Legends Close to Home

A few days ago my wife finally demanded that I get a new pair of work boots. The ones I had were only five years old but beginning to come apart. Now, I've never been one to give up on any garment just because it has a little age and shows some wear. But I knew that she was right in this case (especially when it rained) so I began a search that ended at Bridges Boot Outlet and Western Store, just off I-85 near the little Chambers County town of Cusseta. Although only about six miles from my home, I had never really noticed the store. I found a decent pair of boots there and also discovered (by virtue of a historic monument in the parking lot) that I had been living near the birth place of an American celebrity. At least he was a hundred and thirty years ago. His name was Pat Floyd Garrett.

Garrett was born in Cusseta in 1850, but grew up on a plantation in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. In his early twenties he went West, where he became a cowboy and then a buffalo hunter. Apparently a tall man with a "short fuse," he killed his first man in 1878 in a dispute over a buffalo hide. The incident was ruled "self defense," but it probably influenced Garrett to move on to New Mexico where he opened a saloon. It was likely there that he met and became friends with William Bonney. Bonney was thin, about 5'8", fair-skinned, had a neat appearance, and was very good with a gun.

A few year's later the two men found themselves on opposite sides of a political struggle between ranchers and the government of Lincoln County, New Mexico. Garrett was elected sheriff and was given the task of rounding up Bonney and his small gang, who sided with the ranchers and homesteaders. Garrett eventually captured and arrested Bonney. But before any trial occurred, Bonney killed two jailers and escaped the Lincoln County Jail.

Several months later, Garrett learned that Bonney was hiding out in the home of a mutual friend. Garrett waited until night, then slipped into the house to take Bonney. Historians dispute what happened next, but it appears that Garrett surprised Bonney as he walked into a dark kitchen in the middle of the night. Bonney's last words were "Quien es?", (Who is it?) I'm guessing his next to last words were "Tengo hambre" (I'm hungry). Garrett shot and killed the unarmed man.

The incident led to some notoriety for Garrett. He held various other lawman positions throughout the West, and eventually even became friends with President Teddy Roosevelt. But his bad temper always followed him, and he was eventually killed in a land dispute over goat grazing. His killing was ironically ruled "self defense."

Now you probably have never heard of Pat Garrett, and I'm sure you never would have heard of William Bonney if Garrett had not done one other thing: he co-authored a book with western writer M.A. "Ash" Upson that became a "best seller" in it's day. The book was called "The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid." It was such a sensation that it created a larger-than-life folk hero that still lives on in movies and songs.

Billy the Kid became an American legend. Pat Garrett is remembered in a boot store parking lot. Maybe Garrett should have spent more time writing stories.