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Billy the Kid's Famous Photo
Take a good, long look at the carte de visite below. For the longest time, it was the only authentic photograph of Billy the Kid extant.
In September, 1989, during the opening session of the five-day, Lincoln County Heritage Trust-sponsored Billy the Kid Symposium in Ruidoso, New Mexico, a distinguished panel of 18 experts took a good, long look at an enlargement of the carte de visite above. The original, a two-by-three-inch ferrotype or tintype, taken by an unknown itinerant photographer outside Beaver Smith's Saloon in Old Fort Sumner, probably in late 1879 or early 1880, was one of only two indisputably authentic photographs of Billy extant.
The earlier one, though, remains unaccounted for; speculation endures that it may have been lost in a fire. But it stares out invitingly as a derivative halftone published in 1907 in the first volume of G. B. Anderson's History of New Mexico: Its Resources & People. Although doctored free of scratches and lighter in contrast, that halftone lacks the degree of detail that characterizes this second, darker image. But this second image -- an original tintype loaned to the trust by the late Frank Upham of Orinda, Calif., who'd inherited it from his great uncle, the Kid's rustler pal, Dan Dedrick -- was careworn. It was pitted, scratched, tarnished, and worn about the edges.
To the 60 or so people who had gathered in the hushed, darkened conference room of the Best Western Swiss Chalet outside Ruidoso, N. M., the slide of the life-sized figure of Billy on the projector screen was a familiar one. The image revealed, as the Las Vegas Gazette had reported on December 28, 1880, a young man
"...about 5 feet eight or nine inches tall, slightly built and lithe, weighing about 140; a frank and open countenance, looking like a school boy, with the traditional silky fuzz on his upper lip; clear, blue eyes, with a roguish snap about them; light hair and complexion. He is, in all, quite a handsome looking fellow, the only imperfection being two prominent front teeth slightly protruding like squirrel's teeth, and he has agreeable and winning ways."
The posed figure in the enlarged Upham tintype clashed with Hollywood's long-burnished image of what filmdom felt the Kid should've looked like. But the collective expertise gathered at the symposium, combined with computer enlargements and enhancements, revealed an awful lot about the tintype. It also spoke to that particular moment back in Old Fort Sumner, and about young Billy himself. The Upham tintype had captured all that for eternity for trained eyes. But all these things, now revealed (like an onion with its outer layers removed one by one), as one disembodied voice after another spoke in the enveloping darkness, had been hidden from uninitiated eyes all these years. The experts excitedly shared everything they knew with eager symposium registrants. Other things in the tintype emerged in the years after the symposium.
- The photographer employed a tripod-mounted, box camera with a four-tube gem lens set. The camera may have been manufactured by the E. & H. T. Anthony & Co. of New York, N. Y. After all, Edward and his brother, Henry, headed the biggest photographic products firm in the country back in New York City. But the make and model camera used remains unknown. Computer analysis revealed that the two authentic photographs of the Kid (from the 1907 halftone and the Upham tintype) came from upper-left hand and lower-right hand lenses, respectively. That meant that the photographer could've taken as many as four tintype images of Billy at once. Certainly the photographer would've taken as many exposures as the Kid wanted (it would've cost Billy only a quarter). Since the Upham tintype is the only original extant, there could've been -- or still could still be -- up to three other Billy tintypes still out there somewhere.
- Just who the itinerant photographer was, remains unknown, too. Only a handful of studio photographers were living in New Mexico at the time. None of them traveled to you. If you wanted a portrait done, you went to one of them. Back then, at first glance, there were studio photographers in Las Vegas and Santa Fe, and probably one or two in Albuquerque.
- The photographer used the common (but messy) wetplate process. The lens caps, which acted as shutters, were uncovered for six seconds, then put back to stop the exposure. Development required several chemicals, alcohol and water, and a chemical reaction on a thin metal plate. The photographer had only 10 minutes before the emulsion dried. He would've ducked into his portable darkroom (a pitched tent or awaiting wagon). Once the plate dried, he would've cut the plate into smaller tintypes for the Kid.
- The photographer used a studio prop, a three-legged stand topped by twin, balled prongs, to keep Billy still for the long exposure. You can see one of the front legs of the stand behind the Kid's right foot. The shaft of the stand could be extended upward so that its prongs could rest against the back of the Kid's neck. Without the device, any movement would've blurred Billy's image.
- In the upper right-hand corner of the tintype are the four fingers of somebody -- the photographer's assistant or better yet, a bystander -- holding a two-legged reflective board that bounced available light onto the darker side of the subject. The board's angle hints at a time of day, a direction, and a time of year. The sun was low in the sky (late afternoon is the "golden hour"). Maybe it's a wintertime shot. Or maybe Billy was standing in the shade of a portal. The Kid wasn't standing in front of Beaver Smith's Saloon, which faced west. Nor was he on the north side of any building or wall. He could've been facing east in late-morning light. Or south in hazy, late-afternoon light any time of the year. Billy's hat and layered clothing -- his sweater and vest are unbuttoned and open -- hint at a cool Fall day, a mild midwinter's day, or a cool Spring day. His scarf, sweater and vest don't seem stirred by a breeze. Maybe the backdrop -- an exterior wall at the rear (on the south side) of the saloon or in front of the south wall of the Community Center adjacent the saloon -- had given the photographer, the Kid, and a handful of curious, excited onlookers (a visiting photographer would've caused a stir) a place to capture the moment for posterity.
- His dark, rumpled hat (which has a side crease) looks a bit warmer than the wide-brim, light colored hat with green hatband that Billy usually wore to protect him from the harsh glare and unrelenting heat of summer. It could've been his. But it also could've been the photographer's prop.
- Billy's unbuttoned, open-weave sweater is at least two sizes too big. His clothing was functional, not fashionable; the photo opp was probably a spur of the moment thing. Beneath his sweater is a leather vest with lapels, and underneath that, a shirt with what appeared to an expert at the 1989 symposium a nautical anchor design on the placket. That also might not be a design on the shirt, but a necklace.
- The gambler's pinky ring gleaming on the little finger of his left hand suggests the Kid cheated at cards. Billy was skilled at dealing three-card monte, a quick con game. Billy would've been the inside man, and an accomplice the outside man who pretended to help a third man, the innocent mark or victim. One card, a face card (say a queen) would've been the money card and the other two, number (low) cards. The victim would bet the dealer he could pick the face card. But by Billy's well-practiced and virtually undetectable slight of hand, the Kid could've changed any card the mark picked. One or two hands would've been all it would've taken. The Kid and his outside man would've met afterward at a prearranged spot, where Billy would've given him his cut. Or maybe the Kid didn't need an accomplice.
- Billy's 1873 Winchester was a carbine. It was shorter and lighter than the rifle, and carried a dozen .44-.40-caliber, center-fired cartridges (the rifle carried 15). Both had muzzle velocities of 1,125 to 1,325 feet per second that could drive a slug the size of a man's finger through a four-inch-thick pine board at 1,000 yards in less than three seconds. The Winchester (not the revolver) was the Kid's favorite weapon, It had a longer range as well as greater accuracy, firepower, and impact. Winchesters' stocks and forearms were made of burled walnut. Winchesters back then cost $24 apiece. The lever-action repeating firearms were extremely popular. Oliver Fisher Winchester (1810-80) and his Winchester Firearms Company of New Haven, Conn., manufactured 150,000 of them from 1873 through 1881.
- The Kid's Colt revolver seems showcased for the photograph; Billy's right arm and sweater are purposely draped behind the gun and holster. Its butt is angular, a distinguishing feature of the single-action Colt .45-caliber Peacemaker as well as the double-action Colt .41-caliber Thunderer (the Kid's preferred the latter). Both were six-shooters. Billy was always on the lookout to upgrade his firearms. Although inventor Samuel Colt (1814-62) was gone by then, his Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company started making Army-issue Peacemakers in 1871. His Hartford, Conn., firm produced some 23,000 of the newer model Peacemakers from 1873 to 1880. In 1876, Colt produced six-shooters that could use the 1873 Winchester's .44-.40 cartridges, making them interchangeable -- and indispensable -- throughout the Old West. A Colt six-shooter cost $12 in those days.
After Garrett had shot and killed the Kid, he examined Billy's pistol (just where he did that may be lost in the mists of history), and confirmed that "…it was a self-cocker, caliber .41." Colt produced two types of double-action revolvers. One was the smaller, lighter .38 caliber Lightning. It came in four different barrel lengths. The bigger, heavier Thunderer packed a greater wallop.
Besides, the single-action Colt needed two hands to fire it. The double-action only needed one. If Billy's one hand was disabled, the single-action Peacemaker would have been rendered useless. But the double-action Thunderer could be shifted to the Kid's remaining hand, if needed. Better yet, if Billy found himself in a tough scrape, he could fire two double-action Colts at the same time and double his fire power. - Computer enhancement revealed that the Kid's leather holster had a "keeper" or holster strap. It wasn't a quick-draw rig. It was practical. The strap kept the revolver in the holster as Billy rode horseback. The quick-draw holster was the mark of a gunslinger.
- Billy's ears, Dr. Clyde Snow and Dr. Tom Kyle revealed at the 1989 symposium, protrude more than normal. They're also circular shaped, with free-swinging lobes. His face is long-jawed and angular. His nose is longer than normal and straight. He has a small mouth; it's higher above the jaw than normal. The Kid has slightly buck teeth and a long neck. His shoulders are small and narrow, and their extreme slope is uncommon in human skeletal structure.
- The photographer's thumbprints blacken the lower corners of the tintype.
- Tintypes are reverse images. Unfortunately, publisher after publisher of countless books, magazines, and newspapers over the decades produced copies of the Billy halftone from the 1907 Anderson book without telling readers what they were seeing was a reverse image. They also doctored their copies, which further obscured the already diminished details of the halftone.
As publication of the reversed image multiplied, it created the powerful myth of the Kid as a left-handed gun. Only 10 percent of the human race is left handed, leaving the remaining 90 percent to wonder about that one person out of 10. Would Gore Vidal's script have sacrificed appeal for accuracy had he entitled it "The Right-Handed Gun"?. Careful examination of the 1907 halftone, however, would've been drawn to the buttons on Billy's vest. They're visible on the left side. Men's clothes have buttons on the right side, and women's clothes on the left.
Firearms experts would've peered at the Kid's Winchester and noticed its spring plate (where the cartridges are loaded). In the 1907 halftone, it's on the left side. But Winchester produced firearms with spring plates only on the right side.
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