Pat Garrett’s Assassin

Western author Emerson Hough (photo) was a friend of Pat Garrett, the man who shot Billy the Kid.  And when Garrett was assassinated in 1908, Hough—who kept contacts in New Mexico—was sure who did it: hired killer Jim Miller.

But he thought the case should be dropped.  When NM Attorney General James Hervey asked Hough for money for an investigation into the Garrett killing, Hough told him to let it be.  “You will get killed trying to find out…,” he said. Hervey took Hough’s advice.