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Miguel Otero's Whereabouts. |
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Of all the ways to disprove the Otero Letter, the easiest would be simply to place Miguel A. Otero elsewhere during the time the Earp sojourned in Albuquerque. If Otero was stuck in some other town, then either the Otero Letter is a hoax, or Otero's memory was playing all kinds of tricks on him when he sat down to write it. Either way, it would rip the credibility of the letter to shreds.
Placing Otero in Albuquerque cannot prove that he wrote the letter, but it could be an important step. The authors of the True West article were upbeat about newspaper evidence that Otero had surfaced there during the Earp party's stay:
The Albuquerque newspapers in 1882 confirm that Gillie Otero was in town while the Earp was there. (p. 59)
April 9, when he was in town, the Evening Review refered to him as "Gillie.
Our assessment of the evidence is not so generous. Two items mentioning Oteros appeared in the Albuquerque Evening Review during the period in question:
Hon. M. S. Otero and Col. Frank Perea, of Bernalillo, are in the city. (4/15)
In this case "M. S." refers to Mariano S. Otero, Miguel's cousin, who lived in Bernalillo and was co-owner (with Miguel Otero, Sr.) of Jemez Hot Springs (My Life on the Frontier, p. 237). As we'll see later, we can definitively place Miguel Otero, Jr., elsewhere on April 15, so this item can be ruled out completely.
Hon. Miguel and Hon. Mariano Otero are in the city. (4/22)
This item presumably refers to Miguel Otero, Sr. and his nephew/business partner. At the time Miguel Otero, Jr., was 22 years old and not likely to be referred to with an honorific. Indeed, on April 9, when he was in town, the Evening Review refered to him as "Gillie." Even if you allow for the possibility that the item could refer to the younger Otero, it cannot be said that this brief item provides confirmation that he was there.
We must look for other evidence of Otero's whereabouts.
Late in life, long after he had served New Mexico as territorial governor, Miguel Otero wrote a three-volume autobiography. The first installment, My Life on the Frontier, covers the first 23 years of his life and is a highly entertaining story of a privileged child coming to adulthood in the Old West. My Life on the Frontier does not mention the Earp incident — if it had, we wouldn't be having this discussion -- but it does presents a basic description of Otero's comings and goings in the spring of 1882. The sketchy timeline it presents leaves open the possibility of a side trip to Albuquerque in the second half of April wide open:
- end of winter 1882 — When Las Vegas was hit by an outbreak of smallpox, Otero set up a makeshift hospital to aid the victims. (p. 258-60)
- April 9 — Ambrosio Armijo, Otero's uncle, died at his residence in Albuquerque. (p. 275)
- April 13 — A heavy snow fell in Las Vegas, just after completing the telephone line from Las Vegas to Los Alamos. (p. 241)
- April 14 — Mrs. A. G. Hood, wife of the telephone company superintendent, gave a very interesting piano concert, sent over the phone wires simultaneously to Los Alamos, the Hot Springs Hotel, and the office of the Las Vegas Optic. (p. 241)
- April 17 — At the grand opening of the Montezuma Hotel at Las Vegas Hot Springs, Otero's father gave a speech. (p. 275)
- mid-May — Otero took some of his father's friends on a hunting trip in the mountains when he sensed something is wrong. When he returned, he found his father in bed with a fatal case of pneumonia. (p. 277)
A close look at the timeline reveals that while Otero included items from April 9 to 17 in his manuscript, his text never explicitly stated that he was in attendance when the incidents took place. It turns out this may have been a cunning deception.
In actuality, during the period from April 8 to 19 (and perhaps longer) Otero found himself in another city, hundreds of miles away from Las Vegas, attending to important business for his father. What was his special errand? Was he in Albuquerque setting up safe passage for Wyatt Earp?
While the Earp party was sequestered somewhere in town, and before their presence was revealed, the Albuquerque Evening Review carried the news of an unusual incident in a neighboring
state:
Hon. Miguel Otero is Bunkoed in Denver.
It was only a few days ago that the dispatch clicked along from Denver,
announcing that Hon. Miguel Otero had been swindled by the notorious Denver
confidence man, Doc Baggs, out of $2,400.... The old gentleman reached the
hotel and told his son what had been done to him, and the junior Otero
telegraphed at once to Albuquerque to stop payment on the note. (4/18) (full text)
So Miguel Otero and his father were in Denver, and unfortunately for them, making headlines throughout the West. An examination of Denver and Las Vegas newspapers helped fill in the timeline:
April 8 — "Gillie Otero … is off to
Denver this evening." (LVO 4/8)
April 12 — In a Denver hotel, Otero Jr.,
is informed by his father of the con that has taken place; he immediately
telegraphs their bank in Las Vegas to stop payment on the $2,400 promissory
note. (DDN 4/15)
April 15 — Otero Jr. is approached in
the morning by a man who says he can negotiate for the return of the note; a
meeting with J. L. Van Wœrt, an intermediary, takes place early in the evening (DDT 4/18);
the first reports of the con hit the newsstands (DDN 4/15, DR 4/15); Otero
Sr. has already returned to Las Vegas. (DDT 4/18)
April 16 (or perhaps 15) — Otero Jr. meets with
Pliny Rice, an intermediary, in front of Opera House. (DR 4/18, DDN 4/18)
April 17 — Otero Jr. meets again with
Rice, who is arrested, at 2 pm (DR 4/18, DDN 4/18), or at 3 pm (DDT 4/17); Otero
Sr. is elected VP of
Santa
Fe in the morning (LVO 4/18); gives a speech at the opening of the Montezuma
Hotel in Las Vegas Hot Springs in the evening (LVO 4/18); Otero Sr.
is in Hot Springs and will visit Denver to testify to grand jury. (DDN 4/18,
AER 4/18, from AP?)
April 18 — In the afternoon, Otero Jr.
is served with papers in a lawsuit filed by Rice. (DR 4/19)
April 19 — Otero Jr. "proposes to
return" to New Mexico this day. (DDN 4/18, but note that this was written
before he was served with the lawsuit)
April 20 — Otero Sr. will leave for
Denver (LVO 4/19); left for Denver (LVO 4/20); will be in Denver this day to
go to the grand jury. (DDT 4/19)
April 21 — Possible day of Otero Sr.'s
grand jury testimony.
April 26 — "If Otero Baggs his game,
all Denver will rejoice." (LVO 4/26)
April 28 — Otero Jr. files a demurrer,
through his attorney, in the case filed by Rice. (DR 4/29)
May 1 — "Gillie Otero is home from
Denver.
He was not accompanied
by a man named Baggs." (LVO 5/1)
Sources: LVO — Las Vegas Optic, DDN — Denver Daily News, DR — Denver Republican, DDT — Denver Daily
Times, AER — Albuquerque Evening Review, AP — Associated Press.
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