Western U.S. lawman known as the man who killed Billy the Kid (q.v.).

Born in Alabama and reared in Louisiana, Garrett left home at about the age of 17 and headed for Texas and the life of a cowboy and buffalo hunter. In 1879 he married and settled in Lincoln County, N.M., where he became first deputy sheriff and then sheriff. In July 1881 he tracked down and shot the escaped murderer Billy the Kid.

Thereafter, Garrett was a rancher near Roswell, N.M. (1882–96), deputy sheriff and then sheriff of Dona Ana County, N.M. (1896–1902), and collector of customs at El Paso, Texas (1902–06). He then bought a horse ranch, leased it, and became involved in a heated dispute over the lease. Garrett was fatally shot on the road from the ranch to Las Cruces, N.M. The man who had leased the ranch, Wayne Brazel, alleged that Garrett had drawn a gun on him and that the killing was self-defense. A witness agreed, and Brazel went free. A suspicion lingered that Brazel or someone else conspired to execute Garrett, a lawman with many enemies.