January, 26, 2010
Got this photo yesterday from Mark Gardner, who has been following our Size Matters quest:

It's not hard to spot Juan Largo's tall frame in the back row. I have never seen this photo. According to Mark, it's from the Center for Southwest Research, UNM (they don't charge a use fee).

The interesting thing, to me, is that the guy to the left of Garrett is probably about 5.5 or 5.7 and this is pretty close to how Billy the Kid would look standing next to the sheriff of Lincoln County. According to Paulita Maxwell, when the two hung out together at Fort Sumner, they were known as Juan Largo and Little Casino.

Mark goes on to say, "I got permission to use it in my book, but cut it because of space restrictions (my editor didn't want it to be a picture book). The image shows Garrett with several other prominent southern New Mexicans at the Torrance depot, on their way to George Curry's inauguration as territorial governor in 1907. You may recall from my book that an excited Garrett wrote Polinaria, instructing her to send him his dress suit and Prince Albert coat so that he could wear them to the inauguration. Sure looks like he's wearing that trademark coat in this image."

Here's the link to it from UNM's digital collections:

http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/keleher&CISOPTR=895&CISOBOX=1&REC=9

Albert Fall, the "fall guy," and the attorney who went after Garrett on the witness stand during the trial of Oliver Lee (and got Lee off) is supposedly in the front row. Not sure which one he is but if I had to guess I'd say either the gent second from left, or third from right.

"Tall tales from tall people are easier to swallow than tall tales from short writers."
—Old Vaquero Saying