Dan Dedrick
by J.Young
Dan Dedrick was born on January 25, 1831 as Daniel Charles Dietrich, in Liberty Corners, Indiana (some reports suggest Ohio). He was the sixth born child of his thirteen siblings. The family relocated to Kansas while Dan was at a young age and he was raised near Plymouth. Later on, Dan Dietrich arrived in Lincoln County, New Mexico in late 1877 with a different spelling of his name as Dedrick. According to local Barney Mason, Dan had escaped the Fort Smith, Arkansas jail and was on the run for stealing horses.
Dan was eventually reunited with his younger brothers, Sam and Moses, when they too arrived at NM. Unfortunately, Sam had lost his arm in a cane crushing accident when he was just 5 years old. Dan settled near White Oaks and took it upon himself to handle the mail for the locals around Rabenton, NM, an old ghost town located approximately 6 miles northeast of White Oaks.
During the course of the Lincoln County War (LCW), Dan developed a friendship with Billy the Kid and displayed empathy towards the Regulators and their involvement in the conflict. Following the war’s conclusion in the summer of 1878, Dan utilized an unoccupied ranch owned by John Chisum along the Rio Hondo. This location functioned as a secure refuge for Billy and his associates.

In 1880, Dan Dedrick purchased some property at White Oaks and collaborated with his brothers Sam and Moses. Together they established a livery stable and partnered with Harvey West. It has been suggested that West may have introduced the Dedricks to counterfeit money, although reports show that they were dabbling in the production of fake money before 1880.

The Secret Service discovered that the Dedrick brothers, West, and Billy Wilson were involved in counterfeiting and passing off fake bills. Azariah Wild was assigned to investigate the matter and found that the fake money was used to purchase stolen cattle and horses.

The Dedrick brothers and Harvey West became suspects, and all of them fled. Billy Wilson was apprehended at Stinking Springs and was later convicted of counterfeiting as well as stagecoach robbery before he later escaped.
In 1909, Moses Detrich and Sam Detrick were both tragically killed in separate incidents, one outside Phoenix, Arizona and the other near Deming, NM. The circumstances surrounding their shooting deaths remain unknown to this day. However, one survivor, Dan Dedrick, was able to start anew and establish a successful chloride mine in the Trinity Mountains of Northern California. He later expanded his business and built a home in the area with his wife. As a notable collector and keeper of a rare piece of history, Dan Dedrick possessed the only surviving picture of Billy the Kid holding his Winchester rifle. It is believed that Dedrick received one of four identical copies of the iconic photo, with one copy included in Pat Garrett’s published book.
It is with regret to inform that Dan passed away on April 25, 1931, at Big Bar California, and was laid to rest at Weaverville Cemetery in Weaverville, California. Prior to his passing, he had given a ferro-type of himself along with one of The Kid and some other photos to his nephew, Frank Upham. In 1947, Frank Upham gave these photos to Elizabeth, his sister-in-law, who kept the photo of The Kid in a wooden box for almost four decades, unaware of its significance. The photo was later loaned to Lincoln County Heritage Trust in the 1980s, and was subsequently returned to the family some years later. Both photos, one of Billy and one of Dan, were eventually sold at Brian Lebel’s auction in 2011 for 2.3 million dollars.