JOSEPHINE "JOSIE" EARP Very content-rich ALS to the man writing the manuscript of Wyatt Earp's autobiography, and mentioning help they are getting from Western actor William S. Hart. While urging author Flood to keep the story clean and to finish it soon, she reminds him of several more events in Wyatt's life he must include. Autograph Letter signed: "Your friends/Earps", 3 pages (12x8 integral leaf and 8x6 unattached page). Vidal, California, 1925 November 9. To John H. Flood, Jr., Los Angeles. In full: "Your letter came Monday. And I was glad to hear from you also good news. Although I am sure disappointed. And yet I still feel grateful to have them find the oil. I was in hope they would bring in a two or three hundred barrel well. But - as I said I must be satisfied as it could have been a bust too. I have been watching the oil news very closely but saw no account of it. I hope it will not be a mistake. Now when we get the story also picture we will then be ready to settle down. We had a very fine letter from Bill [friend and actor William S. Hart] and he is very anxious to read more...

WILLIAM BARCLAY "BAT" MASTERSON This extraordinary document is a typed manuscript for Dodge City, The Cowboy Capital about Western lawman Bat Masterson, with a total of four handwritten corrections by him, including his very rare full signature. It was written by Robert M. Wright, former mayor of Dodge City, Kansas, and sent to Masterson, a former deputy in Dodge City, for his review. Annotated typed manuscript signed "William Barclay (Bat) Masterson". Black ink and lead pencil notations in unknown hand. 6 pages, 8½x11, bound with a needle at top edge. There are a total of four corrections on the first page. The first is Masterson's signature, correcting the title "W.B. Masterson (Bat)". He also corrected the initials "W.B." in the first sentence with "William Barclay". The other two corrections pertain to his candidacy for sheriff of Ford County, Kansas, which included Dodge City. He crossed out the "6" in "1876" and corrected it with "7". read more...

REHNQUIST COURT, 1986-1990 14x9½ color, satin-finish Court photo, signed by all nine Justices on the 18x14 mount. Photograph Mount signed: "Thurgood Marshall", "Wm J. Brennan Jr", "William H. Rehnquist", "Byron R. White", "Harry C. Blackmun", "Antonin Scalia", "John Paul Stevens", "Sandra Day O' Connor", "Anthony Kennedy". Color, 14x9½. WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST (1924-2005) was appointed Associate Justice by President Nixon on January 7, 1972. He joined with his colleagues in their unanimous ruling on July 24, 1974, upholding the Special Prosecutor's subpoena for President Nixon's tapes for Watergate trial; Nixon resigned 16 days later. President Reagan appointed Rehnquist Chief Justice on September 26, 1986. As Chief Justice, he presided at President Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999. On December 12, 2000, his court ruled 5-4 that the manual recount of presidential votes in Florida was unconstitutional, resulting in Vice President Gore's concession and Texas Governor George W. Bush's victory. read more...

FELIX FRANKFURTER The Supreme Court Justice signs an extraordinary rare, handwritten letter to Herbert Hoover, who was administering food aid to Europe after World War I: "I am more sorry than you can possibly realize to have provoked you about Poland. … I know what you did and how you feel about the Polish Jewish situation …" Autograph Letter Signed: "Felix Frankfurter," 1p, 8¼x10½. No place or date but London, post World War I. On stationery of the American Relief Administration. To Herbert Hoover, who served as Chairman of the American Relief Committee in London. In full: "I am more sorry than you can possibly realize to have provoked you about Poland, for I feel a deeper devotion and gratitude for your services and your wise humanity than you probably appreciate. It's just because I know what you did and how you feel about the Polish Jewish situation that I spoke as briefly as I did. You may be sure that I shall not in the slightest seek to do anything but that which may help towards healing. read more...

JOSIE EARP ALS to husband Wyatt's personal secretary, John Flood, who was trying unsuccessfully to write an authorized biography of the famous lawman. Frequent mention of actor William S. Hart ("Bill"), a close friend of Wyatt Earp. Autograph Letter signed: "E", 3 pages (front and verso), 6½x10½. Vidal (California), 1927 March 15. To "Dear Mr. [John] Flood". In full: "Very glad to get your nice letter and clippings. I was just thinking what had happened to you. Well Mr. E. is at camp doing some assessment work, so I am here with my two nieces. Weather windy not very nice for the last two weeks. Lots of surveyors here for the L.A. water. Fill a barn just now. I have never seen so many people here at one time before. Brunnels are very busy. Well, now about our little affair. Will you please call up or write to Bill. Yes I think it is better to write to him. Tell him what I think - what I mean by I, all of us think it just the right thing to do to hold it back until we can get together and talk it over. I am enclosing all letters from the first on Bill wrote us. I wrote and told you I had put them away for safe keeping, but luckily I have found them and am sending them to you. [Items not included. read more...

WILLIAM BARCLAY "BAT" MASTERSON He pens a letter in correspondence to an individual stating they are relatives in which Masterson quickly replies with otherwise! Autograph Letter Signed: "W.B. Masterson". 2 pages, 8x10, loosely placed in 9½x11½ folio. Accompanied by original mailing envelope; heavily toned, soiled and worn. December 31, 1905, New York City, written to "Mr. Watson F. Masterson" of Ramsey, West Virginia. In full: "Dear Sir. Without going into details can assure you that we are not related; even remotely. My father was born in this state eighty years ago and moved to Illinois where I was born fifty one years ago. There are a great many families of Mastersons in Missouri and Iowa none of whom are related to mine. My father had but one brother and he was several years the eldest and has been dead about forty years and died without issue. Very respectfully." Masterson (1853-1921) was an American frontier gambler and buffalo hunter and a scout for the United States Army. read more...

CHARLES J. GUITEAU The lawyer who assassinated President Garfield pens his name on this cabinet photo Rare Cabinet Photograph signed: "Charles Guiteau/ March 3,/1882". Sepia, 4¼x6½ overall, 4x5¼ image, (two surfaces). Signed beneath image and above the imprint: "Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1882, by/C. M. BELL,/in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C." Imprinted on verso: "Notice - The negative from which this photograph is taken was made personally by me in the jail in the city of Washington on February 6th, 1882, for Charles Guiteau, and I warn all persons not to infringe upon the copyright. C.M. Bell". Lawyer, Charles Guiteau (1844-1882), unsuccessful in a small legal firm in Chicago, had moved to New York. Unable to find work on a newspaper, Guiteau unhappily returned to the practice of law. Divorced by his wife soon thereafter, Guiteau, despondent and struggling financially, involved himself in the 1880 Presidential campaign, writing a speech on behalf of James Garfield which the Republic Party published and gave some limited circulation. read more...

THE BURGER COURT All nine Supreme Court Justices signed this framed engraving of the Supreme Court building Engraving signed: "Harry A Blackmun", "Byron R. White", "Lewis F. Powell Jr.", "Potter Stewart". "Thurgood Marshall", "William H. Rehnquist", "Warren E Burger", "W Douglas" and "Wm J Brennan Jr.", 7¾x5½ overall, oval image 3½x2 (one surface). Printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The nine Justices that signed this image of the Supreme Court building served together from 1971, when Powell and Rehnquist joined the Court, to 1975, when Douglas retired. In 1974, Chief Justice Burger spoke for a unanimous Court upholding a subpoena for the Watergate tapes which resulted in President Nixon's resignation. In 1986, Chief Justice Burger retired and was succeeded by Associate Justice Rehnquist who served until his death in 2005. Frame lightly chipped at back corners. Otherwise, fine condition. Framed in Gallery of History style: 34½x22. read more...

CHARLES J. GUITEAU Awaiting trial for the assassination of the President in 1881, Guiteau signed this autograph letter demanding that an account of his life given to a prosecutor who had posed as a reporter and that the account be published in full in the NY Herald Autograph Letter signed: "CG", 2 pages (front and verso), 5x8. [Washington, D.C.], "Oct. 17" [1881]. To "Mr. Smith". In full: "I expected you today. I want to work on my book. Send a man tomorrow sure. I saw Saturday's republican. It contains a fine report generally. I don't think much of democratic papers. Send me Stalwart, N.Y. & Washington. If Caskill was not mean, he would allow my attorneys to copy from Bailey's dictation my autobiography & thus save me the trouble of dictating it. If he has a particle of honor he ought to do this considering how his Bailey got it. There is nothing I wish to withdraw. Bailey obtained the information on his, & Corkhill's statement that he was a reporter of the NY Herald, & promised to publish it in full in the Herald, & he said it would make 40 columns, that Mr. read more...