Garrett, Pat

Garrett, Pat(rick Floyd)

(born June 5, 1850, Chambers county, Ala., U.S.—died Feb. 29, 1908, near Las Cruces, N.M.) U.S. lawman. He worked as a cowboy and buffalo hunter until 1879, when he settled in Lincoln county, N.M., and became sheriff. In 1881 he tracked down and shot the escaped outlaw Billy the Kid. He was later a rancher near Roswell, N.M., deputy sheriff and then sheriff of Dona Ana county, N.M., and customs collector in El Paso, Texas. He was fatally shot in an apparent dispute over the lease of his ranch, though suspicions lingered that he was executed by an enemy from his days as sheriff.