American criminal and Depression-era outlaw (1901-1934) who was one of the most wanted bandits in Oklahoma during the 1920s and 1930s; known as 'Mad Dog' or the 'Tri-State Terror,' he co-led a gang with Harvey Bailey that included many fellow Cookson Hills outlaws. Scarce ALS signed “Wilbur Underhill. #2337. Box #2,” one page both sides, lightly lined, 8.5 x 11, May 21, 1933. Written from the Kansas State Penitentiary, a letter to his sister Dorothy, in part: "Sorry that you are feeling so blue. Cheer up old pardner ain't that silly to say cheer up, when there's nothing to cheer up for. Let us laugh at our tough breaks, they say that when sorrow is at its climax, joy is just a head. Sounds like a lota hooey, doesn't it?…I told you about me trying to get a tan, I don't set in the sun too long at a time to get blistered just 15 or 20 min's at a time. I've got a wheat straw tan now & it feels good, now don't tell me I look like a life guard. If you had any privacy there where the neighbors couldn't see, you should get a tan, makes you feel 50 percent better…I'm like you, I'm sure sick of every one, except you & Mom & Hugh. You can imagine why I detest every one, I've seen so much crooked work on every one's part, that I've nearly lost faith in human nature. Outside you & Mom I don't care for no one. I wish we three could go off some place to live & never go around any one else, especially our relations. But Deania one consolation we have, we know that we are far above the one's that has treated us the way the way they have (in principal I mean). I'm not conceited but I know that I'm better than jillions I know, & you & Mom are too. There isn't one woman in 10 thousand that is as loyal as you & Mom." In fine condition, with several intersecting folds. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in his own hand. On Memorial Day 1933, a little over a week after writing this letter, Underhill and nine others escaped from the state prison using smuggled guns and taking the warden and two guards hostage.
