Poe, John William, 1850-1923

Born in Mason County Kentucky in 1850, John William Poe moved to Texas in 1868 to hunt buffalo. In the 1870s he served as town marshal for Fort Griffin, before becoming a U. S. marshal. Poe then became cattle detective for the Canadian River Cattleman’s Association, where he worked in New Mexico. In 1881, Poe accompanied Sheriff Pat Garrett and another deputy to the location of Billy the Kid, where Garrett allegedly killed the Kid. Poe decided to remain in New Mexico after the Kid was killed, where he married Sophia Alberding in 1883 and became sheriff of Lincoln County. He resigned in 1885 and helped found the First National Bank of Roswell, becoming president in 1893. He then founded and became president of Citizen’s Bank. Poe wrote the manuscript “The Death of Billy the Kid” which was published in Wide World Magazine in 1919. He died in 1923; his manuscript was published as a book in 1933.

From the guide to the Poe, John. W. Items 70-33., 1905-1917, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)

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