Taken outside Beaver Smith's Saloon in Old Fort Sumner, probably in late 1879 or early 1880, the image was published in the first volume of G. B. Anderson's History of New Mexico: Its Resources & People in 1907. The photographer employed a tripod-mounted, box camera with a four-tube lens set that took four identical photographs at the same time. The image shown on this page came from the upper-left hand lens and is known as the 1907 halftone. It had been retouched to eliminate scratches and the original is now lost. The extant unretouched tintype taken by the lower-right hand lens, known as the Upham-Dedrick tintype, contains more detail and shows a hand holding a board to reflect light onto the subjects unlit side and has the thumbprints of the photographer on the bottom edge. Other details not shown clearly in the 1907 halftone include the holster having a strap to prevent the gun from falling out while riding and Billy wearing a "gambler's pinky ring," so called because it could be used as an aid to cheating at three-card monte. His shirt appears to have a design (a nautical anchor?) but it may be a necklace.[1] but further examination revealed that as all Winchester Model 1873 rifles were made with the loading gate on the right side of the receiver, the "left-handed" photograph is in fact a mirror image.
