He was born in Brooklyn, he had an Eastern lifestyle to live up to.
Anyone else catch the National Geographic special last night? I’ve watched about 3/4 of it so far.
It was a little too stylized for my liking and I could have done without the reenactments. I wondered if some of the present-day footage was reenacted too.
It seemed like Randy Guijarro expected everyone to immediately say, “Yep, that’s Billy the Kid!” So I was grateful when some of the experts were skeptical and forced him to establish some kind of provenance for the photo.
Ooof, I forgot it as I suspected I might, too much going on wrapping up the weekend and SNFootball, but I did record it so I’ll watch tonite. Thanks for the reminder and comments. I was skeptical reading the article about who’s qualified to make pronouncemenst as to its authenticity so I too will be paying added attention to that part.
I watched. They left out an important bit of history. The regulators were deputized by constable Richard M. Brewer and Deputy US Marshal Robert A. Widenmann. Legally empowered to hunt down the killers of their boss and friend John Tunstall. Sheriff Brady arrested them and after that they began breaking the law. It was as much a political struggle as a physical war. There was wanton and senseless killing on both sides. Both sides taking the law into their own hands.
Seeing this group of Regulators with Billy is quite incredible. Especially since several men in that photo were dead within two years.
Fascinating bit of history. Wikipedia has a very good summary. But to really understand it requires more reading. I keep trying to find the time.
I was getting shades of Al Capone’s vaults when it was getting down to the end and he still didn’t have anyone that would authenticate it.
I didn’t understand the tag at the end when it said Randy was looking for a buyer when, just before that, it showed him turning the tintype over to Kagin.
If you mean a woollen jumper that buttons up at the front, it’s a cardigan.
If you mean that exact design with the stripes and all, I doubt it has a specific name, it’s not a style that I recognise as common (and I’m pretty well versed in Victorian menswear).
One thing I didn’t understand. Did they say towards the end he was wearing* the same sweater* or a sweater in both pictures? A Big difference.
I’m not seeing it. that outer garment is a sweater? The same sweater? Or a different one?
sure looks different to me. I have each photo loaded in a tab. switching back and forth.
https://kagins.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/BTKdetail.jpg
I think maybe that’s frame from a Hal Roach comedy. Look at that blown-up picture and tell me that that isn’t Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer.
Presumably Guijarro is still the official owner of the photo until it sells. I think Kagin is like an intermediary who authenticates and helps negotiate the sale.
It’s not the same sweater. The previously-known photograph shows a curved, horizontally-orientated stripe on Billy’s stomach. The sweater in the new photograph shows a sweater with vertical stripes. But the ‘croquet’ photo was taken in 1878, and the posed photo was taken in 1880. A lot can happen to outerwear in two years.
We watched the show last night. Very interesting and convincing. But the manufactured drama of the ‘investigation’ footage was a bit much, and they could have trimmed the film by half.
The famous photo of BtK actually shows him wearing a shirt (with what is guessed to be some type of nautical design), over which he wears a vest, and over that a heavy sweater.
Sir Rhosis
EDIT: Here is a somewhat garish colorized version of the picture (flopped the original and incorrect way). http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/images/lowrez/william_bonney_800.jpg
A set of photos showing the original reversed image, a corrected B/W cleaned up copy, and a less garishly colored, correctly oriented copy.
The clothes we associate as cowboys clothes, are not what they actually worn back then. Back in the day they wore “Bowler” style hats, not what we associate as cowboy hats today.