Wow a new photo of BIlly the Kid surfaces!

There's only one photo that is historically agreed upon as authentic BTK. There was one a few years ago of croquet players said to be of him and his gang but most dont agree. So this find is amazing:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/ite...tograph-of-billy-the-kid-as-a-child-pitman-nj

 

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/0...y-the-kid-photos-from-before-his-outlaw-days/

Seems to be no actual proof. Just hopes and dreams.

 

I'd like to see some deep science involved in documenting these Lincoln,Poe and Billy the Kid images that show up from time to time.
PS-See, I'm behaving- not even a whisper about Bigfoot or The Shroud.

 

In an incredible stroke of luck this auction has not one BUT TWO never before seen photos of Billy the Kid! Just incredible....

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/ite...h-of-billy-the-kid-as-a-young-adult-pitman-nj

I know it seems dubious but this language from the auctioneer should put your fears to rest:

"Professionally analyzed by x-ray machinery at Stanford University."

 

why luck ?

 

I'm looking forward to AI-created "new" images of Billy and others.

 

It's interesting when people selectively believe what they wish in order to prove a point. We all do it at times.

 

The local magazine or news in PHiladelphia did a story on the two Billy the Kid photos. You can google it. The one big issue they found is that the auctioneers claim Billy's mother Catherine McCarty lived in Philadelphia during the time of the photos because her name appears on some city records. But the problem with that is that this McCarty continues on the Philadelphia records into the late 1870s whereas Billys mother is said to have died in 1874 in NM.

The auctioneer claims both photos are from Philadelphia but the BTK authors say Catherine moved first to Indiana then to Wichita when BIlly was 11 then to New Mexico. So the older photo he's older than 11 but by then the references place Billy in Kansas. I guess its also possible the BTK authors didnt track the whereabout of Catherine and her family correctly but that would really take some research. i have not read any of the books so I dont know how well documented his family is.

 

The one verified photo of him shows that his face isn't symmetrical and his ears stick out. So far, none of these alleged photos show those features. The ears are the most telling.

 

The one honest-to-gosh photo of Billy the Kid was a tintype. The cameras used reversted the image, and that's why people got the idea he was left-handed. But look at the Winchester he's posing with. The loading gate appears to be on the wrong side.

Someone claimed to have pinpointed the location of the infamous croquet photo based on an existing structure and the topography of the hills in the background. Again, the reversed image wasn't taken into account. In that photo is a woman on horseback, riding side-saddle, but it's obvious that it's backwards because her legs are on the "off" side, rather than the near.

 

I see three women in the croquet photo but none of them are on a horse:

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/1...e-kid-photo-sells-for-2-3m-others-discovered/

 

.

 

You were looking at a cropped image. Here is the whole image:

 

Here is the image corrected by flipping it laterally. As you can see, the mounted woman legs are now on the near side of the horse. Looking at the shadows and the lack of leaves on the trees. I'd guess this was taken looking east, in the late fall to early spring. About the only thing I see in common with the old authenticated tintype of the Kid is that the person purported to be him is wearing a sweater in each photo.

 

This went around years ago when I was still on the Ebay Antique Forum. There is a guy who will remain nameless who was the biggest scam artist I've ever run into. I was one of the ones scoffing at his photos purporting to be Lincoln, Billy the Kid, etc. He had his lawyers email all of us and threaten to sue us for defamation or whatever. It was pretty ugly. I wish I remembered his name. He had a storefront in NYC as I recall. The photo that caused a stir was two young black boys that he alleged was an original and someone researched and it was from a larger photo that he'd cropped. I don't recall all the details except that he was bogus.

 

It was this guy, claiming the children were slaves and a Brady photo. I vaguely remember someone proved him wrong and the threats of lawsuits ensued.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2010/06/17/buyer-defends-photo-thought-to-show-slave-children/

 

He obviously was an upstanding guy.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...iness-manager-charged-with-elder-abuse-marvel

 

I remember him, and not fondly.

Is this the same dude?
https://www.hindustantimes.com/ente...r-accused-of-elder-abuse-101741896672872.html