Jesse James Meets Billy the Kid

The tale of a meeting between Jesse James and Billy the Kid seems almost too mythic to be true -- especially as Jesse's daughter was born only about ten days before the supposed meeting took place. But, nevertheless, three sources place Jesse at the Hot Springs in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in late July, 1879, and Henry Hoyt, in his book Frontier Doctor, says Billy was there, also.

This is how Hoyt described Jesse, the man introduced to him as "Mr. Howard" -- "He had piercing steely blue eyes with a peculiar blink, and the tip of a finger on his left hand was missing. I mentally classed him as a railroad man. He proved to be most congenial, was a good talker, (and) had evidently traveled quite a bit..."

Hoyt described Billy as "...urbane and smiling... he had slipped into Las Vegas, discarded his cowboy togs for an entire new city outfit of clothing, and was having the time of his life for a few days at the Hot Springs..."

What would have happened if Jesse James really did meet Billy Bonney? In The Jesse James Scrapbook Billy says something that Jesse doesn't like -- not one bit.

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