Billy the Kid photo to be auctioned...

Denis · June 24, 2011, 01:56:56 PM

Dang...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110624/ts_alt_afp/ushistory_20110624072155;_ylt=AnUdiJijyAWY22JJHCu2iOJn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTM0b2lnZ21iBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDYyNC91c2hpc3RvcnkEY2NvZGUDdG9wZ21wdG9wMjAwcG9vbARjcG9zAzgEcG9zAzgEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNyYXJlYmlsbHl0aGU-

Highlander · June 24, 2011, 05:23:31 PM

With something like that, to me, it should be considered a cultural icon and taken into State care...

Lightyear · June 26, 2011, 09:50:10 AM

Dang indeed! Went for 2 million!

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/26/billy-kid-image-sells-for-more-than-2m/?test=faces

Highlander · June 29, 2011, 03:03:33 PM

I looked up a list of top-priced images... not the most expensive...

That $2M had a 15% added to it for good measure too...

uwe · July 01, 2011, 12:26:39 PM

Eat your heart out Pat Garrett, who wants your picture?

While googling, I found this:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20026479-504083.html

The mind boggles. Their respective descendants are still feuding with one another, shouldn't they be having mutual BBQs by now instead? You Americans are a curious folk.

OldManC · July 01, 2011, 01:17:39 PM

Quote from: uwe on July 01, 2011, 12:26:39 PM
The mind boggles. Their respective descendants are still feuding with one another, shouldn't they be having mutual BBQs by now instead? You Americans are a curious folk.

My impression of that article is that Garrett and Wallace's (former NM Governor) descendants are upset that a pardon that was never offered is the excuse the current governor is using to possibly pardon him now. Bonney's descendants aren't involved, though I have a brother-in-law who is one (his branch spells it Bohne) who would most likely agree with the Garrett and Wallace families. As a curious American I would think it odd if the Bonney descendants were feuding with the others, but I can easily see where people would be upset over this pardon.

BTW, pictures and a review will be posted tonight, Herr Hornung. And don't you look nice all cleaned up!

Highlander · July 01, 2011, 05:57:12 PM

What a handsome dashing debonaire chap, indeed...

[feud] Er... did someone mention Campbell's and MacDonald's...? ~~[/feud]~~

uwe · July 02, 2011, 05:04:48 AM

I have no opinion on whether Billy or Pat were good or bad people, probably somewhere in the middle. They are historical/folklore figures with the details lost in the mists of time. Just like Jack the Ripper. I also think that pardoning anybody more than a century after he was shot by a state official is kind of self-defeating. And while I am not an ahistorical person, I can't imagine that anything one of my ancestors did more than a hundrerd years ago to another person or was done by that person to him/her would give me any ill feeling against this person much less his descendants today. Both the pardon and the movement against it seem obsessive and sour-faced to me.

Pilgrim · July 02, 2011, 07:05:34 AM

People do tend to obsess. Portrayals of the Kid have varied from bloodthirsty to sympathetic, and I have never done enough digging to figure out where the balance lies. I suspect it's more negative than positive.

Most western figures were much more grey than black and white. Life was much harder then than now - it's reported that many figures in law enforcement also had backgrounds in crime, and sometimes alternated roles. The Earps of Tombstone (and other western sites) are highly debated figures, and it's pretty clear to me that they had their lawless moments and their own "family business" to run things.

IIRC, Wyatt Earp became a consultant to Hollywood westerns before his death...hence the movie "Sunset". Evidently John Wayne met him and patterned his lawman figures after Earp to some degree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096193/

Dave W · July 02, 2011, 08:08:06 AM

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (with John Carradine as Dracula) was probably more accurate than the lame attempted rewrite of history by Bonney supporters. There was never any evidence that a pardon was ever offered for the killings in question. IMHO the attorney who started all this is a damned fool. Bill Richardson fortunately decided against it before he left office.

Pilgrim · July 02, 2011, 11:14:14 AM

I just remembered - my sister in law is married to a gent with the last name Bonney. He's from central Washington state and they live in Yakima. I wonder...?

Highlander · July 03, 2011, 06:42:54 AM

My surname is Stewart but I ain't Royal (maybe a pain) by any means...

For those (older) F1 enthusiasts my wife has never been pulled over for speeding and had to offer her name (Jackie Stewart)

Freuds_Cat · July 03, 2011, 06:48:28 AM

Quote from: BUFF on July 03, 2011, 06:42:54 AM
My surname is Stewart but I ain't Royal (maybe a pain) by any means...

For those (older) F1 enthusiasts my wife has never been pulled over for speeding and had to offer her name (Jackie Stewart)

Dave W · July 03, 2011, 08:51:52 AM

FWIW, the Governor Lew Wallace in this story is the same Lew Wallace who wrote Ben-Hur. it was first published while he was in office.

Anyway, from what I've read, Bonney was not Billy the Kid's real name, it was apparently McCarty. So none of you with Bonney relatives need to worry about his legacy.

Highlander · July 03, 2011, 04:47:18 PM

Anyone who's studied geneology at length will know the nonsense that is "roots" - If I followed the Island and/or Gaelic traditions my name would be Coinneach mhich Coinneach, or for you English speaking types Kenneth MacKenzie...

My full Gaelic name...? Coinneach chulich mhich Coinneach chulich mhich Coinneach chulich mhich Euan mhich Dhomhal mhich Dhomhal ruadh mhich Andra - never tried to write it down before - steobard is the (ancient) family trade - stewards - tacksmen - thugs, by appointment to the Laird...