he brothers, he children and people blow them off.

Here's Widenman:

[Steve McCarty]

I agree, and it is one of the reasons I have done my best to publish the two pictures of the Kid that I own.  Deluvina said that the Upham image (She saw another one.) "Didn't do the kid 'justice' and I think we all agree on that point. 

In my pics he's a pretty good looking young man. 

 

[Steve McCarty]

Once again; here he is.  I think he is pretty nice looking.  This pic was taken, I think, in his jail cell on the morning of 27 Dec. 1880.  After this was taken the posse came for him, Wilson and Rudabaugh and took them by wagon to the train in Las Vegas NM where a crowd tried to grab Rudabaugh. 

No, Billy doesn't have "jug" ears.  He has high cheek bones, a pointed chin and wavy hair. His eyes are clear blue and he closes his lips over his slightly bucked teeth.  This is indeed Billy the Kid. Sallie Chisum collected this picture, which was proabably taken as a "mug shot".  Billy is in his cell.  He was killed about seven months after this picture, which is a tintype, was taken.  I found Sallie Chisum's collection of tintypes and this was in it.

I think he is kind of good looking.   

[Steve McCarty]

If you match this picture of the kid with the one that Polly posted of Billy, Deluvina and  Paulita Maxwell you can see that this is the same man.  I think that picture of the picnickers was taken about six months after this one.  Billy was proud of his watch and chain which is tinted gold in the trio picture.

Here you see Billy wearing his cherished watch and the new suit that was purchased for him to stand trial in.  I think the suit is a tad too large, but it was off the rack and probably cost $1.50.