A Koch brother buys Billy the Kid
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One of the infamous Koch brothers
pays $2.3 million
for only known portrait of Billy the Kid
One of the four Koch brothers, William Koch, paid $2.3 million for a credit card-sized tintype photo of western folk-hero Billy the Kid when it went up for auction last night at Brian Lebel’s 22nd Annual old West Show and Auction. William is an avid collector of western memorabilia and is no longer associated with his brothers Charles and David, who run Koch Industries and finance conservative and libertarian causes across the country.
Billy the Koch now owns Billy the Kid
The photo was taken outside a saloon in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, when Billy the Kid was barely out of his teens. He was holding a Winchester rifle in the portrait.
Experts estimate it was taken around 1879. But 132 years later, it endures as the most recognizable photo of the American West.
$2.3 million worth of photograph
The life of Billy the Kid has been portrayed in film several times, most famously by Robert Taylor in the 1941 movie “Billy the Kid”, Kris Kristofferson in the 1973 version called “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” and Emilio Estevez in the 1988 update “Young Guns.”
30 year-old Robert Taylor playing teenage Billy in 1941
1973 and another 30 year-old teenager, Kris Kristofferson
1988 and a much younger looking Billy – Emilio Estevez
Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty but later known as outlaw William Bonney, was not the cold-blooded killer he has been portrayed as but a young man who lived in a violent world where knowing how to use a gun was the difference between life and death.
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Infamous Koch brothers!? I guess that depends on one’s political views. I prefer to label as infamous George Soros who funds the Tides Foundation and many other radical left causes across the country.
Good post Holte. I think the Young Guns movie probably came the closest to portraying the real story of the Kid. There really were not good guys in that entire fiasco of the range wars and political corruption. It sort of reminds of the way things are today except we done ride on horses and have shoot outs in the streets. We do, however, still have rich guys trying to control everything and everyone and politicians willing to be bought.
Thanks Lazer, sometimes I think we are still still living in the lawless 1870s like you suggest.
I really like Young Guns. What ever happened to Emilio Estevez, the normal brother.
The music in the Kris Kristofferson version was superb (Bob Dylan, but Young Guns I thought, captured the lawless essence of the time.