http://media1.fdncms.com/inlander/im...724bdcd042.jpg
Jesse JAMES, on the right. Another mythical American gunman/hero who was really a bandit/murderer.
http://media1.fdncms.com/inlander/im...724bdcd042.jpg
Jesse JAMES, on the right. Another mythical American gunman/hero who was really a bandit/murderer.
I saw this photo a week or two ago. Is that really Jesse James on the right? He does look kind of like him. He was a baby faced gent. I like the photograph. The most interesting thing about it to me, is the belt buckle worn by the guy on the left.
Hi Stepmccarty,
I find your collection fascinating! Kudos to you on all of the work you've done with these photos, the history you've collected, the leg work you've done on talking to all of the families, etc. Outstanding.
I've been following your posts on here, in both 'Billy The Kid' discussions, with all of the tintype pics you've posted. They are awesome, and you know so much history behind many of these folks, more than most of us can find just from the books and history out there. Have you ever documented or at least written down in some fashion the knowledge that you have?
I've been trying to find if there has ever been any reproduction/reprint of the Sallie Chisum diaries from the archives they have at the NMSU Library?
(I would so love to be able to read her diaries, as it sounds like there is so much good information she recorded)
I kept hitting on this 'google books' link, which seems to indicate there may have been a printed book actually done of these, but I'm not sure this book actually exists?
https://books.google.com/books/about...d=C_jxHAAACAAJ
There seems to be a valid 'worldcat' item for this book, and indicates it is at the 'University of Texas' Library... it's a 2-volume book...
(If only I wasn't so far away here on the east coast!!)
http://www.worldcat.org/title/diary-.../oclc/42845337
Are you at all familiar with any of this?
I am in comm with a fellow who is systematically reading Sallie's diaries and we discuss what he finds out. They are not perfectly organized. I understand that one can get transcripts thru the U. of Texas. I don't know how to do that however.
Concerning my knowledge of Billy the Kid. I have read and re-read all of the books, that I can find, about the subject. I have talked with several of the writers. I have been to what was old Lincoln County half a dozen times spending about a month around those parts each visit. I have met and spent many hours talking with some of the local experts. I interviewed several people who knew people who knew the kid. There is no one living who actually knew Billy Bonney. The last person who knew the kid died in 1946. If there is someone else who lived longer I don't know about that person. I found Sallie Chisum's collection of pictures and over the almost decade since have studied each person depicted in that collection. Then I found the photographer's personal photo album which had a dozen or more pictures in it, which I was able to photograph. I studied the photographer and the pictures I copied from his album and eventually figured out who they were. That took me nearly a decade.
Walking the ground is very important and one gets the "feel" of the place. So I've been to Anton Chico, Roswell, White Oaks, Porto de Luna, Las Vegas, Lincoln, the river Ruidoso river valley, just to name a few. I've been all thru the buildings in Lincoln several times and over period of around 40 years. My first visit to Fort Sumner and Lincoln was in 1972.
Certainly Fred Nolan knows more about Billy and his surrounds than I do, and so does Steve Sederwall. I can't even start to list all of the research that I done or the number of people I have interviewed. When doing research in the flesh you get a lot of blank stares!
All of that put together I have a pretty good idea what went on way back then. I have known people in Sallie's family and probably Billy's too, all of my life.
I do not call myself expert, but I do call myself pretty knowledgeable.
I talked with Leon Metz once, we had lunch together in Mesilla. He said that he had written a lot of books, but he was really interested in Billy. He wrote a good book on Garrett.
Billy the kid, for some crazy reason has blown the shirts up of many historians and scholars and I have spent many hours pondering why. Billy would love it, if he knew. Billy Bonney never had much....maybe a nice watch and a pretty good horse and that was about it. I don't think he cared. He was a young fellow and loved adventure. He had a pretty well developed sense of justice. He was loyal almost to a fault. I don't think he thought that he'd be successful and I don't think he cared much. He appreciated life and wanted to enjoy it as long as he could, but I don't think he thought that he would live very long. Billy loved to entertain and to be entertaining. He loved nothing better than to be on stage and he was a wonderful story/joke teller. He loved to sing and dance. He enjoyed the company of Spanish people and loved speaking their language. He found them easy going, and he was easy going.
If Billy had run off to Mexico with Paulita Maxwell would he have been happy? Would he have become a family man, a father and husband? I don't think so. Just like Henry Brown he liked the excitement of committed crimes. He couldn't help himself. He wouldn't have lasted long.
http://ericjames.org/wordpress/2015/...authenticated/Originally Posted by blueribbontea
Sorry, but ever time I see this thread it makes me want to ask: His uppers? Or lowers?
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
If you are alluding to Billy's front teeth, it appears to me that his upper incisors were kind of twisted and one slightly overlapped the other. It was a noticeable deformity and the Coe cousins mentioned it. Billy didn't have too much trouble closing his lips over his teeth and if he gave it a thought, he would do it. He was probably a little embarrassed about his buck teeth.
Billy's jaw was narrow and he did not have much of a chin. Today, his parents would have put braces on his teeth at about age 14. However, he was described as being good looking. He had clear blue eyes and brown wavy hair. He stood up straight and for a guy his size, he was strong and athletic. He was an excellent horsemen and could pick up a handkerchief from the ground at a dead run. To his friends one of his most memorable traits was his light hearted personality. He loved telling stories and jokes around the camp fire. The men used to have "sings". They would gather around Susan McSween's piano and sing their hearts out, Billy having a "clear tenor voice". Frank Coe said that he never knew anyone who was so much fun to be around. He sorely missed the Kid after he was gone.
I think John's comment went right over your head! Or maybe I caught it as my brother in law is a dentist.
LOL - every now and then things go clean over my head! What was Kasaian talking about anyway?
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