Welcome! This is your forum to study and discuss the life and legend of William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, through books, photographs, and other historical memorabilia.

One day in 1879 Billy had his picture taken. Four tintype images, with a six seconds four-tube camera, for 25 cents. He kept one of the tins and gave another to his friend and sidekick, Tom O'Folliard. A third one was given to Sam Dedrick. What happened to the fourth image is not known. When Tom O'Folliard was killed, Pat Garrett is supposed to have taken the tintype of Billy from Tom's body, before Tom was buried at Fort Sumner. When Pat went on to write "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid" in 1882, he sent the O'Follliard tintype to Chicago to be copied by an engraver as a frontispiece for the book. It was never returned. Was this most coveted of all western photographs somehow damaged, and simply thrown away with the trash?
When Billy was captured at Stinking Springs on Christmas Eve 1880, he gave his copy to a Navajo servant woman named Deluvina Maxwell, who worked for Ft. Sumner rancher, Pete Maxwell. Deluvina kept the picture until she died; it was then passed on to her family. Tragically, this tintype was destroyed in a fire in the 1920s. Thus another original image was lost to the ages.
Then in 1986, the Upham family, descendants of Sam Dedrick, discovered the third of the original tintypes among their family heirlooms, and loaned it to the Lincoln County Heritage Trust, who ran a museum in the town of Lincoln, New Mexico.
The LCHT put the tintype out on display under hot, bright lights. Inevitably, the image's emulsion darkened. When the Upham family discovered how the tintype had been allowed to deteriorate, they were furious and took it back. But by then it was too late, this extremely rare artifact was toast.
Today, one original tintype of Billy the Kid remains unaccounted for. If found, it would be a treasure worth millions.