DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Pat Garrett — and it's one that starts with a reputation and ends with a question that never quite got answered. Patrick F. Garrett came to Texas from Alabama back in 1869, and this part of the country — Uvalde — became one of his homes.
He worked as a farmer, a cowboy, a buffalo hunter. The kind of man who tried a little of everything the frontier had to offer. He served as sheriff in several cities, dealt in ranching operations, and from 1891 to 1900 he owned property right here on this very site.
A house stood here. His house. You can almost picture it.
But of course, that's not what most people remember Pat Garrett for. Most people remember 1881. That's the year Garrett, pioneer law officer, shot and killed the outlaw Billy the Kid.
That one moment followed him everywhere he went — every town, every introduction, every conversation. The man who killed Billy the Kid. It's a heavy thing to carry.
Now, here's where the story takes a turn that'll sit with you. In 1908, Pat Garrett was killed in New Mexico. The official reason given was an argument over land.
Simple enough, you might say — disputes over land were as common as dust out here. But a lot of people weren't buying it. Many folks assumed that the quarrel was merely a ruse, a pretense, designed to force Garrett to fight — or to be murdered from ambush.
The man who made his name ending someone else's story had his own story end in shadow and suspicion. The marker doesn't say who pulled the trigger on the answer. Neither does history, not really.
That house on this site is long gone. But the question — well, that one's still standing.
What the marker says
Pioneer law officer Patrick F. Garrett, renowned for killing outlaw Billy the Kid in 1881, lived in a house at this site during his residence in Uvalde. He had come from Alabama to Texas in 1869; here he worked as a farmer, cowboy, and buffalo hunter. He served as sheriff in several cities and also dealt in ranching operations. He owned property here from 1891 to 1900. In 1908 he was killed in New Mexico after an argument over land, but many people assumed that the quarrel was merely a ruse to force Garrett to fight or be murdered from ambush. 1970