Writing in red ink on ruled paper, Billy the Kid writes a letter to Lew Wallace, the governor of New Mexico.Written from Fort Sumner, on December 12, 1880, the missive says, in part, “I noticed in the Las Vegas Gazette a piece which stated that Billy ‘the’ Kid, the name by which I am known in the County, was the captain of a Band of Outlaws who hold forth at the Portales.


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