To Hell on a Fast Horse (37 page)

The two Apr. 3, 1898, affidavits outlining Garrett’s evidence in the Fountain case are reproduced in Keleher,
The Fabulous Frontier,
216–218.

There are several accounts of the Wildy Well gunfight, making for a bit of a mess when trying to figure out exactly what happened that day. Garrett’s version of events is in his sworn testimony during the trial of Lee and Gililland, as reported in the
El Paso Daily Herald,
June 7, 1899; and his account as published in the
Rio Grande Republican,
July 15, 1898. Oliver Lee gave his version thirty-nine years later to William A. Keleher, who published it in his
The Fabulous Frontier,
200–222. By far the most interesting account is the Aug. 18, 1898, sworn statement left by Mary Madison, which, not surprisingly, is highly critical of Garrett. Her statement is in Box 11, Folder 22, Albert B. Fall Family Papers, Ms 8, Rio Grande Historical Collections.

The report that Lee withdrew a large amount of money at El Paso appeared in the
Galveston Daily News,
July 16, 1898.

The story of Lee getting startled during a poker game at the Cox ranch is from Emmett Isaacs to Herman B. Weisner, 1962, interview typescript, Box 27, Folder 1, Eve Ball Papers.

Numerous historians and authors have enjoyed repeating the tale that Albert B. Fall came up with the idea to create Otero County in order to help Lee and Gililland out of their fix, as the boundaries of the new Otero County just encompassed the Fountain murder site, technically giving Otero legal jurisdiction over the case. Fall, however, was still on active military duty when Otero County came into existence, and the issue of Otero’s legal jurisdiction never became a factor in the subsequent trial of Lee and Gililland. The truth of the matter is that Lee and Gililland saw an influential ally in Sheriff George Curry, who obviously had the ear of Governor Otero, and, too, they were weary of running from a determined Pat Garrett.

George Curry’s account of his negotiations with Lee, Otero, and Judge Parker are in
George Curry, 1861–1947: An Autobiography,
111–113.

For Eugene Manlove Rhodes, see W. H. Hutchinson,
A Bar Cross Man: The Life and Personal Writings of Eugene Manlove Rhodes
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956). Although Rhodes was an unabashed Lee partisan, he would go on to write a noted essay defending Pat Garrett and his conduct in hunting down and killing Billy the Kid. See Rhodes, “In Defense of Pat Garrett,”
Sunset
59 (Sept. 1927): 26–27, 85–91.

There are several versions of Garrett’s encounter with Lee and Gililland on the train ride to Las Cruces. See “Surrendered,”
Los Angeles Times,
Mar. 14, 1899; Mrs. C. C. Chase (daughter of A. B. Fall) interview typescript, Jan. 13, 1966, Leon C. Metz Papers; Hutchinson,
A Bar Cross Man,
64–66; W. H. Hutchinson,
Another Verdict for Oliver Lee
(Clarendon, Tex.: Clarendon Press, 1965), 2–4; and Keleher,
The Fabulous Frontier,
225–226.

The newspaper story giving Garrett’s height as seven feet appeared in the
Idaho Daily Statesman,
Boise, Idaho, May 30, 1899.

John C. Fraser’s letter to Governor Thornton, written at Denver, Colorado, Apr. 4, 1896, in which he states his suspicion of Oliver Lee, is in the Pinkerton reports, cited above. In the most recent full-length treatment of the Fountain murders,
Murder on the White Sands,
author Corey Recko offers his opinion that Lee, Gililland, and McNew were guilty of waylaying and killing Albert and Henry Fountain.

11.
UNWANTED STAR

For the shooting of Norman Newman at the Cox ranch, see the
Rio Grande Republican,
Oct. 13 and 27, 1899; Metz,
Pat Garrett,
237–239; and Garrett’s own account in Hough,
The Story of the Outlaw,
10–12. The bulldog, Old Booze, belonged to Albert B. Fall, so it only seems right that the dog would come in on the side of the defense.

I derived my details on Print Rhode from a Nov. 9, 1967, interview between James Cox and Leon Metz, typescript in the Leon C. Metz Papers; a Jan. 30, 1968, interview between Willis Walter and Leon Metz, typescript in Leon C. Metz Papers; the Arizona Territorial Prison (Florence) record for A. P. Rhode, Pinal County Historical Museum, Florence, Arizona; 1870 and 1880 U.S. censuses for Lavaca County, Texas; 1900 U.S. Census for Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and 1910 U.S. Census for Yavapai County, Arizona.

The best synopsis of the Las Cruces bank robbery and its aftermath is Harold L. Edwards, “Pat Garrett and the Las Cruces Bank Robbery,”
True West
45 (Feb. 1998): 8–13. I have also consulted the reports on the robbery and subsequent trial as published in the
Rio Grande Republican
. William Wilson received a ten-year sentence for bank robbery, and Oscar Wilbur received a reduced sentence of five years. Governor Otero granted Wilbur a full pardon six months later.

Garrett’s interview discussing his decision to retire as Doña Ana County sheriff, as well as the reference to his sobriquet, is from “Plucky Patrick Garrett,” newspaper clipping, Nov. 26, 1900.

Much of my quoted material on Garrett’s rocky tenure as El Paso collector of customs comes from Jack DeMattos’s
Garrett and Roosevelt
(College Station, Tex.: Creative Publishing Company, 1988), which reproduces numerous primary sources, including telegrams, letters, newspaper reports, Treasury Department correspondence, and the correspondence between Emerson Hough and President Roosevelt. See also Leon C. Metz, “Pat Garrett, El Paso Customs Collector,”
Arizona and the West
11 (Winter 1969): 327–340.

Garrett’s Dec. 9, 1901, letter to Polinaria mentioning his meeting with Lew Wallace is reproduced in
The Estate of Richard C. Marohn, M.D.,
auction catalog (San Francisco: Butterfield & Butterfield, 1996), 131. Garrett and Wallace’s visit to the White House was reported in the
Galveston Daily News,
Dec. 12, 1901.

The most bizarre attack on Garrett came from his former partner in the buffalo hide business, Willis Skelton Glenn. Glenn, bitter that Garrett had recently failed to corroborate his inflated Indian depredations claim with the federal government, determined to press charges against his old partner for the killing of Joe Briscoe twenty-five years previous. Glenn consulted with the Tarrant County attorney in Fort Worth, who told him he would have to press the murder charges in west Texas. Failing to derail Garrett’s appointment, Glenn seems to have decided not to follow through with this threat. See
The Atlanta Constitution,
Dec. 17, 1901.

Garrett’s discussion with Roosevelt during his Dec. 15 visit to the White House is quoted from “He Shot Billy The Kid,”
Kansas City Journal,
July 20, 1902, clipping typescript in Maurice G. Fulton Collection.

Garrett’s original commission as collector of customs and the engraved Wirt fountain pen the president used to sign the commission are illustrated in
The Estate of Richard C. Marohn, M.D.,
132.

The newspaper article “Made the General Pay” appeared in the
Galveston Daily News,
Oct. 18, 1902.

The
New York Evening World
piece criticizing Roosevelt for his appointments of “killers” ran in its issue of Feb. 7, 1905.

The
Washington Post
issue of Dec. 16, 1905, contained the report that Garrett looked dejected after visiting the White House.

Garrett’s interview with the Fort Worth reporter was published in the
Galveston Daily News,
Dec. 24, 1905.

The Finstad case and Garrett’s connection thereto was reported in the
Los Angeles Times,
Jan. 2, 5, and 13, 1906; and the
Washington Post,
Mar. 17, 1906. A copy of Garrett’s letter to President Roosevelt, Jan. 21, 1906, is in Folder 25, Patrick F. Garrett Family Papers, Ms 282, Rio Grande Historical Collections.

Garrett’s Chihuahua mining proposition is described in a letter to Emerson Hough, May 9, 1906, El Paso, Texas, Folder 25, Patrick F. Garrett Family Papers.

The problems encountered in trying to collect on Garrett are detailed in W. G. Waltz to T. B. Catron, El Paso, Texas, May 31, 1904, copy in Leon C. Metz Papers.

Garrett’s legal difficulties with the Bank of Commerce, Albuquerque, are chronicled in Metz,
Pat Garrett,
277–280; and Don Cline, “Pat Garrett’s Tragic Lawsuit,”
Old West
25 (Summer 1989): 18–23. A manuscript version of Cline’s article, with a detailed list of sources, is in the Donald Cline Collection, Folder 69.

The “Dead Beat” book from Bentley’s Organ store is in the Louis B. Bentley Papers, Ms 14, Rio Grande Historical Collections.

Albert Fall’s decision to share in Garrett’s Las Cruces grocery bill was recounted by his daughter, Mrs. C. C. Chase, in an interview with Leon C. Metz, Jan. 13, 1966, Leon C. Metz Papers.

The exchange between Albert Fall and Pat Garrett over the $50 check is from A. B. Fall to P. F. Garrett, El Paso, Texas, Dec. 29, 1906; and P. F. Garrett to A. B. Fall, Ranch (Black Mountain ranch), Jan. 15, 1907, Box 8, Folder 1, Albert B. Fall Family Papers.

The possibility of Garrett receiving the appointment as superintendent of the territorial prison was mentioned in the
Rio Grande Republican,
Apr. 27, 1907. Garrett’s letter to Polinaria requesting his Prince Albert coat for the Curry inauguration was written at El Paso on July 24, 1907. The letter is in a private collection.

Garrett’s brief venture into the El Paso real estate business with the firm of Maple & Co. was reported in the
Rio Grande Republican
of Aug. 31, 1907.

For Garrett’s dalliance with the mysterious Mrs. Brown, see Metz,
Pat Garrett,
284. Emerson Hough’s reference to Garrett’s “indiscretion” is as quoted in DeMattos,
Garrett and Roosevelt,
116.

My description of Wayne Brazel comes from Clara Snow to Eve Ball, Nov. 7, 1977, Ruidoso, New Mexico, interview typescript, Box 17, Folder 21, Eve Ball Papers; Mrs. C. C. Chase interview typescript, January 13, 1966, Leon C. Metz Papers; Sterling Rhode to Herman Weisner, undated interview, Leon C. Metz Papers; and
San Antonio Light,
Mar. 5, 1908.

A copy of the lease between Brazel and Poe Garrett is in Box 27, Folder 3, Eve Ball Papers. The use of Poe Garrett’s name in the lease agreement was Garrett’s attempt to shelter the property from the legal proceedings against him. In a July 11, 1906, written statement made in response to the sheriff’s seizure of his property, Garrett also denied that the Bear Canyon ranch property belonged to him. A copy of this letter is in the Donald Cline Collection, Folder 70.

For Garrett’s attempt to void the lease with Brazel in court, see Sterling Rhode to Herman Weisner, undated interview; and
San Antonio Light,
Mar. 5, 1908.

Albert Fall mentioned Garrett’s Las Cruces fistfights in his letter to Eugene Manlove Rhodes, El Paso, Texas, Feb. 2, 1910, Box 8, Folder 27, Albert B. Fall Family Papers.

Garrett’s letter to George Curry begging for $50 is as quoted in Keleher,
The Fabulous Frontier,
72–73. Curry mentions the check in his
Autobiography,
218.

For the specifics of Garrett’s negotiations with Miller and Adamson, I have relied on Adamson’s testimony in the
Rio Grande Republican,
Mar. 7, 1908;
San Antonio Light,
Mar. 5, 1908; and John Milton Scanland,
Life of Pat F. Garrett and the Taming of the Border Outlaw
(1908; reprint ed., Palmer Lake, Colo.: Filter Press, 1971), 4–5.

Garrett’s unusual Burgess shotgun is the subject of Mark Wright’s “The Garrett/ Ross Folding Burgess 12 Gauge: The Story of a Remarkable Firearm and the Two Lawmen Who Used It,”
The Gun Report
(Nov. 1988): 14–17.

The arrival of Garrett and Adamson at the Walter livery stable was vividly recalled by Willis Walter in his interview with Leon Metz, Jan. 30, 1968, Lordsburg, New Mexico.

Deputy Sheriff Lucero’s recollections about Garrett’s death and his role in the investigation, as well as Dr. William C. Field’s memories of the murder scene and his autopsy on Garrett’s body, were published in
The New Mexico Sentinel,
Santa Fe, Apr. 23, 1939.

Garrett’s funeral was reported in the
Rio Grande Republican,
Mar. 7, 1908; the
Las Cruces Citizen,
Mar. 7, 1908; and the
Albuquerque Morning Journal,
Mar. 10, 1908.

For Jim Miller, see J. J. Bush to Gov. Curry, El Paso, Texas, Mar. 21, 1908, Territorial Archives of New Mexico, roll 165, frames 951–952; Glenn Shirley,
Shotgun for Hire: The Story of “Deacon” Jim Miller, Killer of Pat Garrett
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970);
The Evening News,
Ada, Oklahoma, Apr. 22, 1909; and
Galveston Daily News,
Apr. 20, 1909.

The anonymous letter accusing Print Rhode of being an accessory to the murder of Garrett is found in Territorial Archives of New Mexico, roll 54, frames 201–202. Poe Garrett also received an anonymous letter warning him that he was next in line to be killed. The writer stated that “Hanging without trial is what Brazel should get.” The letter was signed “One Who Knows.” See Scanland,
Life of Pat F. Garrett and the Taming of the Border Outlaw,
11.

Cox paid off a $3,000 promissory note for Garrett on May 29, 1906. The note is illustrated in
The Estate of Richard C. Marohn, M.D.,
143. Two letters from Cox to Polinaria Garrett are in the Patrick F. Garrett Family Papers, and a letter from Cox to Pat Garrett is in the Robert G. McCubbin Collection. This latter is reproduced in McCubbin, “The 100th Anniversary of Pat Garrett’s Death,”
True West
55 ( Jan.–Feb. 2008): 38.

For Jeff Ake’s opinion of Bill Cox and his role in Garrett’s death, see James B. O’Neil,
They Die But Once: The Story of a Tejano
(New York: Knight Publications, Inc., 1935), 195.