On December 19, Garrett killed Tom O’Folliard, one of the Kid’s friends. A few nights later, Garrett’s posse captured Billy, Dave Rudabaugh, Billy Wilson, and Tom Pickett. The Kid was tried and convicted but he escaped from the jail on April 18, 1881. Garrett and others tracked him down and finally caught up with him July 14. Garrett was visiting his old friend Pete Maxwell, to see if he knew anything about where the outlaw might be hiding. In he strode, and Garrett shot him dead.
After his term was over, Garrett turned to ranching. He also began writing a book about Billy the Kid. But the story was so popular, eight books beat his to press, so his didn’t sell well when it came out in 1882. Two years later he formed a company of Texas Rangers in the Texas panhandle. He returned to New Mexico for a short time in 1885, then went back to Uvalde, Texas, where he became county commissioner in 1889.
In October of 1899 he was appointed sheriff of Dona Ana County, New Mexico. During his tenure, he took on a famous murder investigation for the governor of New Mexico. The dead man’s name was Fountain. He kept at it for over two years and did arrest a suspect, but he was acquitted. Then he became Customs Collection in El Paso, Texas in 1901. He served almost five years, but was not reappointed.
