Bounty Hunters

Bounty hunting became popular in the 1800’s when the faces of the most wanted criminals could be printed on posters and displayed throughout towns. Bounty hunting was an important part of the justice system in the undeveloped Old West territory as it was impossible for a small town sheriff to track down and arrest outlaws. Any adventurous man, or on occasion woman, with a gun could hunt down a fugitive criminal for reward or bounty money. “The extraordinary powers of bounty hunters in performing their duties derive primarily” (Robin 2006) from the 1872 Supreme Court decision in the Taylor vs. Taintor case giving bounty hunters legal authority to make arrests. Unlike law enforcement, bounty hunters can break and enter a fugitive’s home anytime day or night without a warrant!

Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett, the man famous for tracking down and killing Billy the Kid, was born on June 5, 1850 in Alabama. He then moved to Louisiana as a young boy with his family. When he was 19 years old he moved to west Texas to work as a cowboy and cattle gunman when rustling was rampant in the area. Garrett was a talented marksman and “soon realized that his hunting and shooting skills could be better utilized harvesting bison hides in the great buffalo slaughter that was then in progress”(DeArment 2018, 144). When the buffalo herds had been decimated and hunting was no longer profitable, Garrett made his way into New Mexico Territory in 1878 where he settled in Fort Sumner. Because he was so tall and lanky, the locals, mostly Hispanics, nicknamed him “Juan Largo”(DeArment 2018, 145), which means Long John in English. He tried his hand at several businesses including owning a combination grocery store and saloon which is how he made the acquaintance of Billy the Kid.

Pat Garrett ran for Lincoln County sheriff in November 1880 and won. The current sheriff deputized him so he could help with the manhunts of several outlaws before officially becoming sheriff on January 1, 1881. Prior to the election though, Garrett “became personally and actively engaged in the task of pursuing and assisting to bring to justice the Kid”(Garrett 1882, Ch.16). Garrett and his team hunted for Billy the Kid from October 1880 until his capture in March 1881. “The Kid” as Garrett refers to him in his book, killed the guard on duty and escaped on April 27th. Within days, the Governor posted another $500 reward for the capture of Billy the Kid. Garrett pretended disinterested in the escape to throw the Kid off. Garrett writes, “I was constantly, but quietly, at work, seeking sure information and maturing my plans of action” (1882 Ch. 23). Garrett received a letter in the beginning of July with a tip and headed out to find the Kid at Pete Maxwell’s house. It was about midnight and Pat Garrett was in Pete Maxwell’s bedroom questioning him as to Billy’s whereabouts when Billy walked in. Pete whispered to Pat that it was him. “Quickly as possible I drew my revolver and fired, threw my body aside, and fired again. The second shot was useless; the Kid fell dead. He never spoke” (1882 Ch. 23). On July 14, 1881, New Mexico was finally free from the notorious killer thanks to Patrick Garrett.

Written by Nate Hickson DeArment, Robert K. Man-Hunters of the Old West. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2018.

Garrett, Pat F. The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid. Project Gutenberg Australia. Santa Fe, NM: New Mexican Print and Publishing Co., 1882. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/w00005.html#1_0_2.

Robin, Gerald D. “Reining in Bounty Hunters.” Criminal Justice (1986) 21, no. 3 (2006): 4.

Weiser-Alexander, Kathy. “Pat Garrett – An Unlucky Lawman.” Legends of America, February 2020. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-patgarrett/.