Aragon tintype= Billy the Kid?

[Robert Fiorent]

I wrote this as a response to a previous blog post, but I think it warrants some re-consideration, hence this post... enjoy.

I sincerely believe that the man in the Aragon-tintype and Billy the Kid are one and the same. No doubt about it; the man in the Aragon tintype also has that somewhat mischievous, lovable, youthful and rascal-esque kinda look on him that I suspect Billy also had. To boot, if you take a closer look on their mouths you see that both seem to have front buckteeth - a distinguishing feature of the kid - along with a small mouth. I read that a computer analysis of the two images showed combined facial and physical characteristics that would appear once in 1,8 million people - that is 1,8 million people, folks! Plus, you can also see the similarity if not dead-on likeness between their ears and skull structure - even their eyebrows, although a portion seems to have faded or been damaged by the ravages of time in the Aragon tintype.

The only thing I can't seem to get my mind wrapped around is the eyes: in the Aragon tin they are clearly open and visible, whereas in the original tin, they're pretty much two narrow slits. Could it be that  Billy was blinded by the flash from the camera, accounting for the squinting of his eyes. Or, maybe he just wanted to display some cockiness by squinting his eyes? Would love to hear from ya´?

To anyone interested, here is a link to the picture comparison and the brilliant post started by Chris Lampe:

http://truewest.ning.com/forum/topics/alleged-images-of-billy-the

Yours truly,

Rob

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[Nicholas Narog]

As a collector of western images- all I can really say is that if you want a photograph of someone to be someone else bad enough- you can always justify the smallest discrepancies and in your mind make it be the same person...even when it really is not.

Now, I am not saying the two people are not in fact the same person. They very well could be. Although it would be nice to have some kind of provenance or a period statement describing a Billy the Kid photograph matching the "Aragon" tintype.

[michel janes cribb]

maybe billy, the eyebrows are arched like his big ears but these seem to be a bit bigger than the tintype

[michel janes cribb]

here is a reverse image

[Robert Fiorent]

Hi guys!

Thank you so much for commenting andfor the awesome pictures!!! I just want you to know that I love being a member of this community, and as we share the same interest, I consider you to be brothers-in-arms (no pun intended)!

Nicholas, I know perfectly what you mean - the mind has a way of playing tricks on you, especially when you want something bad enough! But, by the same token, I have to be objective too, and unbiased, and as such, I can honestly tell you that I believe the two persons to be one and the same. There's just something about the picture that tingles my spidersense... This is from an article:

"The owner of the second tintype, Ray John de Aragon of Las Vegas, N.M., said it was passed down from his great-grandmother, who according to family history was a medical women who treated the fugitive and became his friend.  Ray de Aragon (who is now in his 50s) got the photo from his father as a 16^th birthday gift.  He said the tintype is in a safe deposit box and he has no plans to sell it."

Michel, the reason the araon-ears seem a bit bigger is because, if you look closely on the tintype, his hat is obscuring a part of the ears, in addition to parts of the aragon-brows having faded by the toll of time. Frederick Nolan also believes it could be Billy in his new suit at Las Vegas. It just exhilarates me beyond words that this in fact could be him! For so long, we have been slaves to the legend and myth of the original tintype, racking our brains over his facial features, dreaming of a lucid, coherent and panavision-clear image of him, and here - right before our eyes - such an image could actually exist! Awesome!!!

Once again, wishful thinking and biassedness aside, I truly believe it is the Kid... there's just something about his boyish and affable countenance. But, still it jarrs me... why is Billy squinting his eyes in the tintype? Did he want to contrive himself with an attitude or something, or were his eyes just naturally narrow?

But what really clinches the deal for me is the mouth on both pictures. We know that Billy had buckteeth, right? If you examine the aragon-pic carefully, you clearly see that he too has 'em. And not many people have buckteeth, I mean in a relative sense. The more I look and compare  the mouths of the two, the more I'm convinced it's the same person! They both have pretty marked brows, but the mouths, folks, look at the mouths - they are identical!

[michel janes cribb]

[michel janes cribb]

there you go guys the above pic of henry mccarty, or william henry mccarty or william h bonney

better known as the kid in his life time but better known as billy the kid, i tried to clean up the photo using photoshop not very successful but abit clearer.

[michel janes cribb]

i don,t know if these above photo's are the same man maybe, the ears are both large in the photo's but billy's right inner ear if i may call it that, is different to his left very rare to have two forms of ears on the one person

[Chris Lampe]

I came into this hobby after De Aragon's image was out there but it's my understanding that he has put forth THREE different tintypes of THREE different guys as Billy the Kid.  In my mind, that leaves quite a credibility gap.  I believe the image in this thread is the third and last image.  Strange that the one with the best "provenance" was the last one he put forth.

I'm not saying I don't believe De Aragon because I don't know all the details about how his images came out but I've heard and read enough to know that his credibility is very widely questioned. 

On top of that, I don't really think this guy looks like Billy the Kid.  I think most or all of Billy's right ear is visible and this guy's ears are much larger. 

[Robert Fiorent]

Just paid closer attention to the left ear (from our view) on the person in the De Aragon pic, and, yes, it seems to be a bit larger than on the famous tintype. But the computer analysis showed  a one in 1.8 million shot... so I am fairly puzzled to say the least... but the mouth and nose in both images seem extremely similar. 

Well, it probably isn't Billy. What speaks against it being him is, as you guys put it, his ear! The De Aragon pic shows a tad bigger ear on his right hand side. But couldn't it just appear bigger on account of the angle he's got his head tilted in? Maybe not... 

And then there's the thing about the eyes: their eye sections differ a lot. This guys eyes are pretty almond shaped more or less, while the famous tintype show slightly narrow and squinting eyes. As I wrote earlier, that particular detail didn't sit right with me from the very start - everything else fitted. 

Well, I guess that's that then. 

[Robert Fiorent]

Billy is and will always remain a mystery...