Miguel Antonio Otero II (October 17, 1859 – August 7, 1944) was an American politician, businessman, and author who served as the 16th Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1897 to 1906.

Given Otero's youth (37 years), his meager statewide experience, and his lack of support from either political party, the appointment was somewhat of a surprise.

[citation needed] As New Mexico moved towards statehood, Otero survived struggles against a variety of political factions in his own party.

After McKinley's assassination, he survived a particularly brutal battle with Thomas B. Catron to earn reappointment by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Remaining in Santa Fe for a while, the pair visited the Kid in jail many times, bringing him tobacco, gum, and sweets, and generally finding him a sympathetic, if misguided, figure.

Written some fifty years after Pat Garrett's original account, Otero's was the first book to present Billy the Kid in a relatively positive light.

[4] The first book of the memoir is especially captivating, as Otero recalls several encounters with Western icons such as Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickok, Gen. George Armstrong Custer, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, and Jesse James.

Throughout these adventures, Otero casts himself as a civilizing force who learned from these wild westerners, but also brought more structured law, order, and economic advancement to the territory.

The information in the letter is compelling because at the time it was written in the 1940s, the relationship between Wyatt Earp and Josephine Marcus while living in Tombstone was virtually unknown.