Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Yours Truly, Billy the Kid

Courier-Journal - New Mexico library has Billy the Kid letters: "SANTA FE, N.M. — The handwritten letter to the governor is polite, articulate and to the point.

'Dear Sir,' begins the missive. 'I wish you would come down to the jail and see me.'

The sender of the letter to territorial governor Lew Wallace was none other than Billy the Kid, the legendary gunslinger who was being held in the Santa Fe jail at the time. Just four months later, the Kid was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett.

But in a boon to history lovers and Billy the Kid buffs, that March 1881 letter and an earlier letter to the governor from New Mexico's most famous outlaw are now in a state history library in Santa Fe and available for public viewing."

1 comment:

Thomas Miller said...

Governor Lew Wallace was also a General in the Civil War and a diplomat to Turkey. But he's best known as the author of "BEN HUR", one of the most popular novels of the 19th century.