1882 THE MONTEZUMA HOTEL ILLUSTRATED LETTERHEAD. Strong graphic letterhead, 8 1/2” x 11”. Letter regards cost of lodging. Though the letterhead exhibits edge roughness along the right side, with the b/r corner having some damage with a small loss of paper ( along with some discoloration), the main subject is so strong graphically the flaws are somewhat overlooked. (W.746); $195.
The Montezuma Hotel, as it was originally called, was built in 1882 as a hot springs resort by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, along a spur line from Las Vegas. The Queen Anne Style hotel was the first building in New Mexico with electric lights. After a fire in 1884, the hotel was rebuilt, only to burn again in 1885. In 1886 the third and final Montezuma “Castle” opened. The resort hotel, with its proximity to the Montezuma Hot Springs, was a popular destination for travelers making the crossing from east to west and back. The Castle closed in 1903, and eventually fell into disrepair.

1888 FIRST NATIONAL BANK, LAS VEGAS  ILLUSTRATED LETTERHEAD. Letterhead, 9 1/2” x 6”. Illustrated with engraving of bank building. Original fold lines, two spindle holes on top, overall VG (NM.026); $75.

WESTERN - LETTER- LINCOLN COUNTY WAR NEW MEXICO

In part:
…When in New Mexico a year ago, I enquires after Charley, as being a great friend. At Silver City I was told that only a short time after I came there he had been there very drunk and that while in that condition some gamblers and the saloon keeper together with the sheriff of the county had taken all the money and property he had, in part robbed him and terrified him by a threat of prosecuting for alledged swindling so he was glad to leave they gave him $200. to get away, that is the substance of what I was told by reliable parties at Silver City and I could see they all well meaning men who spoke of it considered it robbery.

Goes on to state that information was given to going onto Georgetown, via Albuquerque. He further writes:
I was on my way back from New Mexico when I heard of the severe fights in Lincoln Co. N.M a man by the name of McSween had been elected sheriff of that co. The territorial officers did not like him and sought to depose him. He with his friends resisted the attempts several fights _____grew out of this in which US troops were ____.

Goes on to talk more of Charley :

Goes on to recommended addition sources to aid in the location of Charley. Signed C.W. Irish.

The Lincoln County War was a 19th century range war between two factions in America's western frontier. The "war" was notable for the large number of figures from 19th century America, including legendary outlaw Billy the Kid and lawyer and businessman Alexander McSween. The conflict involved two factions of the control of dry goods trade in the county. The older, established faction was led by Murphy and his business partner James Dolan who had a dry goods monopoly run through Murphy's general store. Young newcomers to the county, English-born John Tunstall and his business partner Alexander McSween, with backing from established cattleman John Chisum, opened a competing store in 1876. The two sides gathered lawmen, businessmen, and criminal gangs to their sides. The Murphy-Dolan faction were allied with the Lincoln County Sheriff, William J. Brady, and supported by the Jessie Evans Gang. The Tunstall-McSween faction organized their own posse of armed men, known as the Lincoln County Regulators, to defend their position, and had their own lawman, town constable Dick Brewer.

The "war" was marked by back-and-forth revenge killings, starting with the killing of Tunstall by members of the Jessie Evans Gang. In revenge for this and other killings, Sheriff Brady was killed by the Regulators. Further killings continued unabated for several months, climaxing in the Battle of Lincoln, a four day gunfight and siege which resulted in the death of McSween and the scattering of the Regulators. It would finally be brought to an end when Pat Garrett was named County Sheriff in 1880.

Charles Wood Irish was born in New York City on February 11, 1834, was raised and educated in Iowa.  As an engineer and surveyor, Irish was involved with the first attempt to build a railroad across Iowa in the 1850s. Later he worked as a surveyor in the West during the construction of such railroad lines as the Chicago-Northwestern and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. He was appointed United States Surveyor General for Nevada by President Cleveland in 1886 and in 1893 was called to Washington to head the Bureau of Irrigation and Inquiry. At the time of his death in 1904, he was serving as the Deputy Mining Surveyor of Nevada.  In addition to being both an engineer and surveyor, Irish was a noted botanist, geologist, and astronomer. His observations of the total eclipse of the sun in 1869 at Iowa City and Nevada in 1889 resulted in international recognition. Charles Wood Irish died September 27, 1904, at Gold Creek, Nevada.