Pat Garrett Murder Site

The quarrel was over goats. Garrett, deep in debt, had let Wayne Brazel graze goats on his ranch under a five-year lease, then needed it broken to sell; the would-be buyer, Carl Adamson, offered to take only 1,200 of the 1,800 goats. On the road through Alameda Arroyo that morning Garrett was shot in the back of the head, the doctor found, apparently while urinating beside the buggy. Brazel claimed self-defense, and a jury acquitted him in fifteen minutes in May 1909. Suspicion has fallen on Adamson's in-law, the hired killer Jim Miller.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Pat Garrett Murder Site Pat Garrett, the Lincoln County Sheriff who shot and killed William "Billy the Kid" Bonney at Fort Sumner in 1881, was himself murdered at a remote site nearby on February 29, 1908. Wayne Brazel, a local cowboy, confessed to shooting Garrett but was acquitted of all charges. The motive and circumstances surrounding Garrett's death are still being debated.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mesilla Plaza — 8.3 mi
  A plaza laid out in 1848 by people who meant to stay in Mexico, American six years later, a stage stop and Civil War headquarters, and scene of a deadly political riot in 1871.

More markers nearby

• Doña Ana (1604-1680) — 4.7 mi
• Bartlett Garcia Continental Survey Point — 5.5 mi
• Doña Ana — 5.5 mi
• Doña Ana County Courthouse — 5.8 mi