The Saga Of The Kid Knife
By Frederick Nolan

I couldn't believe what I was reading.
I had been sent a copy of a privately printed book about the Jaramillo familt of New Mexico, published (I believe) in 1989 by its author, Paulita Jaramillo of Los Lunas, NM.
It was a fascinating compendium of genealogical information that began with the first Jaramillo who came to New Mexico in 1598 with Juan de Onate and covering the histories of fourteen generations up to the (then) present day.
The Jaramillo generation in which I was especially interested in was of course the one into which Paulita Maxwell married in 1882. I was pleased to discover that not only had Mrs. Jaramillo documented that family, but the background of the Maxwell family as well, so for the first time, I had not only a biographical profile of Paulita, but also some clues about her marriage and her children.
And an unexpected bonus. Writing about Billy the Kid (p.54) Mrs. Jaramillo noted on the night he was killed. "The Kid had at the time a butcher knife in his hand as he was going to slice some meat that was hanging at the edge of the porch, this knife with affidavits are in the posession of the Swanson family. Mrs. Ollie Swanson was the daughter of Adelina Jaramillo Welborn who was the daughter of Paulita Maxwell Jaramillo."

Could it be? I wondered. Was it remotely possible that, somehow, the near-legendary butcher knife had somehow survived? I checked the details again: Paulita Maxwell (1864-1929) married Jose F. Jaramillo (1861-1935) the youngest son of Jose Jaramillo y Lucero and Maria Trinidad Romero y Luna of Los Lunas, in 1882. They had three children: Adelina, Luz and Telesfor. Adelina married Joseph O. Wellborn and they had three children:Ollie, Edwin and Harry. Ollie married first Dalton Bergman, and after his death, a man named Robert Swanson, so that all fitted together nicely. On October 20, 1990, Mrs. Jaramillo sent me an address for Robert Swanson at Fairfax Station in Virginia and I wrote him immediately asking if by any chance he had a photograph of the knife.

Nothing happened.
Then, in the middle of February of the following year, I found a letter in my mail from Robert Swanson. He had moved house, which delayed my letter reaching him; secondly, he had taken some snapshots of the knife and then didn't get them developed for more than three weeks. Enclosed were snapshots of the knife and three affidavits authenticating it. One dated 1926 was written by Deluvina Maxwell; the other two were notarized affidavits executed in 1951 by Celsa Gutierrez's son Candido, and a lady named Ursula Pacheco Baca.

So the knife really existed and now I had a picture of it. In thanking Mr. Swanson for sending me the snaps, I asked him whether he had any plans for the knife. He told me it had been left to his daughter Susan by her mother, and asked me if I had any information on what the knife might be worth if they decided to sell it. I sent him such information as I had about the other Kid artifacts, the addresses for various major auction houses, and offered to send him some books on the Lincoln County War if he thought they might be helpful.

I didn't hear another word from him for five years.
Toward the end of 1995 I wrote again to Mr. Swanson, telling him about the publication of my book on the Lincoln County War and a follow-up book on the Horrell War which preceded it, and enclosed a photograph of a lady who I though might be Adelina Wellborn, asking if he could identify it. The following February he wrote to say that he had moved house yet again;my letter had been forwarded to that address, and then again to his current Florida address. He didn't think the photo I had sent him was Adelina;she and her brothers Harry and Edwin were all dead.

His daughter had been in an auto accident and he was pretty much wrapped up in taking care of her, I could see he had no time for historical matters.

Next time I wrote I asked him straight out if he would sell me the Billy the Kid knife. He wrote back in July-from yet another new address,saying he would give the matter more thought when his daughter's health improved and he had completed a series of cataract operations he was scheduled for. In the meantime, I sent him a copy of my Lincoln County War book and also a copy of Pat Garrett's Authentic Life so he and his daughter could read up on the subject, about which they seemed to know very little.

Another year went by and nothing happened.
In August, 1996 I tried one last time and offered to buy the knife.
Then in May, 1997 I received the letter I had been waiting, hoping for. Beset by all sorts of problems with his daughter's health and other matters, Mr. Swanson had had no time to even think about selling the knife. Now, however, he named a figure he thought Susan would accept and suggested I think it over.
I thought it over, but not for long.
On June 9 the deal was struck and a week later Federal Express delivered the package containing the knife and the affidavits to my front door. It now lies in a custom-made case together with a replica of the famous ferrotype of the Kid and a drawer beneath which houses the documentation authenticating the knife and the story you have just read.
And it only took six years!

Now let me tell you a true story. On the morning of July 15,1997, just a couple of weeks after the knife arrived, I awoke abruptly from a strange dream in which the butcher knife had begun to disintegrate while I was holding it in my hand. In the pre-dawn light I checked the alarm clock. It was 5:44 a.m. - or to put it another way, about fifteen minutes shy of midnight on July 14 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
Quien pasa?