Experts: Crockett letter too neat

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Texas has offered $550,000 for a letter supposedly written by Davy Crockett, even though some experts doubt its authenticity.

The document is said to be the last letter Crockett wrote before dying at the Alamo.

"I reject the letter entirely on the autograph alone," Kevin Mac Donnell, an Austin antiquarian book dealer, told The San Antonio Express-News. "I'm certain that it was not written by Davy Crockett."

A spokeswoman said the Texas Historical Commission is almost certain Crockett wrote the letter. The purchase agreement is contingent on authentication.

Everett Wilke, an appraiser who specializes in historical documents, and Mac Donnell both say the document is actually a handwritten copy of Crockett’s letter, a common practice in the days before copying machines.

"Davy Crockett had much sloppier handwriting and many more misspelled words," Wilke said.

Ray Simpson III, owner of Simpson Galleries in Houston, says his grandfather bought the letter in 1986 from a Crockett descendent.