Pat Garrett's album of retained correspondence while Collector of Customs at El Paso, Texas

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Rare Books, Autographs & Maps

By Doyle

Nov 25, 2025

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• Lot Description
  GARRETT, PAT Pat Garrett's album of retained correspondence while Collector of Customs at El Paso, Texas, 1902-1905. El Paso, TX: 3 January 1902 - 5 December 1905. A fascinating album of approximately 105 wet transfer copies of Pat Garrett's typed and signed letters and reports. The letters are on Mann's parchment copying paper and made using Mann's inventive wet transfer method. Bound in the original black leather-backed pebbled cloth, the spine with remnants of a paper label reading "Mr. Garrett," the upper cover with a typed label affixed reading: "Patrick F. Garrett. PRIVATE. January 3, 1902 to...[1905]." 11 3/4 x 10 inches (29 x 25 cm); comprising approximately 105 wet transfer copies of letters on 139 thin leaves, all but a very few signed by Pat Garrett or his secretary, most headed "Office of the Collector of Customs / Port of El Paso, Tex." The letters are copied using Mann's wet transfer method, the instructions for which are mounted to the front pastedown. The process required pressing the original signed letter onto a thin, dampened copying leaf above a blotter sheet, which produces the true copy. The album with an unused index at front and many unused parchment leaves at end, an old blotter sheet is also laid-in. The binding rubbed and with some stains and exposed corners from use, the hinges secured with a later linen tape, but otherwise the album is in original condition. The earliest letters are somewhat faint, but darken as Garrett grew more familiar with the transfer process, the signatures (all copies) vary from faint to dark and bold. There is some old dampstain to the page extremities not affecting the text, light thumbsoiling to edges, the thin sheets subject to short tears and creases. Pat Garrett's retained album of correspondence while Customs Collector at El Paso, an extremely rare collection of letters providing insight into the enigmatic lawman best known as the killer of Bill the Kid. The album contains at least 10 copies of letters to President Roosevelt, who nominated Garrett for the Customs post. Most letters here are on official customs business, but there are also many private letters to friends and officials that illuminate Garrett's personal and political views. Garrett began compiling this album on January 3rd, 1902, the day after his confirmation as customs collector. In the previous years, Garrett had failed at several business schemes in Texas, but in 1896 had been appointed sheriff of Dona County, New Mexico to investigate the disappearance of a prominent attorney, Albert Jennings Fountain, and his son. This resulted in a gun fight with the perpetrators, who escaped and were later acquitted. Garrett managed to kill his last wanted man, an Oklahoma murderer named Norman Newman, in New Mexico in 1899. These stories reaching Washington, with the backing of President Roosevelt, Garrett was appointed Customs Collector in El Paso, becoming one of President Roosevelt's three "White House Gunfighters." The initial letters in this album are focused on bureaucratic duties, but Garrett seems to be enjoying El Paso, writing unfavorably about the prospect of again relocating: "It seems to me that I am too far advanced in years to make such a change in base again. I have a very dependent family, and especially at this time they need my counsel. This country is prosperous, all branches of business seem to be flourishing. El Paso is growing very rapidly. We now have an Electric street railway system equivalent to any City in the U.S." The next correspondence is with Miss Kizzie Beckley, seemingly a childhood friend of Garrett's, to whom he expresses himself rather eloquently: "I...no doubt am more graceful with a [fence] rail than a pen, yet I prefer the pen... I pass many pleasant moments thinking over the boyhood days spent in the Country where you live. The [prairies] and sweet flowers in springtime of that section made a lasting impression on my mind, to say nothing of the sweet and pretty girls that I knew there thirty years ago." Garrett first wrote to President Roosevelt in February 1903. The letter was written in response to accusations made about the integrity and competency of Garrett's office over immigration issues, which were relayed to him by the Secretary of the Treasury, Leslie Shaw. He writes Shaw in his defense: "Ports along the frontier have many different and difficult questions to deal with ... At Ports like El Paso where the crossing from Mexico to the United States can be made at any and all times and places, except two or three months of the year, stringent measures must be adopted to bring the guilty to realize that they cannot run rough shod over the laws made to protect the Government from their operations." Garrett's first letter to President Roosevelt is two pages, dated 6 February 1903. To Roosevelt, Garrett writes "At the time of my appointment to office, your instructions to me were that you expected a clean, honest administration, which you seemed to have reason to doubt had not previously existed; my endeavors have been strenuously to that end, and to administer the law justly and conscientiously to all ... It is difficult to administer some of the laws governing importers, and travelers having business with frontier ports without some dissatisfaction, but the receipt of so many complaints by the Department, as stated in the Secretary's letter, without my knowledge of them I cannot understand." This issue likely stems from the Immigration Act of 1903, which transformed El Paso from a largely open crossing into a Federally controlled port of entry and introduced formal inspections and exclusions. While there are too many interesting letters to quote here, the balance of the album offers similar insights into Garrett's public and private opinions and affairs. Without a doubt, Garrett is best known as the elusive lawman who tracked down and killed Billy the Kid in New Mexico in 1881. The story of the Kid's death became legendary and provoked national dispute over Garrett's character; some praised him as a heroic lawman, while others believed he was an assassin. Thereafter, Garrett did not seek re-election as Lincoln County sheriff but moved to Texas and pursued various irrigation investments. As mentioned, failed business projects and debt resulted in Garrett's relocation to Uvalde, Texas, where he became close friends with future Vice-President John Garner. Garrett was not in Uvalde long and returned to New Mexico in 1896 to accept the appointment as sheriff of Doña Ana County following the disappearance of prominent lawyer Albert Fountain and his son; two years later, Garrett had gathered sufficient evidence to make arrests, but the offenders were later acquitted. Presumably impressed by President Roosevelt, Garrett was nominated by Roosevelt in 1901 to be the collector of customs in El Paso. Despite public outcry, Garrett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 2nd, 1902. Garrett's letters are scarce, and assembling this correspondence would be impossible. We trace no other large collection of Garrett's letters sold at auction, and find records of only two documents signed by Garrett in the years covered by this album. Garrett's captivating life story has been the subject of numerous films and television shows, one of the most famous being Pat Garrett & Bill the Kid (1973) starring James Coburn as Garrett and Kris Kristofferson as Billy the Kid, with a film score by Bob Dylan.

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