Brushy Photo

[chivato1011]

This photo of Brushy in his twenties. Resembles the old tintype of Billy. What do you guys think?

[Wayne Land]

My fascination with Brushy started back in the late 90's when I first saw the movie Young Guns II. As I am somewhat of an amateur photo editing enthusiast, my first attempts to form an opinion about him began with comparing photos. I figured there was no more valid way to know, short of DNA. I found there was a near perfect facial match with the photo of Brushy at 27 and the tintype of Billy. So I began showing my comparisons to friends and some said "yep" that's the same guy and some said "un, I don't think so Wayne", or "I'm not convinced". This led me to further study and more comparisons. I discovered Brushy's entire body stature matched perfectly with the tintype. Still not everyone was convinced. So I compared the tintype to other alleged photos of Billy. None of them matched as well as Brushy's photo. And still some folks were not convinced. So I compared the hands and the shoulder angles, etc. And still some folks said, well that's quite a coincidence but it's just a coincidence. As I began to get frustrated over how difficult it was to produce a convincing case for matching photos I began to realize that much is in the eye of the beholder. You take a tintype of Billy that is all distorted with black splotches all over it of a guy slovenly dressed and compare it to a photo that is relatively clear of a guy who looks clean cut and well dressed and the gut, knee jerk reaction is "can't be the same person."

So here we have a photo of Brushy that is not quite so clear and distinct and it makes more of an impression as matching the tintype. Yes, it does. But still folks who don't want to believe it, will just stubbornly continue to say "nope, not convinced". Or even say "there's no way that is Billy". My conclusion is that photos don't prove anything to most people or they prove what the person already chooses to believe. Unfortunate.

[chivato1011]

The eyebrows and the left ear of brushy are strong points in my opinion.

[Wayne Land]

Yes, absolutely. And if you compare the tintype with Brushy's photo alleged to be at 27 years old, you see the following in both photos.

1) right nostril slightly lower than the left
2) right side of the mouth slightly lower than the left
2) right should lower than the left
3) distance from pupil to eyebrow the same on each eye
4) width and length of nose the same
5) on each, the inner ear shape of left ear is different from the right yet each left ear matches and each right ear matches
6) though the shape of the chin appears to be different, the distance from lower lip to tip of chin is the same.
7) width of head at eye level is the same
8) from pupil to nose is the same
9) from pupil to mouth corners is the same
10) width of eyes are the same even though the left and right vary from each other on each man
11) shape of eye openings left and right are the same
12) shape of the bridge of the nose appears different but I think that is due to angle of the lighting and Brushy's looks different in each picture of him

Some say the eye color doesn't match or that Billy had blonde hair. We don't have color photos of either so we can't say if the eye color matches, but Severo Gallegos swore they did. And regardless of what a couple of contemporary descriptions of Billy said about his hair, that tintype does "not" look like blonde hair. No way.

[tommiet]

Jul 23, 2014 22:22:18 GMT -5 Wayne Land said:

Yes, absolutely. And if you compare the tintype with Brushy's photo alleged to be at 27 years old, you see the following in both photos.

1) right nostril slightly lower than the left
2) right side of the mouth slightly lower than the left
2) right should lower than the left
3) distance from pupil to eyebrow the same on each eye
4) width and length of nose the same
5) on each, the inner ear shape of left ear is different from the right yet each left ear matches and each right ear matches
6) though the shape of the chin appears to be different, the distance from lower lip to tip of chin is the same.
7) width of head at eye level is the same
8) from pupil to nose is the same
9) from pupil to mouth corners is the same
10) width of eyes are the same even though the left and right vary from each other on each man
11) shape of eye openings left and right are the same
12) shape of the bridge of the nose appears different but I think that is due to angle of the lighting and Brushy's looks different in each picture of him

Some say the eye color doesn't match or that Billy had blonde hair. We don't have color photos of either so we can't say if the eye color matches, but Severo Gallegos swore they did. And regardless of what a couple of contemporary descriptions of Billy said about his hair, that tintype does "not" look like blonde hair. No way.

[tommiet]

Hello Wayne,

 my name is Tom and I'm from Holland and I'm new here, and I also think Brushy Bill Roberts is the real deal.

About Billy the Kid color of his hair and eyes, Pat Garrett knows verywel how the kid looks,on page 14 of "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid" Garrett said: A light brown beard was beginning to show up on his lip and cheeks; his hair was of a darker brown, glossy, and luxuriant; his eyes were a deep blue, dotted with spots of a hazel hue, and were very bright, expressive, and inteligent,  looks to me as the same eyes as Brushy.

best ragards Tom

[Thain Timmertberg]

One of the books, possibly Jameson's Beyond the Grave mentioned this is not Brushy Bill but a relative.