| Pat Garrett Lawman |
| Patrick Floyd Garrett was born on June 5, 1850 in Chambers County, Alabama where he and his parents lived until 1853 when his Father John Lumpkin and Mother Elizabeth Ann Jarvis Garrett bought a plantation in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. Pat attended school there where received an elementary education before leaving to work the land as many other boys did in that time. In 1869 the rambling fever hit Pat and he left for Texas to make his fortune hunting buffalo. He and a friend did pretty well until around 1877, the buffalo were becomming scarce and to make matters worse one day while they were gone the Comanche Indians raided there camp taking everthing they owned of any value and destroying the rest. Pat decided to try his hand at something else and drifted around for awhile finally ending up in Fort Sumner, New Mexico where he married Juanita Gutierrez who died afew months later. In 1880 Garrett was married again to his first wife's sister Apolinaria, and had been elected Sheriff of Lincoln County where he promply set out to catch Billy the Kid. After killing Billy's two friends Charles Bowdre and Tom folliard (Both were mistaken for Billy or would have never been killed) He brought the Kid to trial in Mesilla, where Billy was sentenced to hang. Later Billy would escape only to be caught by suprise at Pete Maxwell's house one night and shot by Garrett killing the outlaw. Fame did not come to Garrett as he thought it would when he killed The Kid instead it only made him if anything lose respect. If not for all the conflicting stories about how the shooting took place the out come may have been different. Garrett lost his bid for reelection the next year and in 1884 had an unsuccessful bit for Texas State Senate. Tired of the life in Lincoln Garrett moved to the Texas pandhandle where he served as a Texas Ranger for awhile then quit and returned to Rosewell, New Mexico to try his hand at farming.Garrett's idea of growing a crop out of desert soil didn't work very well, again a failure. Later he ran for sheriff of Chaves County and lost the election. In 1891 Garrett had moved once again this time to Uvalde, Texas where he lived until 1896 raising horses. Febuary 1, 1896 someone killed a prominent Lawyer Albert Fountain and his eight year old son and the governor of Mew Mexico asked Garrett to take the job as sheriff of Las Cruces the seat of New Mexico's Dona Ana, County. The Governor was hoping that Garrett would have the same success in finding these killers as he had tracking down Billy the Kid. Garrett would eventually bring in two men Oliver Lee and Jim Gilliland who were tried for the murder of Fountian and his son but were found not guilty. Pat would serve two more terms as sheriff before being appointed El paso collector of customs on December 20, 1901 by then President Theodore Roosvelt. Garrett later would anger the President by bringing a known criminal to meet him and even had his picture taken with the President. So much for the job as collecter of customs,the president refused to reappoint Garrett to the job and Garrett was a broken man. Discouraged and broke Pat moves his family to an isolated ranch at Bear Canyon near the San Andres Mountian. With no money to pay his bills and credit being cut off Garrett puts his ranch up for sale, but finding a buyer is a problem. Garrett has sold a lease for the range land to a man named Wayne Brazil who is running 1800 head of sheep on the land. Garrett tries to talk Brazil into breaking the lease with no results both men are very angry and Pat tells him that he will, get rid of him one way or the other. Febuary 29, 1908 Garrett even with the lease has found a prospective buyer for the ranch, a man by the name of Carl Adamson. The two men are on their way to Las Cruces in Adamson's wagon when they run into Barzil on the road. Garrett begins to argue with Barzil and gets down from the wagon to relieve himself then turns his back. It's the last thing Garrett ever did, Brazil shot him in the back of the head killing him instantly. The two men Adamson and Brazil went on to town and reported the shooting to the sheriff who went back to the site and found Garrett's body in a ditch where he had fallen with a shotgun next to him Brazil was later arrested for the killing but claiming he killed Garrett in self defense dispite the fact that there was evidence at the site showing there could have been other people present he was aquitted of the charges. Pat Garrett lived a life of trouble after killing Billy The Kid as if there was a curse on him. If only someone else had caught the Kid his life may have been different. Everything he did after the shooting that night in Maxwell's house was a failure. |
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| Pat Garrett shown with the gun he said that he used to kill Billy The Kid. |
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