Pat Garrett
Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent known for killing Billy the Kid. He was the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, as well as Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Stories about him, especially his involvement with Billy the Kid, are part of the legends of the American Old West.
Early years
Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was born on June 5, 1850, in Chambers County, Alabama. He was the second of five children born to John Lumpkin Garrett and his wife Elizabeth Ann Jarvis. Garrett's four siblings were Margaret, Elizabeth, John, and Alfred. Garrett was of English ancestry, and his ancestors migrated to America from the English counties of Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, and Buckinghamshire. When Pat was three years old, his father purchased the John Greer plantation in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. The Civil War, however, destroyed the Garrett family's finances. Their mother died at the age of 37 on March 25, 1867, when Garrett was 16. The following year, on February 5, 1868, his father died at age 45. The children were left with a plantation that was more than $30,000 in debt. The children were taken in by relatives. The 18-year-old Garrett headed west from Louisiana on January 25, 1869.Buffalo hunter
Garrett's whereabouts over the next seven years are obscure. By 1876, he was in Texas hunting buffalo. During this period, Garrett killed his first man, another buffalo hunter named Joe Briscoe. Garrett surrendered to the authorities at Fort Griffin, Texas, but they declined to prosecute. When buffalo hunting declined, Garrett left Texas and rode to New Mexico Territory. When Garrett arrived at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, he found work as a bartender, then as a cowboy for Pedro Menard "Pete" Maxwell.Family life
Garrett's first wife was Juanita Martinez, who was born in May 1860 in Taos, New Mexico, to Antonio Domingo Martínez and María Manuela Trujillo, and they moved to Cimarron. Her mother died while giving birth to a daughter who also died, and then they moved to Fort Sumner with her uncle Celedon Trujillo and his employer Lucien Maxwell. Garrett and Juanita got married in the fall of 1879, and Tom O'Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, and Billy the Kid, among others, attended the wedding. She took ill in the ceremony or soon after, and died 15 days after from stress or medical complication, at the age of 19, because she collapsed. She was interred in Fort Sumner Cemetery.The reference Leon C. Metz made about Juanita being the older sister of Pat's second wife Apolinaria is unfounded. Apolinaria had only one sister by the name of Celsa Gutierrez. On January 14, 1880, Garrett married Apolinaria Gutierrez. Between 1881 and 1905, Apolinaria Garrett gave birth to eight children: Ida, Dudley, Elizabeth, Annie, Patrick, Pauline, Oscar, and Jarvis. Apolinaria's sister, Celsa, resident of Fort Sumner, was reputed to be romantically involved with Billy the Kid at the time of the Kid's death.
Pursuit of Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid, William Henry Bonney Jr, born Henry McCarty, was wanted for murder in the aftermath of the Lincoln County War. On November 2, 1880, Garrett was elected sheriff of Lincoln County, having defeated the incumbent, Sheriff George Kimball, by a vote of 320 to 179. Although Garrett's term would not begin until January 1, 1881, Sheriff Kimball appointed him a deputy sheriff for the remainder of Kimball's term. Garrett also obtained a deputy U.S. marshal's commission, which allowed him to pursue the Kid across state lines. Garrett and his posse stormed the Dedrick ranch at Bosque Grande on November 30, 1880. They expected to find the Kid there, but only succeeded in capturing John Joshua Webb, who had been charged with murder, along with an accused horse thief named George Davis. Garrett turned Webb and Davis over to the sheriff of San Miguel County a few days later, and moved on to the settlement of Puerto de Luna. There, a local tough named Mariano Leiva picked a fight with Garrett and was shot in the shoulder.On December 19, 1880, Billy the Kid, Charlie Bowdre, Tom Pickett, Billy Wilson, Dave Rudabaugh, and Tom O'Folliard rode into Fort Sumner. Lying in wait were Deputy Garrett and his posse. Mistaking O'Folliard for the Kid, Garrett's men opened fire and killed O'Folliard. Billy and the others escaped unharmed. Three days later, Garrett's posse cornered Billy and his companions at a spot called Stinking Springs. They killed Bowdre and captured the others. On April 15, 1881, Billy the Kid was sentenced to hang by Judge Warren Bristol, but escaped 13 days later, killing two deputies.
On July 14, 1881, Garrett visited Fort Sumner to question a friend of the Kid's about his whereabouts, and learned he was staying with a common friend, Pedro Menard "Pete" Maxwell. Around midnight, Garrett went to Maxwell's house. The Kid was asleep in another part of the house, but woke up in the middle of the night and entered Maxwell's bedroom, where Garrett was standing in the shadows. The Kid did not recognize the man standing in the dark. He asked him, repeatedly, "¿Quién es?", and Garrett replied by shooting at him twice. The first shot hit the Kid in the chest just above the heart, while the second missed. Garrett's account leaves unclear whether Billy was killed instantly or took some time to die.
Account of Billy the Kid
He coauthored The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid with Ash Upson, and for decades his book was deemed authoritative.Following Billy the Kid's death, writers quickly went to work producing books and articles that made a folk hero out of him, while making Garrett seem like an assassin. Although filled with many errors of fact, The Authentic Life served afterward as the main source for most books written about the Kid until the 1960s. A failure when originally released, an original copy of the Pat Garrett–Ash Upson book became a rare commodity; in 1969, the original 1882 edition of the Garrett–Upson book was described by Ramon F. Adams as being "exceedingly rare". Twentieth-century editions of Garrett's Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid appeared in 1927, 1946 and 1964.
Texas Ranger
Garrett did not seek re-election as sheriff of Lincoln County in 1882. He moved to Texas, where he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the state senate. Garrett became a captain with the Texas Rangers for less than a month, then returned to Roswell, New Mexico.Middle years
Irrigation investments and move to Texas
Garrett discovered a large reservoir of artesian water in the Roswell region, and went into partnership with two men to organize the Pecos Valley Irrigation and Investment Company on July 18, 1885. Garrett kept his irrigation schemes alive for several years, and on January 15, 1887, he purchased a one-third interest in the Texas Irrigation Ditch Company, but the partners got rid of him. On August 15, 1887, he formed a partnership with William L. Holloman in the Holloman and Garrett Ditch Company. All of Garrett's forays into the irrigation field, however, resulted in failure. By 1892, Garrett had moved his large family to Uvalde, Texas, where he became a close friend of John Nance Garner, a future vice president of the United States. Garrett might have lived out the remainder of his life in Uvalde, had it not been for a headline-making event back in New Mexico.Disappearance of Albert Jennings Fountain
On January 31, 1896, Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain and his eight-year-old son Henry disappeared at the edge of the White Sands area of southern New Mexico. Neither of the Fountains was ever seen again. The mystery was never officially solved, even with the efforts of Apache scouts, the Pinkertons, and an all-out push by the Republican Party. In April 1896, Garrett was appointed sheriff of Doña Ana County, and two years later had gathered sufficient evidence to make arrests, asking a judge in Las Cruces for warrants to arrest Oliver M. Lee, William McNew, Bill Carr, and James Gililland. Within hours, he had arrested McNew and Carr.During the early-morning hours of July 12, 1898, Garrett and his posse confronted Oliver M. Lee and James Gililland at a spot called "Wildy Well" near Orogrande, New Mexico. Garrett had hoped to capture the fugitives while they were sleeping, but Lee and Gililland expected trouble and took their bedrolls up to the roof of the bunkhouse to avoid being taken by surprise. One of Garrett's deputies named Kearney heard footsteps on the roof, scaled a ladder, and was mortally wounded by the fugitives. A stray shot nicked Garrett. Due to his concern for his dying deputy, Garrett arranged a truce with the fugitives and withdrew while Kearney was lifted into a wagon. Kearney, however, died on the road to Las Cruces, and Lee and Gililland remained at large for another eight months, before they finally surrendered to Sheriff George Curry. They were found not guilty in the Fountain killings, and the indictments for killing the deputy were also dismissed.