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?
