Juan and Beatrix Patron and daughter(?)

[Steve McCarty]

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This was one of the first pictures that I found. It is very small, just over two inches high. It is also very clear and in excellent condition. No paper frame, however. I recognized the Patron's immediately, yet some question it...seems strange to me.

Juan Patron was an important figure in the events that led up to the LCW. He was shot in the back in 1875 by Dolan using a buffalo gun.He survived but walked with a limp everafter. He was finally murdered for good in Antio Chico in 1884.

Does anyone know where he is buried?

[Steve McCarty]

The image I've posted is a detail. Juan had a "sleepy" eye. It was his left one, since this image is as in tintype. I've read the names of his daughters, but have forgotten them. I think he had two.

[Steve McCarty]

I found a better source picture of Juan. You can see his sleepy eye. I do not see how there can be any question that my picture is not he. I think, however; that my picture of him is the only one where he is wearing his hat.

[Steve McCarty]

In my picture of Juan it looks like his suit is too big. He suffered from being shot in 1875 for the duration of his life and he walked with a cane. The slug, fired from a powerful rifle passed clear through his body. He was shot in the back, the bullet entered near his spine. No one thought he'd live but he fooled them! As I recall John Riley shot him, nice guy. Juan was riding away on horseback and Riley (if it was indeed he) took careful aim and shot him off of his horse. Man that's cold! These LCW boys were a hard lot.

[Chris Lampe]

Steve, Juan Patron had a very smooth chin and very small, round ears. Your guy has a significant cleft chin and fairly long ears. There is no way these two photos are the same guy.

[Steve McCarty]

Chris, the cleft in Juan's chin is a lighting issue, and when we don't see his cleft he's looking straight on and also directly into the light. As for his ears, they are not conclusive. What about the sleepy left eye? The shape of his nose, the mustache and how he poses? He almost always poses the same way. I'm dedicated to my id on this picture

[Steve McCarty]

Identifying tintypes:

Viewing tintypes is a bit like bird watching. A bird watcher can identify a bird in an instant as it flits inside a bush or flashes by. They call it the "geist". It's that moment of recognition given only a fraction of a second to view the animal. If you ask a bird watcher how he can id the bird so rapidly he'll say, "I know what it looks like".

[Steve McCarty]

One can also id a bird by it's parts. It's got a red dot on the back of it's head, a white brow, etc...

Viewing birds is therefore either objective, ie it's parts, or subjective, it's geist. Identifying Tintypes are similar. You can look at the entire package in one peek or view the sum of its parts.

Because of lighting issues, wiggle and difficulty in finding focus tintypes are often id'd by using the geist. The subject just looks like who the person is. This is why Juan Patron is him and the de Argon Billy is not.

The fact that Chris doesn't like my pic of Juan surprises me, since he is so perfect to me, but I've heard comments like Chris's before and I appreciate them all.

[David Snell]

Juan Patron is buried beneath the vestibule floor of Our Lady of Refuge Church in Puerto de Luna.

He wasn't shot in the back by Dolan; it was Riley. You can see at a glance that there is nowayinhell those two pictures match. See "Juan Patron: A Fallen Star in the Days of Billy the Kid," by Paul L. Tsompanas.