Friends of Pat Garrett
The city of Las Cruces is considering the approval for development of a 1,703.9 acre block on the East Mesa, south of U.S. Hwy 70. The proposed name for this subdivision is The Vistas at Presidio II.
This land contains the site were Las Cruces lawman Pat Floyd Garrett was killed on February 29, 1908.
Our mission, as Friends of Pat Garrett, is to ensure that the site where the death occurred is set aside for a memorial to Pat, and that the marker set up by Jarvis is retained and protected.
The Site
Below: The marker at the site. (Photo taken April 2, 2007).
You can see the marker consists of cement laid around a stone with a cross carved in it.
Beginning at the center bottom of the photo, you can see where “P. Garrett” has been scratched into the wet concrete.
On the left side of the photo, you can see the “Feb 1908″ date in the cement.
Below: Date close up. (Photo taken April 2, 2007.)
Below: You can still see the old road from the San Augustin Pass to Las Cruces that Pat was traveling in his buckboard when he was shot. The old road follows the base of the hill, and lies between the marker and the base of the hill. San Augustin Pass is visible on the horizon, top center. (Photo taken April 2, 2007.)
Below: The marker lies along what is now a power line right-of-way. It is about 5 feet this side of the first power pole. There are field stones at the site left by another concerned citizen about 1990 who planned a more substantial marker. (Photo taken April 2, 2007.)
Because the marker is under the electric power line and on the right-of-way easement, it should be easy to preserve and set aside this historical marker for posterity. This, we are trying to accomplish.
Your help and suggestions and comments are desired.
History of the Marker
There is a lot of confusion about how the site where Pat Garrett was killed was marked. Now, thanks to research by author David G. Thomas, the facts are finally known.
In a 1969 newspaper interview, Emmett J. Isaacks said that he and his brother,
“…the late Will [Isaacks], heard the shot that killed Pat Garrett…. They were trailing cattle nearby, and by the time they reached the scene, Garrett was lying on the ground, covered over with a carriage blanket.”
In an introduction to a new 1964 edition of his Father’s book, “The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid,” Jarvis Garrett, Pat Garrett’s son, wrote:
“About fifteen years ago, while on a visit to Las Cruces from Venezuela, I chanced to meet Will Isaacs [sic]…. The conversation turned to my father’s death, and he told me that he was present when Brazel surrendered to Sheriff Lucero, following which he went to the murder scene…. I was very appreciative when he offered to show [me] the exact spot of the murder.”
“We drove about four miles east on the modern highway, stopped the car, and walked along the arroyo bed for another mile in the same direction. After some difficulty, he found the marker, a round stone, which he had placed there in 1908.”
The stone at the site with the cross carved in it was placed there by Will Isaacs in 1908. The cement around the stone was placed there November 6, 1965. Source: Killing Pat Garrett, the Wild West’s Most Famous Lawman – Murder or Self-Defense?