Charlie Bowdre’s Blood Stained Photo

Talk about a rare photo.  Billy the Kid’s friend Charlie Bowdre carried in his pocket a photo of his wife Manuela and him.  That’s where it was on December 23, 1880 when a posse led by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett gunned Bowdre down at Stinking Springs.

Charlie’s blood stained the photo, which was taken from the body by Garrett and kept as a memento.  He passed it on to his youngest son Jarvis, who sold it to a collector many years ago.  It remains in that private collection.