Billy the Kid

Henry McCarty (November 23, 1859–July 14, 1881) better known as Billy the Kid but also known by the alias William Henry Bonney, was a 19th century American frontier outlaw and murderer who was a participant in the Lincoln County War. He is reputed to have killed 21 men, one for each year of his life, but the figure is probably closer to nine (four on his own and five with the help of others). McCarty had blue eyes, smooth cheeks, and was unusually friendly; traits that few other outlaws in the American West had at the time.

Left-handed or right-handed?

For most of the 20th century, it was widely assumed that Billy the Kid was left-handed. This belief came from the fact that the only known photograph of Billy, an undated ferrotype, shows him with a Model 1873 Winchester rifle in his right hand and a gun belt with a holster on his left side, where a left handed person would typically wear a pistol. The belief became so entrenched that in 1958, a biographical film was made about Billy the Kid called The Left Handed Gun starring Paul Newman.

Related Topics:
20th century - Left-handed - Ferrotype - 1958 - Paul Newman

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It wasn't until late in the 20th century when it became general knowledge that the familiar ferrotype was actually a reverse image. The familiar version shows Billy's Model 1873 Winchester with the loading port on the left side. All Model 1873s had the loading port on the right side proving the image was a negative and that Billy was in fact wearing his pistol on his right hip. Even though the image has been proven to be a negative, the idea of a left handed Billy the Kid continues to widely circulate.

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