The Historic Santa Fe Foundation next month will unveil a new plaque marking the site of the jail that once held the legendary outlaw William "Billy the Kid" Bonney.

A plaque on the West San Francisco Street building that once housed Collected Works bookstore falsely claims to be where Bonney was jailed for three months in 1880 and 1881.

But recent research by amateur historian Bob Ross has re-established that the Santa Fe jail at that time was near the corner of Galisteo and Water streets — where the bookstore relocated earlier this year.

"The ghost of Billy the Kid seems to be haunting the Collected Works," says the news release from the foundation announcing that the new plaque will be unveiled at the bookstore at 11 a.m. Oct. 1. Mayor David Coss, Sheriff Greg Solano and historian Marc Simmons are expected to attend the ceremony.

"Almost 130 years after Billy the Kid drew his six-shooter for the last time, the Kid's presence can still be felt in Santa Fe," says the release. "The Kid was captured when Sheriff Pat Garrett and his posse trapped him while he huddled in a cabin with some fellow outlaws in Stinking Springs, east of Fort Sumner.

"Since Santa Fe had the most secure jail in the area, Garrett brought Billy the Kid here to await trial. He was convicted of murder at Mesilla and transported to the Lincoln County Jail, where he was to be hanged one month later. True to form, Billy the Kid escaped by murdering his two prison guards and went on the lam one last time. Garrett pursued him, and finally killed him in a chance encounter at Fort Sumner."

The release said the foundation sponsors informational plaques, like the Billy the Kid jail one, "to connect Santa Fe's past and present, and as the jail is no longer extant, (to) underscore the importance of historic preservation."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.