Pat Garrett and his posse tracked the Kid to Fort Sumner. Garrett entered Pete Maxwell’s bedroom to question him about the Kid’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, the Kid had a hankering for a slice of beef from the carcass hanging on Pete’s porch. In his stocking feet, butcher knife in hand, he walked over to Pete’s. He spied a couple of strangers outside and darted in to Pete’s bedroom. The Kid sensed another person in the room and shouted out “Quien es? Quien es? (Who is it?). Pete whispered to Garrett, “It’s him-” and Garrett fired point-blank, killing the Kid instantly.
This was the first shirt departing from the only known authentic picture of the Kid. Since it was the centennial of the event which cemented the Kid’s place in Wild West lore, it was a natural. I modeled as the Kid and my buddy Mike Gubbins, who had a completely authentic Garrett-type mustache, posed as the sheriff. In 2010 I dragged my wife far off the beaten path to visit Fort Sumner, a town so remote that when the railroad came through, the town fathers moved the settlement 10 miles to be along the tracks. The Kid and his comrades Tom O’Folliard and Charlies Bowdre are buried in a tiny cemetery, enclosed in an iron cage to discourage tombstone thieves.
