Was Billy the Kid a girl?

And other wacky beliefs

I’ve heard a lot of strange theories over the past few months but the idea that Billy the Kid was a woman, passing herself off as a young man, is the one that nearly broke my brain.

It seems this particular theory stems solely around the idea that Billy appears to have wide “child birthing” hips in his one and only photo.

Fortunately, there’s an explanation.

The above image, known as the Dedrick tintype, is the only still-existent original photograph of the Kid. And yeah - at first glance it does appear that Billy, in addition to being shaped like a pear, also has a bit of an apple bottom. However, once you learn about the history of the tintype, you’ll realize that not everything is as it seems.

First of all, it’s worth noting that the photographer took four images on a single metal plate, which afterwards was cut into four separate, but identical images, each about the size of a credit card.

Billy gave one of these to Deluvina Maxwell and another to his friend Sam Dedrick (pictured above). The third somehow ended up in the possession of Boston’s Illustrated Police News, who printed a woodcut engraving fashioned from the tintype while the Kid was still alive, and the fourth was – at one point in time – in the hands of Pat Garrett. He likely took it off of Billy after arresting him at Stinking Springs.

Like I said - the only one still known to exist is the Dedrick tintype and it’s absolutely covered in smudges.

There have been numerous failed attempts to touch up the image over the years, resulting in more than a few ridiculous renderings of Billy the Kid. These images have been widely distributed and have skewed our idea of the young outlaw’s true appearance.

Various depictions of Billy the Kid, courtesy of True West Magazine

Various depictions of Billy the Kid, courtesy of True West Magazine

Luckily, there’s what’s thought to be a carte de visite (copy on paper) made from one of these original images before it became tarnished. The copy below was first used in Emerson Hough’s book Story of an Outlaw, published in 1907. I’m not sure which of the original’s that this carte was made from, but due to Garrett and Hough being friends, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the one owned by Pat.

Carte de visite of Billy the Kid tintype

As you can clearly see in the above photo, without the smudge Billy’s hips do indeed appear less wide and even his face doesn’t seem as bulbous.

But do people really think Billy was a female? Surprisingly, there are some that do, albeit a very tiny percentage. Other’s think the Kid was dead when the photo was taken and that his corpse is being propped up, or that he was simply blitzed-out-of-his-mind-drunk. All of these theories are just trying to make sense of an admittedly bad photo; one made a little less mysterious once we learn of the various altercations and blemishes.

Do I think this will appease those who are looking for a conspiracy around every corner or convinced that the Free Masons are somehow involved? LOL absolutely not.

But I didn’t write this to change anyone’s mind. I simply thought this would be a fun way to discuss the history of the famous tintype. And if we’re not having fun with history - or with any other of life’s pursuits - what’s the point?