Pat Garrett - Customs Collector - El Paso, Texas

Patrick Floyd "Pat" Garrett (June 5, 1850 – February 29, 1908) was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who became famous for killing Billy the Kid. He was also the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico as well as Doña Ana County, New Mexico. On December 20, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, who became a personal friend of Garrett, appointed him customs collector in El Paso, Texas. Garrett served for five years. Garrett was both gunslinger and lawman, killing friend and foe. In the end, Garrett died as he lived: by the gun. He is buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The undisputed facts are that on the morning of February 29, 1908, Garrett and a man named Carl Adamson were driving in Garrett's buckboard along the road from Organ to Las Cruces, New Mexico. A short distance from Las Cruces they overtook a man on horseback, Jesse Wayne Brazel, and a few minutes later Garrett was shot dead. The body, covered with a carriage robe, was left where it had fallen near the south side of the road. Brazel tied his horse behind the buckboard and, with Adamson, drove Garrett's team of sorrel mares into Las Cruces where he surrendered and was locked up in the Dona Ana County jail.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Historical Society

Reference ID: 013-093-014

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History