Sheriff Pat Garrett

Sheriff Pat Garrett

Sheriff Pat Garrett, the man famous for killing “Billy the Kid” was born in Cusseta, Alabama, Chambers County, Alabama, on June 5,  1850. Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was one of seven children born to John and Elizabeth Garrett. Three years later, Pat’s father, John Garrett, purchased a Louisiana plantation in Claiborne Parish, where young Garrett grew up.

He was the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico as well as Doña Ana County, New Mexico.

On July 14, 1881, Garrett visited Fort Sumner to question a friend of the Kid’s about his whereabouts and learned he was staying with a mutual friend, Pedro Menard “Pete” Maxwell. Around midnight, Garrett went to Maxwell’s house. The Kid was asleep in another part of the house, but woke up in the middle of the night and entered Maxwell’s bedroom, where Garrett was standing in the shadows. The Kid did not recognize the man standing in the dark. He asked him, repeatedly, “¿Quién es?” (Who is it?), and Garrett replied by shooting at him twice. The first shot hit the Kid in the chest just above the heart, killing him.

Pat Garrett – An Unlucky Lawman

Cusseta is a town in Chambers County. Situated between Opelika, Alabama and Lanett, it was named for the ancient Creek Indian town of Cusseta. The community was believed to be unincorporated until 2006, when rediscovered documents indicated that Cusseta had been incorporated as a city in 1853. As the community diminished in size over the years, its status was forgotten. As of the 2010 census, its population was 123.