Pat Garrett

Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett (June 5, 1850 Chambers County, Alabama - February 28, 1908) was a bartender and later a sheriff, generally believed to have tracked down and killed Billy the Kid. He is sometimes referred to as, "The Man Who Shot Billy the Kid."

Death

Garrett's main creditor (a man named W.W. Cox) worked out a deal to repay the debt by using Garrett's quarter horse ranch in the Sand Andres slopes as grazing land for one of his partners. Garrett agreed to the deal, not realizing they would be grazing goats rather than cattle (largely in an attempt to anger Garrett into selling the property and its valuable water rights). Garrett objected to the goats, feeling their presence lowered the value of his land in the eyes of buyers or other renters.

Related Topics:
Sand Andres - Water rights

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Two of Cox's men (Jesse Wayne Brazel and Carl Adamson) planned a meeting with Garrett in Las Cruces, supposedly to get rid of the goats and work out a new land deal. Adamson and Garrett rode together to meet Brazel in Las Cruces, but Brazel showed up on horseback along the way. The group stopped so Garrett could relieve himself by the side of the road. While urinating, Garrett was ambushed and shot, once in the head and once in the stomach. Brazel and Adamson left Garrett's body on the side of the road and continued to Las Cruces, alerting Sheriff Felipe Lucero of the crime scene.

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Historians disagree as to who did the shooting, but Jesse Wayne Brazel confessed to the shooting and was tried for first degree murder. Cox paid his bond and retained Albert B. Fall as his defense attorney. Brazel claimed self-defense, maintaining Garrett was armed with a shotgun at the time and was threatening him. The jury took less than a half-hour to return a not guilty verdict. Cox then hosted a barbecue celebration.

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Garrett's body was too tall for any pre-made coffins in town, so a special one had to be shipped in from El Paso. His funeral service was held March 5 1908 and he was laid to rest next to his daughter Ida, who'd preceded him in death eight years earlier.

Related Topics:
March 5 - 1908

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