To Hell on a Fast Horse (38 page)

James M. Hervey wrote an important account of his involvement in the investigation of Garrett’s death some years prior to March 1951 and sent it to W. T. Moyers, a Denver attorney who became obsessed with who killed Garrett. This typed manuscript is in Box 3, Folder 5, Fred M. Mazzulla Collection. Hervey expanded this account prior to his death in 1953 and it was subsequently published as “The Assassination of Pat Garrett,”
True West
(Mar.–Apr. 1961): 16–27, 40–42.

The subpoenas for the telegrams of Brazel, Rhode, and others are in
Territory of New Mexico vs. Wayne Brazel,
Case #4112, Doña Ana County District Court Records, Box 13320, NMSRCA.

Captain Fornoff’s “discovery” was shared with both Hervey and Governor Curry. Curry wrote later that, because of Fornoff’s findings, he became convinced that Brazel was “the victim of a conspiracy rather than the killer” (
Autobiography,
217). Fornoff made a written report of his investigation, but that report appears to have been destroyed. Fred Lambert, a member of the Mounted Police under Fornoff, wrote W. T. Moyers on Apr. 7, 1951, that Fornoff “definitely established that young Brazil [
sic
] was paid $10,000 to do the job.” Lambert may have confused the story somewhat after forty-three years, but he remembered the main point that Garrett’s killing was a conspiracy. Lambert’s letter is in Box 10B, Folder 4D, Fred M. Mazzulla Collection. For more on the Fornoff report, see Robert N. Mullin, “The Key to the Mystery of Pat Garrett,”
The Branding Iron
(Los Angeles Corral of the Westerners) 92 (June 1969): 1–5.

For newspaper reports of the Brazel verdict, see the
El Paso Times,
May 5, 1909, and
The Evening News,
Ada, Oklahoma, May 6, 1909. Dr. Field is as quoted in the
New Mexico Sentinel,
Apr. 23, 1939.

Wayne Brazel’s apology to Mrs. Fall is as quoted in Mrs. C. C. Chase interview typescript, Jan. 13, 1966, Leon C. Metz Papers.

A typescript of the Oliver M. Lee Jr. interview with C. L. Sonnichsen, Sept. 14, 1954, is in Box 93, Folder 404, C. L. Sonnichsen Papers. W. T. Moyers visited Alamogordo, New Mexico, in 1955 and got a very similar story from Oliver Lee Jr. Moyers understood that after Print Rhode (Moyers uses “Mr. X” for Rhode) shot Garrett in the back of the head with a Winchester rifle, Brazel fired his pistol into Garrett’s body. See W. T. Moyers dictation, Dec. 1, 1955; and Moyers to Fred M. Mazzulla, Denver, Colo., Dec. 12, 1961, Box 10B, Folder 4D, Fred M. Mazzulla Collection.

Jim Cox’s statement to Herman Weisner is as quoted in a typescript of Weisner’s Mar. 18, 1986, lecture at the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, Las Cruces, RGT186, Rio Grande Historical Collections.

The Albert Fall quote on Garrett’s death is from his letter to Eugene Manlove Rhodes, El Paso, Texas, Feb. 2, 1910, Box 8, Folder 27, Albert B. Fall Family Papers.

James B. Gillett is as quoted in the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle,
Brooklyn, New York, Jan. 3, 1885.

For the lynching of Jim Miller, see the
Evening News,
Ada, Oklahoma, Apr. 19, 20, 22, and 23; and the
Galveston Daily News,
Apr. 20, 1909.

Carl Adamson’s trial and conviction for smuggling Chinese nationals was reported in the
Rio Grande Republican,
Dec. 19, 1908; and the
Albuquerque Journal,
Aug. 23, 1911. It has been suggested that Miller and Adamson wanted Garrett’s Bear Canyon ranch as a hideout for illegal aliens whom they intended to smuggle into the United States. This is extremely far-fetched. The smuggling business consisted of supplying Chinese nationals in Mexico with bogus U.S. citizenship certificates and then getting them across the border where they could be quickly shuttled to the larger U.S. cities, places where they were more likely to blend in. The smugglers charged $50 for each certificate and $50 to get the individual across the Rio Grande. There was no need of a remote hideout in New Mexico where there were no jobs except punching cattle. See “Chinese Smuggled In,”
Galveston Daily News,
Nov. 5, 1907.

Bill Cox’s purchase of the Garrett Black Mountain ranch was reported in the
Rio Grande Republican
, Dec. 5, 1908. The comparison of Cox’s ranch with Rhode Island is in the
Rio Grande Republican
of Oct. 21, 1910. For more on Cox, see Paxton P. Price,
Mesilla Valley Pioneers, 1823–1912
(Las Cruces: Yucca Tree Press, 1995), 226–227.

Albert Fall’s recommendation of Brazel for an appointment to the New Mexico Mounted Police is in the Territorial Archives of New Mexico, roll 165, frame 417. My additional details on Brazel’s later life and disappearance are from Robert N. Mullin, “The Strange Story of Wayne Brazel,”
Panhandle-Plains Historical Review
42 (1969): 23–59.

My description of Print Rhode’s murder of Henry L. Murphy, his incarceration, and eventual pardon comes from the
Arizona Journal-Miner,
July 9, 10, and 12, 1910; Inquest of H. L. Murphy and A. P. Rhode Petition for Writ, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, Phoenix, Arizona; and Arizona Territorial Prison (Florence) record for A. P. Rhode. Although Print Rhode has been mentioned by other writers as a possible suspect in Garrett’s murder, I am the first to present significant evidence identifying him as the killer. See Robert N. Mullin, “Who Killed Pat Garrett—and Why?”
Password
(El Paso County Historical Society) 16 (1971): 46–61.

EPILOGUE

Garrett and Hough’s visit to Fort Sumner is recounted in Hough’s
The Story of the Outlaw,
305–312.

Native Texan Stanley Walker’s review of Burn’s
Saga of Billy the Kid
appeared in the Mar. 7, 1926, issue of the
New York Times
.

The copy of Burn’s
Saga
found in Bonnie and Clyde’s death car now belongs to the Bienville Depot Museum, Arcadia, Louisiana.

For Copland and his ballet,
Billy the Kid,
see Aaron Copland and Vivian Perlis,
Copland, 1900 through 1942
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1984).

For the dispute over the Fort Sumner cemetery, see the
Clovis News-Journal,
July 24, 1938; and the
El Paso Herald-Post,
Feb. 18, 1939.

My information on the restoration and dedication of the old Lincoln County courthouse comes from the
Albuquerque Journal,
June 14, 1937, and July 31, 1939;
El Paso Herald-Post
, Feb. 12, 1938;
The Daily Times-News,
Burlington, North Carolina, Nov. 25, 1938; and
Las Cruces Sun-News,
July 31, 1939.

For a history of the gun that killed Billy the Kid, see Mary’n Rosson, “The Gun That Killed Billy the Kid,”
Old West
14 (Winter 1977): 6–9, 32, 36–37. The Garrett affidavit quoted is reproduced in the above article, 8. The legal struggle between Polinaria Garrett and the Powers estate is chronicled in the
El Paso Herald-Post,
Nov. 10, 1933, and Mar. 7, Oct. 6, and Oct. 8, 1934; and the
Albuquerque Journal,
Jan. 31, and Apr. 25 and 29, 1933. A list of the firearms in the Tom Powers collection, from the estate inventory, is in Box 18, Leon C. Metz Papers.

Polinaria Garrett’s death was reported in the
Albuquerque Journal,
Oct. 22, 1936. Her first name was given as Pauline.

For the Garrett family’s lawsuit against Howard Hughes, see the
Port Arthur News,
Port Arthur, Texas, Mar. 9, 1947;
Las Vegas Daily Optic,
Mar. 8, 1947; and
Albuquerque Journal,
Mar. 8, 1947. An excellent summary of Billy the Kid films is Paul Andrew Hutton, “Silver Screen Desperado: Billy the Kid in the Movies,”
New Mexico Historical Review
82 (Spring 2007): 149–196.

The Brushy Bill Roberts story was widely covered in the press, but see the
Santa Fe New Mexican,
Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1950; and
El Paso Herald-Post,
Nov. 25, 1950. Brushy’s death was reported in the
Las Cruces Sun-News,
Dec. 28, 1950. See also C. L. Sonnichsen and William V. Morrison,
Alias Billy the Kid
(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1955).

For the Sullivan/Sederwall investigation, see the
New York Times,
June 5, 2003;
Santa Fe New Mexican,
Aug. 2, 2004;
Tucson Weekly,
Apr. 13, 2006;
Houston Chronicle,
Sept. 5, 2007;
Ruidoso News,
Aug. 13, 2008;
Albuquerque Journal,
Aug. 18, 2007, and Aug. 28, 2008; and Jana Bommersbach, “Digging Up Billy,”
True West
50 (Aug./Sept. 2003): 42–45. The investigation also figures in a 2004 History Channel documentary,
Investigating History: Billy the Kid,
and a 2007 French documentary,
Requiem for Billy the Kid,
directed by Anne Feinsilber.

Florencio Chavez is as quoted in Eugene Cunningham, “Fought with Billy the Kid,”
Frontier Times
9 (Mar. 1932): 247.

For the sad condition of Garrett’s grave and the removal of his remains to the Masonic cemetery, see the
Las Cruces Sun-News,
Feb. 1, 1948;
Big Spring Daily Herald,
Sept. 12, 1957; and
Las Cruces Sun-News,
Oct. 23, 1957.

Sallie Chisum is as quoted in Burns,
Saga of Billy the Kid,
18–19.

ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records, Phoenix

The C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department, University of Texas at El Paso Library

Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin

Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

Cobb Memorial Archives, Valley, Alabama

Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado

Donnelly Library, Special Collections, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas

The Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe

Haley Memorial Library and History Center, Midland, Texas

L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Carrizozo, New Mexico

Lincoln Heritage Trust, Lincoln, New Mexico

National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, Santa Fe

Pinal County Historical Museum, Florence, Arizona

Rio Grande Historical Collections, New Mexico State University Archives, Las Cruces

Stephen H. Hart Library, Colorado Historical Society, Denver

University of Arizona Library Special Collections, Tucson

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Robert G. McCubbin, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Marc Simmons, Cerrillos, New Mexico

Robert M. Utley, Georgetown, Texas

PUBLISHED MATERIAL

Books and Articles

Alexander, Bob.
Desert Desperadoes: The Banditti of Southwestern New Mexico.
Silver City, N.Mex.: Gila Books, 2006.

———.
Sheriff Harvey Whitehill: Silver City Stalwart
. Silver City, N.Mex.: High-Lonesome Books, 2005.

Anaya, A. P. “Paco.”
I Buried Billy
. Edited by James H. Earle. College Station, Tex.: Creative Publishing Company, 1991.

Anderson, George B., ed.
History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People.
Los Angeles: Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.

An Illustrated History of New Mexico….
Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1895.

Ball, Eve.
Ma’am Jones of the Pecos
. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1969.

Ball, Larry D.
Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona, 1846–1912.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992.

———. “Lawman in Disgrace: Sheriff Charles C. Perry of Chaves County, New Mexico.”
New Mexico Historical Review
61 (Apr. 1986): 125–136.

———.
The United States Marshals of New Mexico and Arizona Territories, 1846–1912.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978.

Barker, Allen. “I Refound Stinking Springs.”
True West
36 (Feb. 1989): 14–19.

Barron, R. M., ed.
Court of Inquiry, Lieutenant Colonel N. A. M. Dudley, Fort Stanton, New Mexico, May-June-July 1879
. Edina, Minn.: Beaver’s Pond Press, Inc., 2003.

Beckett, Patrick H., ed.
Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1881: As Seen by Her Newspapers
. Las Cruces: COAS Publishing and Research, 2003.

Bell, Bob Boze.
The Illustrated Life and Times of Billy the Kid
. Revised and expanded second edition. Phoenix, Ariz.: Tri Star–Boze Publications, 1996.

Bidal, Lillian H.
Pisacah: A Place of Plenty
. El Paso, Tex.: Robert E. and Evelyn McKee Foundation, 1995.

Billington, Monroe Lee.
New Mexico’s Buffalo Soldiers, 1866–1900
. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1991.

Billy the Kid: Las Vegas Newspaper Accounts of His Career.
Waco, Tex.: W. M. Morrison Books,1958.

Blazer, Almer. “The Fight at Blazer’s Mill, in New Mexico.”
Frontier Times
16 (August 1939): 461–466.

Blazer, Paul A. “The Fight at Blazer’s Mill: A Chapter in the Lincoln County War.”
Arizona and the West
6 (Autumn 1964): 203–210.

Bogener, Stephen.
Ditches Across the Desert: Irrigation in the Lower Pecos Valley.
Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2003.

Bommersbach, Jana. “Digging Up Billy.”
True West
50 (Aug./Sept. 2003): 42–45.

Braddock, James E. “Relics from Pat Garrett’s Ranch.”
Relics
2 (Spring 1969): 16–17.

Branch, Louis Leon.
“Los Bilitos”: The Story of “Billy the Kid” and His Gang.
New York: Carlton Press, Inc., 1980.

Buffington, Ann. “Out of the Shadows: Women of Lincoln County.”
True West
47 ( July 2000): 12–22.

Burns, Walter Noble.
The Saga of Billy the Kid
. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1926.

Callon, Milton W.
Las Vegas, New Mexico: The Town That Wouldn’t Gamble
. Las Vegas, N.Mex.: Las Vegas Publishing Co., 1962.

Campa, Arthur L.
Hispanic Culture in the Southwest
. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.

Carter, A. G. “Neighborhood Talk About Pat Garrett. As Told to C. L. Sonnichsen.”
Old West
7 (Fall 1970): 20–22, 62–64.

Carter, Jack. “Some Facts About Wayne Brazel—From Old-Timers Who Knew Him.”
Frontier Times
46 ( June–July 1972): 10–13, 40.

Casey, Robert J.
The Texas Border and Some Borderliners
. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1950.

Chamberlain, Kathleen P. “In the Shadow of Billy the Kid: Susan McSween and the Lincoln County War.”
Montana the Magazine of Western History
55 (Winter 2005): 36–53.

Cline, Don.
Alias Billy the Kid: The Man Behind the Legend.
Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 1986.

———.
Antrim & Billy
. College Station, Tex.: Creative Publishing Company, 1990.

———. “Pat Garrett’s Tragic Lawsuit.”
Old West
25 (Summer 1989): 18–23.

———. “Tom Pickett: Friend of Billy the Kid.”
True West
44 ( July 1997): 40–49.

Cobos, Rubén.
A Dictionary of New Mexico & Southern Colorado Spanish.
Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2003.

Coe, George W.
Frontier Fighter: The Autobiography of George W. Coe Who Fought and Rode with Billy the Kid.
Edited by Doyce B. Nunis Jr. Chicago: The Lakeside Press, 1984.

Collinson, Frank.
Life in the Saddle
. Edited by Mary Whatley Clarke. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.

Copland, Aaron, and Vivian Perlis.
Copland, 1900 through 1942
. New York: St. Martin’s, 1984.

Cotten, Lee. “True Tales of Billy the Kid: The Kid in Arizona, 1875–1877.”
The Kid
(Mar. 1990): 7–15; ( July 1990): 10–19.

Cramer, T. Dudley.
The Pecos Ranchers in the Lincoln County War
. Oakland, Calif.: The Branding Iron Press, 1996.

Cummings, Billy Charles Patrick.
Frontier Parish: Recovered Catholic History of Lincoln County, 1860–1884.
Lincoln, N.Mex.: Lincoln County Historical Society, 1995.

Cunningham, Eugene. “Fought with Billy the Kid.”
Frontier Times
9 (Mar. 1932): 242–247.

Curry, George.
George Curry, 1861–1947: An Autobiography
. Edited by H. B. Hening. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1958.

DeMattos, Jack.
Garrett and Roosevelt
. College Station, Tex.: Creative Publishing Company, 1988.

———. “The Search for Billy the Kid’s Roots.”
Real West
21 (Nov. 1978): 12–19, 39.

———. “The Search for Billy the Kid’s Roots—Is Over!”
Real West
23 (Jan. 1980): 26–28, 59–60.

Dykes, J. C.
Billy the Kid: The Bibliography of a Legend
. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1952.

Ealy, Ruth R.
Water in a Thirsty Land
. Privately published, 1955.

Earle, James H., ed.
The Capture of Billy the Kid
. College Station, Tex.: Creative Publishing Company, 1988.

Edwards, Harold L. “Barney Mason: In the Shadow of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.”
Old West
26 (Summer 1990): 14–19.

———. “From Prince to Knave to an Early Grave: The Story of Charlie Bowdre.”
National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History Quarterly
19 ( July–Sept. 1995): 2–8.

———.
Goodbye Billy the Kid
. College Station, Tex.: Creative Publishing Company, 1995.

———. “Pat Garrett and the Las Cruces Bank Robbery.”
True West
45 (Feb. 1998): 8–13.

The Estate of Richard C. Marohn, M.D.
(auction catalog). San Francisco: Butterfield & Butterfield, 1996.

Fable, Edmund.
Billy the Kid, the New Mexican Outlaw; or the Bold Bandit of the West.
Denver, Colo.: The Denver Publishing Co., 1881.

Fleming, Elvis E.
Captain Joseph C. Lea: From Confederate Guerrilla to New Mexico Patriarch.
Las Cruces: Yucca Tree Press, 2002.

———.
J. B. “Billy” Mathews: Biography of a Lincoln County Deputy.
Las Cruces: Yucca Tree Press, 1999.

Fulton, Maurice G. “Apocrypha of Billy the Kid.” In
Folk-Say: A Regional Miscellany
. Edited by B. A. Botkin. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1930.

———. “Billy the Kid in Life and Books.”
The New Mexico Folklore Record
4 (1949–1950): 1–6.

———.
Maurice Garland Fulton’s History of the Lincoln County War.
Edited by Robert N. Mullin. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1968.

García, Elbert A.
Billy the Kid’s Kid: The Hispanic Connection
. Santa Rosa, N.Mex.: Los Products Press, 1999.

Garrett, Pat F.
The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid, The Noted Desperado of the Southwest, Whose Deeds of Daring and Blood Made His Name a Terror in New Mexico, Arizona and Northern Mexico.
Santa Fe: New Mexican Printing and Publishing Co., 1882.

———.
The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid
. Introduction by Jarvis P. Garrett. Albuquerque: Horn & Wallace, 1964.

Gibson, A. M.
The Life and Death of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain
. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.

Gilbert, Miles, Leo Remiger, and Sharon Cunningham.
Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters and Skinners
. Vol. 1. Union City, Tenn.: Pioneer Press, 2003.

Gonzales, Samuel Leo.
The Days of Old
. Privately printed, 1993.

Gottschalk, Marcus Charles.
Pioneer Merchants of the Las Vegas Plaza
. Las Vegas, N.Mex.: Privately printed, 2000.

Grey, F. W.
Seeking Fortune in America
. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1912.

Grove, Pearce S., Becky J. Barnett, and Sandra J. Hansen.
New Mexico Newspapers: A Comprehensive Guide to Bibliographical Entries and Locations.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1975.

Guyer, James S.
Pioneer Life in West Texas
. Brownwood, Tex.: James S. Guyer, 1938.