Who was Pat Garrett

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A.� The lawman who got Billy the Kid. More than a quarter of a century later, Garrett was also shot dead.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� Background

A.� Pat Garrett was born in Chambers County, Alabama, on 5 June, 1850. He was one of seven children born to a farming couple, John Lumpkin Garrett and Elizabeth Ann Jarvis Garrett. In 1853, they moved to Claiborne, Louisiana, when John bought a plantation there.

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At 19, Pat Garrett decided to make his fortune as a buffalo hunter and moved to Texas. But the hunt became unprofitable and he settled in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where on 18 January, 1880, he married Apolinaria Gutierrez. The couple had nine children.

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Q.� But when does the lawmaking come in

A.� On 2 November, 1880, Garrett was elected sheriff of Lincoln County and vowed to bring the reign of lawlessness to an end. The next month, Lew Wallace, the Governor of New Mexico, put a $500 reward on the head of one of the principal outlaws, Billy the Kid - also known as William Bonney, Henry Antrim, or Henry McCarty. (Click here for a feature on him).

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Q.� They got him

A.� It wasn't as simple as that. On 20 December, Garrett and his posse trapped the Kid and others in a one-room rock house at Stinking Springs, near Fort Sumner. They surrendered and, shackled, the prisoners were taken by buckboard into Las Vegas, and on to the state prison at Santa Fe.

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The next April, Billy was tried and sentenced to hang at Lincoln on 13 May. But he escaped jail on 1 April after killing both guard.

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Q.� And Garrett went after him

A.� Yes - after long hunt, Garrett caught up with him and shot him dead in the darkened bedroom of his friend Pete Maxwell's house in Fort Sumner on 13 July.

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Q.� Garrett become famous

A.� Yes - with the help of a book published the following year - The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, the Noted Desperado of the Southwest. Garrett is quoted as the author, but Ash Upson, a newspaperman friend, wrote it.

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Q.� He remained a hero in New Mexico

A.� Far from it. He ran for sheriff of Chaves County in 1890, but lost and left the state for Texas. Later he returned and bought a ranch, but was soon nominated by President Theodore Roosevelt to become customs collector at El Paso, Texas. It was a controversial appointment and lasted only four years; then he became sheriff of Dona Ana County.

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Q.� And how did he die

A.� It's a complicated story. On 1 March, 1908, Garrett was riding in a buggy with Carl Adamson, one of two partners who were prospective buyers for Bear Canyon Ranch, a property Garrett had been trying to sell. About four miles east of Las Cruces, they met Wayne Brazel, a cowboy who had leased Garrett's ranch for a goat-raising venture. Garrett had tried to break the lease with Brazel. The only way Brazel would agree was if Garrett's prospective buyers would buy the goats. The deal was on the verge of collapse.

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Garrett and Brazel argued. Adamson stopped the buggy to get out and relieve himself and Garrett decided to do the same. Both men had their backs to Brazel. Two shots rang out and Garrett fell to the ground, mortally wounded. Brazel gave himself up and admitted the shooting, but was cleared of murder.

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Steve Cunningham