The Strange Story Of Wayne Brazel.

ROBERT N. MULLIN

Publication: Palo Duro Press, 1969, Canyon

First edition thus. 8vo. One of 50 copies in brown cloth. Reprinted from Panhandle-Plains Historical Review, Vol. XLII, 1969. Cloth, titles in black ink on front cover and spine, iii [blank], 36 [1] pp., introduction, illustrated, plates, portrait, map. Introduction by J. Evetts Haley and signed by him. From the library of Ed Bartholomew, Texas and Western historian and author, with a typed and signed letter on the author's letterhead plus some inked comments also by the author that say in part, "[This little book} is the great grandchild of a high school theme I wrote in 1908, shortly after the Garrett killing and before Brazel went to trial... I had a speaking acquaintance with Pat Garrett and some others involved, the puzzle intrigued me, as it has ever since." Carl Hertzog, who bound the book writes on the rear fly leaf in his distinctive hand "Binding Design only, Carl Hertzog." The frontispiece is by Jose Cisneros. As a child, Brazel moved with his family from Brown County, Texas to Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. He remained in the Territory working first as a cowboy and later as a rancher. On February 29, 1908, Pat Garrett was killed. On that same day, Brazel rode into Las Cruces and said to Sheriff Felipe Lucero, "Lock me up, I just killed Pat Garrett." Over five years later he was acquitted of the crime in U. S. District Court in Albuquerque. The author provides background on the events leading up to Brazel's meeting with Garrett, an account of the killing, the possible involvement of Jim Miller as the actual killer, and speculates on Brazel's disappearance and possible demise in South America. Much original scholarship as the author relates personal details on some of the people involved in the events leading up to Garrett's death as well as the author's recollections of what he heard locally at the time. Fine, bright, clean copy.

Inventory Number: 52633