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 (or Aplonia) 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?" ("Who is it?"), and Garrett replied by shooting at him twice.
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 (with alterations to the original title) appeared in 1927, 1946
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 ==