This page presents analysis of certain photographs alleged to be Billy The Kid that may or may not be authentic beginning with the famous tintype that is so widely accepted as the real Billy. Recently there has been some discussion that the size of Billy’s rifle likely being about 39” long raises questions about the height of the young man in the photo. So I took some measurements. Billy was said to be about 5’ 7” in height. It is difficult to obtain an exact height since the barrel of the rifle is partially hidden by the left hand and the top of his head is hidden by his hat. But by setting up a scale where the rifle is about 39” long and using that same scale to measure the young man you can see here his height from heel to the top of his head was no more than 5’ 7” or 5’ 8”.
The above photo is enlarged from the group picture above it. The group photo which hangs in the Lincoln County Courthouse is alleged to be the regulators and the fellow in the enlargement is alleged to be Billy himself. The photo at left is my tracing of the tintype overlaid on this face. I believe this could be the same young man as the tintype and likely is a true photo of Billy.
The above photo is alleged to be some of the regulators and the fellow in back with wide brim dark hat is said to be Billy holding a fiddle. It could be him but the nose and mouth both appear to be a bit wider than the tintype.
The above photo is alleged to be the posse that captured Billy at Stinking Springs with Pat Garrett at far left and Billy at the far right. The deputy next to Billy appears to be pointing a pistol at him. Popular opinion has this can’t be authentic because the man on the left is too short to be Garrett. Actually Garrett was very tall but his height was mostly due to very long legs. Look closely at the apparent position of the knees of the man on the left. You’ll see his knees are much higher than the deputy next to him. That’s because his legs are very long and explains why he doesn’t seem as tall in the saddle as you might expect.
