Within the year the family relocated again, this time to Silver City, a mining boomtown near the continental divide in southwest New Mexico. It was the first of several incredible escapes. Photo courtesy of the Silver City Museum.īilly was arrested the first time at age 15 but the jail couldn’t hold him. But his mother died of tuberculosis and Billy began a notorious crime spree for the rest of his short life. Among the names of witnesses scrawled on their Santa Fe marriage record is that of Henry McCarty.īilly moved with his mother to Silver City, New Mexico, a mining boomtown. From there, the family hopscotched to Wichita, Denver, and Santa Fe, where in 1873 Catherine married her lover, William Antrim, an Indiana Civil War veteran. We do know that he was living with his widowed mother, Catherine, and brother, Joseph, in Indianapolis in the late 1860s. No one knows for sure if that is true, nor the exact year of his birth, but 1859 seems the most likely. He said more than once that he was born in New York City. In fact, he didn’t acquire his distinctive moniker until the last six months of his short life. He himself would be gunned down not much more than a year later, but his most infamous exploits, and arguably his most heinous killings, still lay ahead.Ī reporter described Billy as having “a frank open countenance, looking like a school boy, with the traditional silky fuzz on his upper lip clear blue eyes, with a roguish snap about them light hair and complexion.” At that time the Kid already had several killings to his name, including a sheriff and a deputy. What Koch had purchased was smaller than a credit card, but the slightly hazy image staring out of the thin metal sheet was of a living, breathing Billy the Kid, taken 130 years ago at Fort Sumner in the New Mexico Territory.

Reporters, photographers, onlookers with camera phones mobbed the winning bidder: billionaire William I. And when the hammer fell-for a record $2.3 million dollars-a roar erupted from the crowd, followed by near pandemonium. Spectators cranked their heads and twisted in their seats to see who was bidding in $100,000 increments. When the bidding for Lot 279 finally began, the rapid-fire chatter of the auctioneer electrified a room already tense with anticipation. The auction house had published a presale estimate of $300,000–$400,000, a jaw-dropping price for any historic photograph. In June 2011 close to 500 people attended a public auction in Denver, Colorado, to witness an iconic tintype go on the block. It took just two minutes and thirty seconds. Since then, two other images have come to light. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.A tintype of Billy the Kid was the only known authenticated image of the outlaw when it sold for $2.3 million in 2011. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping.

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