Lot
1440 
"Kid", three strike of negative fancy cancel duplexed with partial "Virginia City, Aug 28" cds on cover to Auburn N.Y.; reduced slightly at left, Very Fine and remarkable fancy cancel; with 1998 A.P.S. certificate. Cole No. unlisted Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
THE ONLY RECORDED COVER WITH THIS VIRGINIA CITY BILLY THE "KID" FANCY CANCEL.
Billy the Kid (1859-1881), born Henry McCarty, was an American Old West gunfighter who participated in New Mexico's Lincoln County War. He is known to have killed eight men. After murdering a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877, Bonney became a wanted man in Arizona Territory and returned to New Mexico, where he joined a group of cattle rustlers. He became a well-known figure in the region when he joined the Regulators and took part in the Lincoln County War. In April 1878, the Regulators killed three men, including Lincoln County Sheriff William J. Brady and one of his deputies. Bonney's notoriety grew in December 1880 when the Las Vegas Gazette in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and The Sun in New York City carried stories about his crimes. Sheriff Pat Garrett captured Bonney later that month. In April 1881, Bonney was tried and convicted of the murder of Brady, and was sentenced to hang in May of that year. He escaped from jail on April 28, 1881, killing two sheriff's deputies in the process and evading capture for more than two months. Garrett shot and killed Bonney at Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881.
Realized: $1,500