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It was a leap year, Feb. 29, 1908, and legendary lawman Pat Garrett's luck was about to run out.
Deeply in debt, Garrett was about to enter into a land-related deal that would provide him the money he and his family desperately needed.
But on his way to Las Cruces from his ranch near San Augustine Pass, on a quiet sandy road at the base of the Alameda Arroyo, New Mexico's most famous sheriff met a grisly end, shot twice from behind.
A ranch hand named Wayne Brazel confessed to the crime, claiming self-defense.
In the late 1930s, Garrett's son Jarvis marked the spot of his father's death with a crude memorial he made of cement and rocks. It now lies under a mesquite bush off a narrow utility road about a mile southwest of O-ate High School.
It's also right in the path of the future Mesa Grande Drive, a major four-lane arterial that will serve the 1,700-acre Vistas at Presidio II subdivision.
Friends of Pat Garrett, a local group headed up by historian Cal Traylor, has encouraged city planners to steer the road away from the monument, and to possibly establish a small viewing area there when the road is developed.
Other than Garrett's gravestone in the Masonic Cemetery, it would be the only public memorial in Las Cruces to the lawman credited by some with helping to tame the Wild West.
The killer of Billy the Kid
Originally from Alabama, Garrett first came to New Mexico
He rose to fame when he was appointed sheriff of Lincoln County and led a posse that captured Billy the Kid, who was convicted of murder in Mesilla in March 1881.
After the Kid killed his guards and escaped, Garrett tracked him down at Fort Sumner, and shot him dead on the night of July 14, 1881.
It was an act that would forever define Garrett in the public eye.
Initially, Garrett enjoyed great notoriety for the killing of the Kid.
Yet El Paso historian Leon Metz, author of "Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman," says the Kid was an anti-establishment folk hero to many, and Garrett's reputation began to suffer for his killing.
"Billy the Kid had become the hero and Pat Garrett became the man who shot poor 'ol Billy," Metz said.
Garrett failed to win re-election as Lincoln County sheriff.
Move to Doña Ana
In 1896, Garrett was appointed Doña Ana County Sheriff to investigate the apparent double murder of Col. Albert Fountain and his young son, Henry.
Garrett's investigation led to a conspiracy among area power interests who Fountain was about to indict for cattle rustling and other crimes.
Those Garrett implicated for Fountain's murder were tried but acquitted, and it remains one of New Mexico's most well-known unsolved crimes.
Garrett was not re-elected sheriff, but he remained in the Las Cruces area. In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Garrett customs collector in El Paso. He had a controversial five-year run, and was not re-appointed.
By 1906, Garrett determined to focus on his Bear Canyon ranch, located on the east side of the Organ Mountains.
But he owed a lot of debt and back taxes, and reportedly began drinking heavily and gambling. He borrowed thousands of dollars from rancher W.W. Cox, whose ranch abutted Garrett's.
Garrett agreed to rent some of his land to Wayne Brazel, who worked for Cox. But he became enraged when Brazel ended up grazing a large herd of goats on the land, a no-no to any cattle rancher.
Garrett wanted Brazel off the land, but could not easily evict him. The tension over the situation began to build in the early winter of 1908.
An unsolved murder?
Many historians don't think Brazel killed Garrett, though some, like Metz, believe he did.
Garrett's brothers and his descendants supported the idea of a conspiracy, and even some at the time did not believe the mild-mannered Brazel was capable of the crime. Many also were skeptical of the account as described by Carl Adamson, who had agreed to lease Garrett's land.
Garrett was to meet in Las Cruces, to secure the deal that fateful day.
According to Adamson's account in the March 4, 1908, Rio Grande Republican, he had stayed the night at Garrett's ranch and the two left that morning in Garrett's buggy.
At the same time, Brazel left on horseback from Cox Ranch and at some point met up with them on the road. As Brazel rode alongside the buggy, he and Garrett began arguing about the goats.
Adamson said the three stopped along the road to urinate.
"While I was standing there, why I heard Mr. Garrett said 'Well damn you, if I can't get you off that way I will another and I will do it now.' Or something like that," Adamson said.
"After those words passed, I heard a racket and I just turned my head like that and when I turned it, Garrett was on the ground," Adamson said.
The evidence showed Garrett was shot in the back of the head and then once in the stomach with a .45 caliber, his own shotgun lying conspicuously on the ground.
Brazel and Adamson left Garrett's body covered with a blanket and went to Sheriff Felipe Lucero, to whom Brazel immediately confessed. Brazel said he feared an enraged Garrett was about to kill him.
Lucero didn't believe Brazel was capable of the crime, and Dr. W.C. Field, who performed the only exam of Garrett's body, felt there were inconsistencies in Brazel's version and the physical evidence.
When Garrett's brothers arrived by train from Louisiana, they told the local newspapers that Garrett was likely the victim of a conspiracy.
A year later Brazel stood trial and, after a weak case presented by the prosecution, the jury quickly returned a not guilty verdict.
Marking the end of an era
After Garrett's body was brought to Las Cruces, he lay in state at Strong's Undertaking Parlor for days as hundreds of people lined up to view his body.
Garrett's family had to pay for a casket to be made in El Paso that was large enough to accommodate his 6-foot, 4-inch frame.
The dramatic death of Garrett, who was to many a legend of the Old West, was covered in newspapers from New York to Los Angeles, and condolences poured in from Washington politicians, including Theodore Roosevelt.
Garrett was buried on a Thursday afternoon, with hundreds showing up to follow his coffin to the Odd Fellows Cemetery.
His pallbearers included old friends Morgan Llewellyn and New Mexico Gov. George Curry. In 1957, his family had his body moved to the Masonic Cemetery on South Compress Road.
Sometime around 1939, Jarvis Garrett, one of Garrett's nine children, located the spot where his father died, and made a small memorial of stones and cement, scrawled with "P. Garrett" and "Feb 1908," as well as a small cross believed made by Garrett's widow.
Cal Traylor said over the last few years, he and his group have met with city officials at the site and in meetings about preserving the spot, and possibly developing a small park or interpretive site. The land is state-owned but is being developed under an agreement with developer Philip Phillipou.
The Metropolitan Planning Organization has recommended at the time the street is actually designed that the alignment loop around the marker and follow the natural topography. Planners say it may also end up being cheaper to build with that alignment.
Twenty years ago, the New Mexico State Highway Department installed a historical marker off Highway 70, though that marker is at least a mile from the actual spot.
Freelance writer Christopher Schurtz can be reached at cschurtz@zianet.com.
On the Web
For more information, visit the Friends of Pat Garrett web site at friendsofpatgarrett.com
