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Exchange Hotel

Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory, in the 1860s[1] and '70s.[2]

Owned at one time by New Mexico Territorial Governor Dr. Henry Connelly who, in March of 1862, moved his executive office from Santa Fe to Las Vegas for a month to evade the encroaching Confederate Army during the Civil War.[1]

In April of 1876,[1] Bart Maverick and Daisy Haskell stayed[3] at the Exchange Hotel[4] on the first night of their journey from Santa Fe to Laramie, Wyoming Territory. In their room that night, Daisy had put on her jeweled necklace to wear to dinner. Bart objected in that they would be too much of a temptation for the thieves in town, who outnumbered the law ten to one and ordered her to take them off. Daisy refused, but Bart moved in to unclasp them from the back. As Daisy struggled, they kissed each other. Daisy swooned for a moment but recovered and removed the necklace herself. Bart told her she needed a gun on the trip but again Daisy objected, claiming she wouldn't know how to use one, and that she wouldn't need one since Bart would be with her every minute. But Bart still wound up sleeping on the couch.[3]

See: The Jeweled Gun