Strange announcement in a 1908 Roswell newspaper

[MissyS]

I stumbled across this kinda eerily odd short ad in a 1908 Roswell Daily newspaper announcing Billie the Kid will be shown “ actually alive”  in a book and stationary store window. What makes it odd is there’s no explanation of it. It doesn’t say it’s a play or reenactment or advertising for anything. Did shops have performances in their windows in 1908? Interestingly the spelling as “Billie” instead of “Billy” Any ideas as to what this could have been about? 

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063823/1908-06-16/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1877&sort=relevance&date2=1963&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&lccn=&index=9&words=Billie+Kid&proxdistance=5&state=&rows=20&ortext=Billy+the+kid&proxtext=Billy+the+kid&phrasetext=Billy+the+Kid&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=324

[RonBk]

That is very strange and thought-provoking. Probably some performance artist I would guess, but way its written makes me wonder. Its so plain and simple, perhaps it was the real Billie. But then why would he want to participate in that kind of thing?

[MissyS]

Oct 25, 2022 1:29:40 GMT -5 RonBk said:

That is very strange and thought-provoking. Probably some performance artist I would guess, but way its written makes me wonder. Its so plain and simple, perhaps it was the real Billie. But then why would he want to participate in that kind of thing?

I agree. some kind of performance artist is a good guess, the words “actually alive” could mean an act. I wonder if the performance was to possibly promote a new book about Billy the Kid that was published at the time? The spelling of “Billie” in the ad makes me think maybe the owner of the book store; Ingersoll may have known the Kid personally to know he spelled his name like that?