The auction also includes a signed postcard sent by Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid. The handwritten card, featuring an image of Balance Rock in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado, was sent September 4, 1904, from Thistle, Utah, to Longabaugh’s brother, Clarence, in Dodge City, Minnesota. Harry explains on the card that he had been “moving a lot” and that he was in Utah because “Leroy” - Butch Cassidy’s real name was Robert Leroy Parker, and he often answered to his middle name - wanted to be there.
It was sent and intercepted by law enforcement officials who were trying to track down Longabaugh. The address side is stamped “Pinkerton Det. Agy. Hold”, evidence that law enforcement was intercepting mail addressed to his family in an effort to pinpoint his location. Other examples of Longabaugh’s handwriting have not been found.
Going under the hammer too is a subscription book through which prints of the “Last Hours of Lincoln” could be ordered. The print shows Abraham Lincoln as he lay dying at the Petersen House, across the street from Ford’s Theater where he was shot. The forms in the book were used for orders of the print that was designed by John Batchelder and painted by Alonzo Chappel. Also included in the book, which measures 6 by 8 inches, are original albumen images of prominent people like Robert Lincoln (Abraham’s son), Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. Among those who ordered prints were Robert Lincoln, surgeon James Barnes, Speaker Schuyler Colfax and General John Logan.
Other highlights include:
- an Abraham Lincoln/John Wilkes Booth assassination broadside
- a Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark “Voyage of Discovery” expedition map
- a U.S. House of Representatives desk and chair
