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Post by Wayne Land on Nov 7, 2009 8:30:05 GMT -5
So what do you guys think about this photo of Brushy which is an obvious attempt to recreate the famous tintype pose? How did he know to put the rifle in his left hand? In 1950 didn't most people believe Billy was left handed because of that tintype? Did anyone at all know the tintype was a reverse image? Obviously, either Brushy knew that, or the person who posed him knew it. Another piece of the puzzle? Attachments:
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Post by mwb on Nov 8, 2009 21:09:46 GMT -5
Where did you find this photo? Do you know when it was taken? That is interesting, to say the least.
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Post by Wayne Land on Nov 9, 2009 10:41:53 GMT -5
The photo was an original photo displayed in a frame in the Billy The Kid museum in Hico, TX. I don't know when it was taken except that Brushy died in December of 1950 and the movie "Left Handed Gun" starring Paul Newman wasn't released until years after Brushy's death. That gives me reason to think there were very few people who knew the famous tintype was a reverse image. And for anyone attempting to recreate that pose, it would be far more likely they'd have the pistol in his "left hand" and the rifle in his right. I suspect Brushy remembered which hand the rifle was in when he posed for that tintype in 1878 or so!! That's just my thoughts on it, considering the most logical assumptions.
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Post by Wayne Land on Nov 9, 2009 10:43:58 GMT -5
Oh, BTW, I don't have the original. The museum gave me permission to take some photos that day. I have others that you haven't likely seen. Maybe tonight I'll upload some more of them.
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Post by mwb on Nov 9, 2009 14:19:20 GMT -5
I have a niece that lives in Hamilton, Tx. and my youngest son and I are going up there to do some hunting over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'll have to take a side trip over to that museum to see what's all there. I've been to the gravesite as that's just down the road from where they live. Hico is right by there, too, that I recall. Seems like there was a museum of sorts in Hamilton, too, but it was closed last time we were there.
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Post by Wayne Land on Nov 9, 2009 17:13:55 GMT -5
Yes, Hico is just about 20 miles or so north of Hamilton and the museum there would be well worth the drive. And yes, there is also a museum in Hamilton, run by a lady (I forget her name) who claims to be a descendant. I visited both museums and found them both to be interesting. As for photos and artifacts and such, the one in Hico is better but the one in Hamilton has some binders filled with documents, letters, and such that are worth perusing. I understand the lady there was at the hearing and spoke against the exhumation of Brushy for DNA retrieval a couple years ago. Maybe you could ask her about that. I'd love to know why she opposed it.
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Post by chrislampe on Sept 15, 2010 19:36:43 GMT -5
I would say that Brushy Bill lived during an era when tintypes were a very common medium for photographs and he was probably well area that most are reversed images.
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Post by Thain Timmertberg on May 6, 2011 13:48:39 GMT -5
chrislampe, i think it is even more unbelievable how you think this old man took the time to think out everything down to the T. like he was thinking....i better reverse my image so that years later when poeple find out that tintypes are reversed images and i'm dead at least people will believe me even tho i'm dead. everyone thought billy the kid was left handed, yet everyone knew tintypes were reverse images...okay??? by the time they found the photo no one knew what a tintype was.
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Post by Wayne Land on May 7, 2011 13:34:55 GMT -5
I would say that Brushy Bill lived during an era when tintypes were a very common medium for photographs and he was probably well area that most are reversed images. That logic just doesn't hold up. If "everyone" knew tintypes were reversed and that was so easy for Brushy to figure out, what happened to producers of the Paul Newman movie "Left Handed Gun". They weren't as clever as Brushy? I don't buy that logic. Brushy knew how to recreate the original tintype because he was there when it was taken. |
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Post by kidcanuck on May 8, 2011 20:08:35 GMT -5
wayne didn't they realize tintypes were actually a reversed image after brushy passed anyway?
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Post by chrislampe on May 9, 2011 10:07:19 GMT -5
I had completely forgotten that I posted on this forum until I just happened to notice the bookmark in my browser and decided to check out the forum.
I don't know how far back the belief that Billy was left-handed became widespread but what the producers and director of "The Left Handed Gun" believed is irrelevant. Whether Brushy was born around 1859 and was Billy the Kid or he was born in whatever year his female relative claimed (was it 1879??), he grew up in an era when many photographs were tintypes. How is it illogical to assume that he knew tintypes were reversed images? I don't believe there was anything to figure out. I suspect that everyone who came to adulthood in the late 1800's knew, without considering it, that tintypes are reveresed images.
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Post by timmerberg on May 10, 2011 10:40:50 GMT -5
well, i'm not expert, who know's? but i remember that tintype's were used a short time before they went to or back to cabinet cards, which i think were not a reverse image
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Post by Wayne Land on May 12, 2011 22:01:16 GMT -5
I'm not suggesting no one knew tintypes were reversed until after Brushy's death. I am saying most people were not aware of it. Certainly when the first tintype was taken, the photographer looked at if and said "shucks, it's backwards". The point is that there "was" a very common belief that BTK was left handed and it was based on the reverse image and it is therefore, unlikely, that Brushy would have posed with his pistol in his right hand when "most" people still believed BTK was a lefty.
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