Pat Garrett
for his cattle. Garrett agreed, but said he would have to get Brazel would of there first. A deal was made for Garrett to buy the goats. But then Brazel tried to get more money because the goats had had offspring since he brought them there. This made Garrett very angry. But eventually they were ready to sign the papers.
Garrett and Adamson would meet Brazel at Las Cruces to close the deal. Adamson rode along with Garrett in a buckboard. On the way, Brazel caught up to them on horseback. There were some heated words as Adamson threatened to back out of the deal. As they neared the spot Adamson had pre-selected for the killing, he asked Garrett to stop the wagon so he could relieve himself. Garrett decided he would also. He turned his back to the wagon. Just then, Miller, who was hiding in the bushes, shot Garrett, once in the head and once in the stomach. He was dead in a matter of minutes.
As agreed, when they got into town, Brazel confessed to the shooting, claiming it was self-defense. He was locked up immediately.
There was no coffin in town long enough for Garrett’s six foot four inch body, so he lay in the undertaker’s parlor until one could be shipped from El Paso. Scores of gawkers came to see the man who had killed Billy the Kid. A service was held on March 5 in Las Cruces. He was buried next to his daughter Ida, who had died eight years earlier.
Brazel was later tried and acquitted. Miller was hanged in Ada, Oklahoma, after vigilantes got ahold of him. He was dead by the time Brazel’s trial was over. Adamson died two years later of typhoid fever. Cox got the land he wanted when he bought out Garrett’s widow. The Garrett family left the area.
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