May 2019 Auction Ends Thursday, May 30th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/30/2019
Hunter S. Thompson typed letter signed, composed on custom stationery for "Owl Farm", Thompson's ranch in Woody Creek, Colorado. Dated 14 May 1969, he writes to his friend Paul Semonin about a situation in Aspen fueled by local greed. Letter reads in part, "Your message has been received, decoded and finally put aside as the word of a hopeless dreamer. You can't get it out of your head that the people you want to 'expose' don't give a fuck about anything except making money. They are beyond shame & without conscience. I see no serious point in mocking them publicly, because they don't care what we say about them…"
Thompson then outlines his own plan for going after the owners of the Aspen Alps condominiums, who were trying to evict Semonin from his cabin near their property (Semonin's plan was to publicly mock them, which Thompson shot down in his first paragraph): "…consider my alternative plan…write Bronefeld a letter calculated to draw some sort of rude & vicious reply from him -- on paper. Ignore his ultimatum…and make him issue another, in the harshest possible terms. Then write a letter to the Times, deploring the vicious extremists who have taken over the town…Plead with the man in public, make him sound cruel and high-handed…Then, just before Labor Day, Bornefelt will doubtlessly live up to the image you've created for him, by hiring thugs to destroy the place. Probably he will blow the bastard completely off the mountain…
You are still living in the 'We Shall Overcome' era…Meanwhile, life here is a ratrace -- constant typing, phone haggling, trying to settle my affairs…I smell a great shift in the faultline…Ciao, [signed] H". Single page letter measures 8.5" x 11". Folds and light discoloration from paperclip impression. Overall very good condition.
Hunter S. Thompson Letter Signed -- ''...the people you want to 'expose' don't give a fuck about anything except making money. They are beyond shame & without conscience...''
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