Story Highlights
- historical event: This photo of the famous Billy the Kid was sold in 2011 for 2,300,000 dollars and is the seventh most expensive photograph in world history.
The famous Wild West outlaw was born on this day in 1859. His real name was William Henry McCarty and he was probably of Irish origin. According to legend, he killed 21 men. Towards the end of his life he was negotiating with the governor of New Mexico about his pardon in exchange for information about his associates.
It is interesting that the governor in question was Lew Wallace, author of the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (it was the most widely read American novel of the 19th century, put to screen in the famous 1959 film Ben-Hur, and the first work of fiction blessed by the pope). The negotiations failed and Billy the Kid returned to banditry. The governor put a price on his head. Billy was killed at only 21 years of age. There exists a preserved photograph of him, which was sold in 2011 for 2,300,000 dollars (the seventh most expensive photograph in the world history).
