While there is question about when Billy the Kid died, there's no question about when the person most people still say killed Billy – Pat Garrett – died. However, there is question over the circumstances, and who did it. The most likely suspect is Jesse Wayne Brazel, who leased land from Garrett and who ended up in a dispute with the latter over his grazing goats, not cattle, on the land. Brazel claimed self-defense and was acquitted at trial, though some believe it was part of a deliberate plan, and others believe someone else shot Garrett. Whoever did it, no one disputes that Garrett was shot and died that day in 1908, and by that time, the ornery ex-sheriff had few remaining friends, what once had been seen as a brave feat, killing Billy the Kid, to many now looking more like a one-sided ambush. Item 133 is How Pat Garrett Died, by Colin Rickards, published in 1970. $20.
Item 83 is the Constitution for the State and Subordinate Orders of Kansas Division of the Anti-Horse Thief Association. Revised October, 1904. There aren't too many anti-horse thief organizations around any more, but at the turn of the century, these could be found all over the country. Horse thieves were as popular then as car thieves are today, even worse as people didn't have insurance policies to cover their stolen horses. A man couldn't do much without a horse, so organizations such as this appeared, or less formal vigilante type groups who dealt with horse thieves with a rope. $200.
You may reach Kenston Rare Books at 214-526-7033 or info@kenstonrarebooks.com. Their website is www.kenstonrarebooks.com.
