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[[image:VanceHartke.jpg|frame|right|Rupert Vance Hartke]]
[[Image:PatGarrett1906.jpg|thumb|right|Photograph of Pat Garrett, two years before his death.]]
'''Rupert Vance Hartke''' ([[May 31]], [[1919]] – [[July 27]], [[2003]]) was a [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Indiana]] from [[1959]] to [[1977]].
'''Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett''' ([[June 5]], [[1850]] [[Chambers County, Alabama]] - [[February 28]], [[1908]]) was a bartender and later a sheriff, alleged to have tracked down and killed [[Billy the Kid]]. He is sometimes referred to as, "The Man Who Shot Billy the Kid."
== Early lifeLife, Education, Military Service ==
Born in [[Stendal]], [[Pike County]], [[Indiana]] on [[May 31]], [[1919]], Senator Hartke attended public schools in Stendal. He graduated from Evansville College (now the [[University of Evansville]]) in [[1940]], and from [[1942]] until [[1946]] Hartke served in the [[United States Navy]] and [[United States Coast Guard]], rising from [[Seaman]] to [[Lieutenant]]. Hartke graduated from the [[Indiana University School of Law Indianapolis|Indiana University]] Law School in [[1948]].
Though Garrett was born in [[Alabama]], he grew up on a prosperous [[Louisiana]] plantation in [[Claiborne Parish, Louisiana|Claiborne Parish]]. He left home in [[1869]] and wound up finding work as a [[cowboy]] in [[Dallas County, Texas]]. In [[1875]] he left to hunt [[American Bison|buffalo]]. In [[1878]] Garrett shot and killed a fellow hunter who'd allegedly drawn a gun on him in a disagreement over buffalo hides. He left for [[New Mexico]] and briefly found work as a cowpuncher before quitting to open his own saloon. The tall man was colorfully referred to by locals as "Juan Largo" or "Big John."
== Legal and Political Career ==
In [[1879]] Garrett married Juanita Gutierrez, who died within a year. In [[1880]] he married Gutierrez's sister, Apolonaria. The couple would have nine children over the years.
After joining the [[Indiana]] State Bar in [[1948]], Hartke began practicing law in [[Evansville]]. He also worked as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of [[Vanderburgh County]] ([[1950]]-[[1951]]) and Mayor of [[Evansville]] ([[1956]]-[[1958]])before being elected to the [[United States Senate]] in [[1958]] and reelected in [[1964]] and [[1970]] ([[1959]]-[[1977]]). He lost reelection in [[1976]] to [[Richard G. Lugar]]. Hartke was also an unsuccessful candidate for the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s presidential nomination in [[1972]].
==Lincoln County Sheriff==
== Senate Service and Later Life==
On [[November 7]], 1880 after [[Lincoln County, New Mexico|Lincoln County]] Sheriff George Kimbell resigned with two months left on his term, the county appointed Garrett, a [[Democratic Party (United States)|democrat]] and gunslinger promising to restore law and order, the new sheriff. Garrett was charged with tracking down and arresting a friend from his saloonkeeping days – Henry McCarty, a jail escapee and [[Lincoln County War]] criminal better known as [[Billy the Kid]]. New Mexico governor [[Lew Wallace]] had personally put a $500 reward on McCarty's capture.
In the [[Senate]], Hartke was known for his opposition to the [[Vietnam War]] and his chairmanship of the [[Senate Veterans Affairs Committee]]. Hartke died in [[Falls Church]], [[Virginia]] on [[July 27]], [[2003]] and is buried in [[Arlington National Cemetery]].
On [[December 19]], Garrett shot and killed one of McCarty's friends. Just a few nights later, the sheriff's posse captured McCarty and his gang. They were transported to [[Mesilla, New Mexico]] for trial. Though he was convicted, McCarty managed to escape from jail again on [[April 18]], [[1881]]. Around midnight on [[July 14]] of that year, Sheriff Garrett was in Stinking Springs, New Mexico (near [[Fort Sumner, New Mexico|Fort Sumner]]) questioning a friend of McCarty's on the outlaw's whereabouts when McCarty unexpectedly showed up. McCarty did not initially recognize the sheriff standing in the shadows and asked "¿Quien es? ¿Quien es?" (Spanish for "Who is it? Who is it?). Garrett answered by shooting McCarty twice, killing the man. Some historians have questioned Garrett's account of the shooting, alledging the incident never occurred and McCarty escaped into hiding under the assumed name [[Ollie P. Roberts]].
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==Politics==
{{succession box | title=[[US Congressional Delegations from Indiana|United States Senator (Class 1) from Indiana]] | before=[[William E. Jenner]] | after=[[Dick Lugar|Richard G. Lugar]] | years=1959-1977}}
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[[Category: 18501919 births| GarrettHartke, PatVance]] ▼After finishing out his term as sheriff, Garrett became a rancher and put out a book (actually [[Ghostwriter|ghostwritten]] by his friend, Ash Upson) in [[1882]] about his experiences with McCarty. However, he lost the next election for Lincoln County sheriff and was never paid the $500 reward for McCarty's capture. In [[1884]] he lost an election for state senator. Later that year, he left New Mexico and helped found and captain a company of [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]]. He returned to New Mexico briefly in [[1885]], then moved to [[Uvalde, Texas]] where he was elected county commissioner in [[1889]]. In [[October]] of that year [[Dona Ana County, New Mexico]] appointed him sheriff. The next year he ran for [[Chaves County, New Mexico|Chaves County]] sheriff and lost.
[[Category: 19082003 deaths| GarrettHartke, PatVance]] ▼
[[Category:United States Senators from Indiana|Hartke, Vance]]
On [[December 20]], [[1901]] [[Theodore Roosevelt]] appointed him [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]] Collector of Customs. Garrett served in this capacity for five years. However he was not reappointed (possibly because he'd embarrassed Roosevelt once, showing up at a [[Rough Riders]] reunion with a notorious gambler friend).
Garrett retired to his ranch in New Mexico, but was suffering financial difficulties – he owed a large amount in back taxes and was found liable on an unpaid loan he'd co-signed for a friend. He borrowed heavily to make these payments and started drinking and gambling excessively.
==Death==
Garrett's main creditor (a man named W.W. Cox) worked out a deal to repay the debt by using Garrett's quarter horse ranch in the [[San Andres Mountains|Sand Andres]] slopes as grazing land for one of his partners. Garrett agreed to the deal, not realizing they would be grazing goats rather than cattle (largely in an attempt to anger Garrett into selling the property and it's valuable [[Water right|water rights]]). Garrett objected to the goats, feeling their presence lowered the value of his land in the eyes of buyers or other renters.
Two of Cox's men (Jesse Wayne Brazel and Carl Adamson) planned a meeting with Garrett in [[Las Cruces, New Mexico|Las Cruces]], supposedly to get rid of the goats and work out a new land deal. Adamson and Garrett rode together to meet Brazel in Las Cruces, but Brazel showed up on horseback along the way. The group stopped so Garrett could relieve himself by the side of the road. While urinating, Garrett was ambushed and shot, once in the head and once in the stomach. Brazel and Adamson left Garrett's body on the side of the road and continued to Las Cruces, alerting Sheriff Felipe Lucero of the crime scene.
Historians disagree as to who did the shooting, but Jesse Wayne Brazel confessed to the shooting and was tried for first degree murder. Cox paid his bond and retained [[Albert B. Fall]] as his defense attorney. Brazel claimed self-defense, maintaining Garrett was armed with a shotgun at the time and was threatening him. The jury took less than a half-hour to return a not guilty verdict. Cox then hosted a barbecue celebration.
Garrett's body was too tall for any pre-made coffins in town, so a special one had to be shipped in from El Paso. His funeral service was held [[March 5]] [[1908]] and he was laid to rest next to his daughter Ida, who'd preceded him in death eight years earlier.
[[Category:American sheriffs|Garrett, Pat]]
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[[Category:Murder victims|Garrett, Pat]]
[[Category:History of the American West|Garrett, Pat]]
[[Category:People from Alabama|Garrett, Pat]]
[[Category:New Mexico politicians|Garrett, Pat]]
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