
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993                   TAG: 9308280061
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.                                LENGTH: Medium

BILLY THE KID SMILES AGAIN? EXPERTS SAY PHOTO REAL

It looks like famed Old West gun fighter Billy the Kid may not have been quite as camera-shy as once thought.

A second ancient photograph appears to match the face in the one known picture of outlaw William H. Bonney, who was hunted down and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1881.

A computer identification expert and a facial reconstruction anthropologist agreed that the image is probably genuine, the Albuquerque Journal reported Friday.

The established picture of Billy the Kid shows a slouched, slope-shouldered youth posing with a rifle, fitting his reputation as quick-drawing gunslinger and cattle rustler.

The second photo shows a man in a suit sitting with his hand on a book.

The owner of the second tintype, Ray John de Aragon of Las Vegas, N.M., said it was passed down from his great-grandmother, who according to family history was a medical woman who treated the fugitive and became his friend.

Thomas Kyle of Los Alamos, a former government intelligence specialist, said his computer analysis of the two images shows combined facial and physical characteristics that would exist only once in 1.8 million people.

Kyle admitted his probability estimate was base on subjective criteria, but he said the photos show identical characteristics.

Western historian and Billy the Kid authority Robert Utley of Moose, Wyo., said unless someone can prove otherwise, he was ready to accept the portrait as genuine.

The Lincoln Heritage Trust, which owns the original Billy the Kid photo, wants more testing.

by CNB