Monday, October 19, 2015

Billy the Kid -- Playing Croquet?

One of the rarest photos in the world: Billy the Kid. For a long time, only one photo of this famous outlaw was thought to exist.
   The Kid, also known as William H. Bonney, was killed at age 21 by his friend, Sheriff Pat Garrett. (There's a whole story there...and it doesn't reflect that well on Garrett, either.)

Here's the best-known photo, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Handsome is as handsome does


Now another one has turned up -- with Billy and his friends playing croquet. You read that right -- not rustling cattle or in a blazing shootout. Nope, they're whacking balls around in a most civilized manner.





The photo was discovered by a man who bought it, along with two others, in a Fresno, CA junk shop for TWO BUCKS.

Estimated value:  $5 million.

Authenticating something like this is extremely difficult. But so far, facial recognition programs are agreeing. Several people known to have hung out with Billy are also in the photo. And Billy worked for an Englishman for a while. (This is stated as the reason for croquet...though my family, who are American through and through, often played croquet on hot summer nights. Whacking a little brother's ball into next week gave a gawky farm girl great pleasure.)


Take a look at the video above, and see what you think. (Maybe go play some croquet too, while you're pondering.)



Here's another Billy the Kid photo - claimed, at least. (I'm not so sure.)



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You Go, Kids!

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