Possibly Billy Bonney

Comment by Steve McCarty on June 17, 2010 at 11:23am

I cannot testify that this tintype is absolutely Billy Bonney, but I think there is an excellent chance that it is. He looks like the fellow we see standing with the two women that I've also posted herein. I like to enlarge this picture and look into the young man's eyes. They have been tinted to match his string tie. If we look closely at them we can see the "clear blue eyes with little brown spots in them", just as Billy's friend Dr. Hoyt said they looked.

If this is Billy then I think the picture was taken in Las Vegas, NM where he was clothed and held for a short while before he was moved to the uncomfortable jail in Santa Fe.d Again if this is legit, then the viewer is seeing what the Kid looked like in the winter of 1880 and probably what he looked like just seven months later when Garrett killed him.

Comment by Steve McCarty on June 18, 2010 at 9:35am

I don't think this man's suit fits him very well. If it is the one that Mike Cosgrove purchased for the kid he obviously took it off of the rack. It was not tailored. In BBB's book on Billy he has an illustration of Billy laying on his back after being shot. He looks just like the fellow in this tintype.

This is a wonderful 19th Century portrait, one of the best I've seen. It it also Henry McCarty? I think so. If it is I think it's wonderful! But the reader can make his own decision of course, but with this image I believe that we now know finally, what the Kid actually looked like.

Comment by tim davis on January 5, 2012 at 2:42am

the more i look at it the more i think you may be on to something. this is one of the pics i have trouble nailing down in the computer. the bovine nose looks out of place, but you have to be careful using the phrases 'billy the kid' and 'doesn't look like' together. the eyes are aplus, as are jawline and hairline; facial 'cross' is good. earlobe is consistent (looks like its not a reverse image) as is the false break between the chin and left jawline, as seen in the photo with deluvina and paulina...and others;

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