Miguel Antonio Otero (II)
Encyclopedia
Miguel Antonio Otero nicknamed "Gillie," was governor of New Mexico Territory
from 1897 to 1906 and in later life the author of several books on Western lore. He was the son of Miguel Antonio Otero
, a prominent businessman and New Mexico politician.
, Colorado
, and New Mexico
. The family established a permanent home in Las Vegas, New Mexico
about 1879. He attended St. Louis University and the University of Notre Dame
with his older brother Page, but preferred socializing to studying. He returned to Las Vegas in 1880 to work in his father's bank.
and met Ohio
Senator William McKinley
. When McKinley was elected President
in 1896, he appointed Otero governor of the Territory of New Mexico. Given Otero's youth (37 years), his meager statewide experience, and his lack of support from either political party, the appointment was somewhat of a surprise. The Otero name was well-known in New Mexico, however, and initially he was supported by a wide range of constituencies.
As New Mexico moved towards statehood, Otero survived struggles against a variety of political factions in his own party. After McKinley's assassination
, he survived a particularly brutal battle with Thomas B. Catron
to earn reappointment by President Theodore Roosevelt
. The infighting eventually took its toll, and in 1906, Roosevelt replaced Otero after more than eight years in the governor's mansion.
At 46, Otero was still a young man when he left office. He returned to banking and mining interests for a while, then served as state treasurer from 1909 to 1911. Otero attempted a comeback as governor in 1912, but failing to receive the Republican
nomination, bolted for the Progressive Party
. Eventually he moved to the Democratic Party
and became a supporter of Woodrow Wilson
. In later years he received numerous other commissions, including four years (1917 to 1921) as marshal of the Panama Canal
.
to Santa Fe
. Remaining in Santa Fe for a while, the pair visited the Kid in jail many times, bringing him tobacco, gum, and sweets, and generally finding him a sympathetic, if misguided, figure. Written some fifty years after Pat Garrett
's original account, Otero's was the first book to present Billy the Kid
in a relatively positive light. The book was edited some say ghost written by Marshall Latham Bond
whose father Hiram Bond was involved in trading with the Otero family out of Denver after 1872 and who owned a hundred square mile ranch in the area during the Lincoln County War
.
Sandwiched around this book, Otero authored a three-part autobiography. The first installment, My Life on the Frontier, 1864-1882, was published in 1935 and covered the adventures of his youth through age 23, when his father died suddenly. My Life on the Frontier, 1882-1897 dealt with his early career in public service. My Nine Years as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico, 1897-1906 chronicles the turmoils of New Mexico on the verge of statehood.
The first book of the memoir is especially captivating, as Otero recalls several encounters with Western icons such as Kit Carson
, Wild Bill Hickok
, Gen. George Armstrong Custer
, Doc Holliday
, Bat Masterson
, and Jesse James
.
in April 1882, giving aid to Wyatt Earp
and the rest of his party as they concluded their Vendetta Ride
out of Tombstone, Arizona
. In My Life on the Frontier: 1864-1882 (p. 217), Otero mentions the Earp brothers only as friends of Doc Holliday, providing no hint of the incident detailed in the "Otero Letter." By coincidence, it is fairly easy to establish that during most of this two-week period Otero was in Denver, where his father had just been swindled out of $2,400 by Doc Baggs, a notorious con man
. Otero, who was traveling with his father, spent most of this period attempting to retrieve his father's bank note through various means. This and other factual problems with the letter have caused some experts to question its authenticity.
New Mexico Territory
thumb|right|240px|Proposed boundaries for State of New Mexico, 1850The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of...
from 1897 to 1906 and in later life the author of several books on Western lore. He was the son of Miguel Antonio Otero
Miguel Antonio Otero (I)
Miguel Antonio Otero was a prominent Spanish politician of the New Mexico Territory and instrumental in the economic development of the territory.- Early life :...
, a prominent businessman and New Mexico politician.
Early life
Miguel Antonio Otero had an adventurous boyhood as his father, a businessman and railroad baron, moved the family from town to town across KansasKansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, and New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. The family established a permanent home in Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...
about 1879. He attended St. Louis University and the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
with his older brother Page, but preferred socializing to studying. He returned to Las Vegas in 1880 to work in his father's bank.
Career as politician
While working as a banker, land broker, and livestock broker in Las Vegas, Otero began his career in politics. In a few short years, he served as city clerk, probate clerk, county clerk, and recorder, and district court clerk. In 1892 he served as a delegate to the Republican National ConventionRepublican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
and met Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
Senator William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
. When McKinley was elected President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in 1896, he appointed Otero governor of the Territory of New Mexico. Given Otero's youth (37 years), his meager statewide experience, and his lack of support from either political party, the appointment was somewhat of a surprise. The Otero name was well-known in New Mexico, however, and initially he was supported by a wide range of constituencies.
As New Mexico moved towards statehood, Otero survived struggles against a variety of political factions in his own party. After McKinley's assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, he survived a particularly brutal battle with Thomas B. Catron
Thomas B. Catron
Thomas Benton Catron was an American politician and lawyer who was influential in the establishment of the U.S. state of New Mexico. He later represented the state in the United States Senate.-Early life:...
to earn reappointment by President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
. The infighting eventually took its toll, and in 1906, Roosevelt replaced Otero after more than eight years in the governor's mansion.
At 46, Otero was still a young man when he left office. He returned to banking and mining interests for a while, then served as state treasurer from 1909 to 1911. Otero attempted a comeback as governor in 1912, but failing to receive the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nomination, bolted for the Progressive Party
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
. Eventually he moved to the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and became a supporter of Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
. In later years he received numerous other commissions, including four years (1917 to 1921) as marshal of the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
.
Career as author
In 1936, Otero published The Real Billy the Kid; With New Light on the Lincoln County War. After William Bonney was jailed in Las Vegas in 1880, Otero and his brother Page rode with the prisoner as he was transported by train from Las VegasLas Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...
to Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
. Remaining in Santa Fe for a while, the pair visited the Kid in jail many times, bringing him tobacco, gum, and sweets, and generally finding him a sympathetic, if misguided, figure. Written some fifty years after Pat Garrett
Pat Garrett
Patrick Floyd "Pat" Garrett was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who was best known for killing Billy the Kid...
's original account, Otero's was the first book to present Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid
William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
in a relatively positive light. The book was edited some say ghost written by Marshall Latham Bond
Marshall Latham Bond
Marshall Latham Bond was one of two brothers who were Jack London's landlords and among his employers during the autumn of 1897 and the spring of 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. They were the owners of the dog that Jack London fictionalized as Buck....
whose father Hiram Bond was involved in trading with the Otero family out of Denver after 1872 and who owned a hundred square mile ranch in the area during the Lincoln County War
Lincoln County War
The Lincoln County War was a 19th-century range war between two factions during the Old West period. Numerous notable figures of the American West were involved, including Billy the Kid, aka William Henry McCarty; sheriffs William Brady and Pat Garrett; cattle rancher John Chisum, lawyer and...
.
Sandwiched around this book, Otero authored a three-part autobiography. The first installment, My Life on the Frontier, 1864-1882, was published in 1935 and covered the adventures of his youth through age 23, when his father died suddenly. My Life on the Frontier, 1882-1897 dealt with his early career in public service. My Nine Years as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico, 1897-1906 chronicles the turmoils of New Mexico on the verge of statehood.
The first book of the memoir is especially captivating, as Otero recalls several encounters with Western icons such as Kit Carson
Kit Carson
Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...
, Wild Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...
, Gen. George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
, Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
, Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson
William Barclay "Bat" Masterson was a figure of the American Old West known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph...
, and Jesse James
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
.
The Otero Letter
Ironically, one of the few famous names that Otero failed to drop in his autobiography has stirred debate among Wild West scholars. A carbon copy of a letter discovered at a flea market in 2001 and apparently written by Otero, places him in AlbuquerqueAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
in April 1882, giving aid to Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
and the rest of his party as they concluded their Vendetta Ride
Earp vendetta ride
The Earp Vendetta Ride, lasting from March 20 to April 15, 1882, was a manhunt for outlaw Cowboys led by newly appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp. He was searching for men he held responsible for maiming his brother Virgil, the Tombstone Marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal, and assassinating his...
out of Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
. In My Life on the Frontier: 1864-1882 (p. 217), Otero mentions the Earp brothers only as friends of Doc Holliday, providing no hint of the incident detailed in the "Otero Letter." By coincidence, it is fairly easy to establish that during most of this two-week period Otero was in Denver, where his father had just been swindled out of $2,400 by Doc Baggs, a notorious con man
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
. Otero, who was traveling with his father, spent most of this period attempting to retrieve his father's bank note through various means. This and other factual problems with the letter have caused some experts to question its authenticity.