Pat Garrett admitted dreading only one thing, and it had nothing to do with facing down a killer.
Instead, it was facing a stranger who, on being introduced to the lawman, would exclaim: “Pat Garrett! The man who shot Billy the Kid, the noted desperado! Glad to meet you! When I write home, I shall say that I actually had the honor of shaking hands with you” — or something similar.
A soft-spoken and modest man, Garrett abhorred such encounters. “I sometimes wish that I had missed fire, and that the Kid had got his work in on me,” he lamented to a friend.
Garrett’s feat of single-handedly killing one of the West’s most notorious outlaws had been a double-edged sword. It had given him instant celebrity, a cash bonanza via a reward and donations from grateful citizens, and entrée to prominent politicians and businessmen. But the dead outlaw’s growing legend also haunted Garrett. Kid sympathizers branded Garrett a coward for shooting down Billy in the dark and claimed the Kid was unarmed to boot. And in Garrett’s later years, many viewed him as a violence-prone relic from an unseemly past.
Pat Garrett deserved better. The man had his flaws, but he was a sure enough hero when New
Pat Garrett
Pat Garrett was a cowboy, rancher, and lawman best known for killing Billy the Kid.
Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was born in Chambers County, Alabama, on June 5, , one of seven children born to John and Elizabeth Garrett. Three years later, Pat&#;s father, John Garrett, purchased a Louisiana plantation in Claiborne Parish, where young Garrett grew up.
A tall, thin, angular man with prominent cheekbones, Garrett left Louisiana for Dallas County, Texas, at the age of He worked on the large LS Ranch in West Texas as a cowboy and cattle gunman when rustling was rampant in the area.
From there, he joined up with W. Skelton Glenn as a buffalo hunter. However, he soon disagreed with a fellow hunter over some hides. The altercation led to gunplay, and when the other man drew on Garrett, Pat shot him dead.
By , he had moved on to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, just as the Lincoln County War ended. The battle between rival gangs spawned a storm of lawlessness and violence that would continue in southeastern New Mexico for the next two decades.
Pat Garrett, with his wife Apolonaria.
Garrett first went to work on Peter Maxwell&#;s ranch. A year later, he quit and worked
| Pat Garrett | |
| Born | June 5, Chambers County, Alabama (near present-day Cusseta, Alabama) |
|---|---|
| Died | February 28, Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States |
| Cause of death | Murder |
| Other names | Patrick Garrett |
Patrick "Pat" Floyd Garrett (June 5, – February 28, ) was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who was most known for killing Billy the Kid.[1] Although he held a number of law enforcement posts and gained a reputation for his skill in bringing in wanted men, he squandered his earnings in gambling and drinking. He was shot to death February 28, possibly by outlaws, although debate continues about the circumstances of his death and the identity of his killer.
The popularity Garrett had initially enjoyed for killing Billy the Kid decreased as the Kid's mythic status increased. His failure to give The Kid a chance to surrender was regarded as unfair. For a while, he enjoyed the patronage of President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt's own penchant for frontier life—he himself had hunted down three outlaws while acting as a deputy sheriff—attracted him to Garrett. However, Garrett's drunkenness as well as controver
The Sad Life of Pat Garrett: The Luckless Lawman Who Killed Billy the Kid
Pat Garrett is best known as the man who killed Billy the Kid in As well as being a lawman in the Old West, he was also a barman and a customs agent. Although he gained notoriety for the Billy the Kid murder, Garrett didn’t have much luck thereafter.
After losing his job as a Sheriff, he failed in his attempt to get elected to the Senate. Eventually, he was the victim of murder over a land dispute. Keep reading to learn more about this ultimately luckless lawman.
Early Life
Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was born in Alabama on June 5, His father purchased a cotton plantation in Louisiana but the Civil War ruined the Garrett family financially, and Garrett’s mother died when he was 16 years of age in His father died less than a year later, and the family was now in possession of a plantation that was in enormous debt. Garrett left his siblings with relatives and moved West to make a new life in He worked as a cowboy in Dallas for several years.
Little is known about his life during this period, but in , he killed for the first time. Garrett had a serious dispute with fellow buffalo hunt
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